Abraham: The Friend of God

An interesting book about Abraham as he is common to the two great religions of the world. However it needs to have greater references for a serious student of history.

the first chapter, being the introduction introduces the centrality of the Prophet to the three faiths, accompanied with an appendice that is a treatment of the sources at hand. In a way, this work is a quest for the "historical" prophet, as he is found in the Judeo-Christian literature (silent between the periods of his life between Ur and Mecca) and the Islamic literature (silent on the period of his life in Palestine). that is not to say, that there is no over-lap: there is, and there are avenues of complementarities, and other avenues where they contradict each other, fundamentally. these contradictions surround the subject of separation of Hagar and Ismail from Ibrahim, the age, the manner of separation and the final destination of mother and son having accepted this, the author embraces these varied notions, and posits, that one has to be willing to examine all claims, give each tradition serious consideration, and attempt to synthesize across traditions where possible. importantly, when none of the above are possible, one ought to resort to an honest and intellectual examination of each traditions narrative, motivated by the genuine need to integrate the three-monotheistic faiths, where-ever theo-logically it is possible. while the Bible and the Quran are in dis-agreement concerning dogma and theology, this should not obscure the fact the "historically" speaking, the two sources complement each other: filling in where the other missed. how is this possible then, to even attempt a synthesis of narrative? while Jews and Christians while considering the Quran as a source, don't have to regard it as a "sacred scripture", one still has to deal with the historicity and it's acceptability in the 7th Century CE it is important to garner the consequences of the author placing this within the context of the 7th Century Christian Era: since he places it within the context of arab tradition being independent, while other sources did exist i.e. Jewish "Midrashic"), and this is where he proceeds to date the Quran and the non-Quranic sources within the appendix (i.e. Appendix I) having addressed the objection from the Christian and the Jewish, he turns his attention to the muslim belief premised on the notion of "contamination", which he terms a "myopic" view, since historically speaking scholars and historians are always working with documents that are distorted, altered and/or contaminated. the scholar/bio-grapher combs through such information looking for "grains or kernels of truth". let it be know, that the synthesis here is that of "narrative" and not that of "dogma". words on methodology are in place, delineating "the context", as it relates to the persona of the prophet. the author is conscious of the great man syndrome, which derive in essence from several factors (a) socio-economic considerations (b) geo-political factors (c) climatic constraints (d) and in my own view, the prevailing intellectual, philosophical, religious bel

A truly brilliant account of the Patriach of Monotheism. Tirelessly reasearched, as evident by the comprehensive Appendices, eloquently written and masterfully explained. Another masterpiece from Dirks.

This book is a excellent book if some one needs to know about the the concept of GOD in 3 religions. The author really did a good job in explaining the concepts of GOD.

If you are looking for the universality of God and the root of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism, then this book is for you. Jerald Dirks does an exceptional work of combining the knowledge found in the three scriptures to paint a fascinating portrait of the man who started it all.