Abrahamism

The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them with Indian religions, Iranian religions, and East Asian religions. The term has been introduced in the 20th century and superseded the term Judeo-Christian tradition for the inclusion of Islam. However, the categorization has been criticized by some for oversimplification of different cultural and doctrinal nuances. For example, Islam shares cultural and doctrinal exchange from Asian religions, which Abrahamic religions are usually contrasted with.

Usage

The term ''Abrahamic religions'' (and its variations) is a collective religious descriptor for elements shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It features prominently in interfaith dialogue and political discourse but also has entered academic discourse.Bakhos, Carol. The Family of Abraham: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Interpretations. Harvard University Press, 2014. However, the term has also been criticized for being uncritically adopted. The term appears first time in the second half of the 20th century.

Although historically the term ''Abrahamic religions'' was limited to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, restricting the category to these three religions has come under criticism.* The late-19th-century Baháʼí Faith has been listed as ''Abrahamic'' by scholarly sources in various fields since it is a monotheistic religion that recognizes Abraham.

Theological discourse

The figure of Abraham is suggested as a common ground for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and a hypothesized eschatological reconciliation of the three.Krista N. Dalton (2014) Abrahamic Religions: On Uses and Abuses of History by Aaron W. Hughes, Oxford University Press: New York, 2012, 191 pp. , US$55.00 (hardback), Religion, 44:4, 684-686, DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2013.862421Hughes, Aaron W. Abrahamic religions: On the uses and abuses of history. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 17 Commonalities may include creation, revelation, and redemption, but such shared concepts vary significantly between and within the Abrahamic religions themselves. Proponents of the term argue that all three religions are united through the deity worshipped by Abraham.

The Catholic scholar of Islam, Louis Massignon, stated that the phrase "Abrahamic religion" means that all these religions come from one spiritual source. The modern term comes from the plural form of a Quranic reference to '' dīn Ibrāhīm'' ("religion of Ibrahim"), the Arabic form of Abraham's name.

In Christianity, Paul the Apostle, in Romans 4:11–12, refers to Abraham as "father of all", including those "who have faith, circumcised or uncircumcised." From its founding, Islam likewise conceived of itself as the religion of Abraham. The Bahá’í scriptures state that the religion's founder, Baháʼu'lláh, descended from Abraham through his wife Keturah's sons.

Criticism

The appropriateness of grouping Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as "Abrahamic religions" and related terms has been challenged. Adam Dodds argues that the term "Abrahamic faiths", while helpful, can be misleading, as it conveys an unspecified historical and theological commonality that is problematic on closer examination. While there is a commonality among the religions, their shared ancestry is mainly peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. Alan L. Berger, professor of Judaic Studies at Florida Atlantic University, wrote that "while Judaism birthed both Christianity and Islam, the three monotheistic faiths went their separate ways" and "each tradition views the patriarchal figure differently as seen in the theological claims they make about him."Berger, Alan L., ed. Trialogue and Terror: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam after 9/11. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012. Aaron W. Hughes, meanwhile, describes the term as "imprecise" and "largely a theological neologism."

The common Christian doctrines of Jesus' Incarnation, the Trinity, and the resurrection of Jesus, for example, are accepted in neither Judaism nor Islam. There are fundamental beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are likewise denied by most of Christianity (e.g., the restrictions on pork consumption found in Jewish and Islamic dietary law), and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháʼí Faith not shared by Judaism (e.g., the prophetic and Messianic position of Jesus).

Religions

Judaism

Jewish tradition claims that the Twelve Tribes of Israel are descended from Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, whose sons formed the nation of the Israelites in Canaan; Islamic tradition claims that twelve Arab tribes known as the Ishmaelites are descended from Abraham through his son Ishmael in the Arabian Peninsula.

In its early stages, the Israelite religion shares traits with the Canaanite religions of the Bronze Age; by the Iron Age, it had become distinct from other Canaanite religions as it shed polytheism for monolatry. They understood their relationship with their god, Yahweh, as a covenant and that the deity promised Abraham a permanent homeland.Cohen, Charles L. The Abrahamic religions: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. p. 9

While the Book of Genesis speaks of ʾĔlōhīm, comparable to the Enūma Eliš speaking of various gods of the Canaanite pantheon to create the earth, at the time of the Babylonian captivity, Jewish theologians attributed the six-day narrative all to Yahweh, reflecting an early conception of Yahweh as a universal deity. The monolatrist nature of Yahwism was further developed in the period following the Babylonian captivity, eventually emerging as a firm religious movement of monotheism. Quote from the BBC documentary (prof. Herbert Niehr): "Between the 10th century and the beginning of their exile in 586 there was polytheism as normal religion all throughout Israel; only afterwards things begin to change and very slowly they begin to change. I would say it he sentence "Jews were monotheists" – n.n.is only correct for the last centuries, maybe only from the period of the Maccabees, that means the second century BC, so in the time of Jesus of Nazareth it is true, but for the time before it, it is not true." With the Fall of Babylon, Judaism incorporated concepts such as messianism, belief in free will and judgement after death, conception of heaven and hell, angels and demons, among others, into their belief-system..

Christianity

Christianity traces back their origin to the 1st century as a sect within Judaism initially led by Jesus. His followers viewed him as the Messiah, as in the Confession of Peter; after his crucifixion and death they came to view him as God incarnate, who was resurrected and will return at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and create an eternal Kingdom of God.

In the 1st century AD, under the Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth; Christianity spread widely. Paul the Apostle interpreted the role of Abraham differently from the Jews of his time. While for the Jews, Abraham was considered a loyal monotheist in a polytheistic environment, Paul celebrates Abraham as a man who found faith in God before adhering to religious law. In contrast to Judaism, adherence to religious law becomes associated with idolatry.

While Christians fashioned their religion around Jesus of Nazareth, the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), forced Jews to reconcile their belief-system with the destruction of the Second Temple and associated rituals. At this time, both Judaism and Christianity had to systematize their scriptures and beliefs, resulting in competing theologies both claiming Abrahamic heritage. Christians could hardly dismiss the Hebrew scriptures as Jesus himself refers to them according to Christian reports, and parallels between Jesus and the Biblical stories of ''creation'' and ''redemption'' starting with Abraham in the ''Book of Genesis''. The distant God asserted by Jesus according to the Christians, created a form of dualism between Creator and creation and the doctrine of ''Creatio ex nihilo'', which later heavily influenced Jewish and Islamic theology. By that, Christians established their own identity, distinct from both Greeks and Jews, as those who venerate the deity of Jesus.

After several periods of alternating persecution and relative peace ''vis-à-vis'' the Roman authorities under different administrations, Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire in 380, but has been split into various churches from its beginning. An attempt was made by the Byzantine Empire to unify Christendom, but this formally failed with the East–West Schism of 1054. In the 16th century, the birth and growth of Protestantism during the Reformation further split Christianity into many denominations.
Christianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, Christianity played a prominent role in the development of Western civilization.

Islam

Islam is based on the teachings of the Quran. Although it considers Muhammad to be the Seal of the prophets, Islam teaches that every prophet preached Islam, as the word ''Islam'' means submission, the main concept preached by all prophets. Although the Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God, other Islamic books considered to be revealed by God before the Quran, mentioned by name in the Quran are the Tawrat (Torah) revealed to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel (Bani Israil), the Zabur (Psalms) revealed to Dawud (David) and the Injil (the Gospel) revealed to Isa (Jesus). The Quran also mentions God having revealed the Scrolls of Abraham and the Scrolls of Moses.

The relationship between Islamic and Hebrew scriptures and New Testament differs significantly from the relationship between the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible