Comparing Women's Roles in Christianity and Islam Christianity
Concept of God:
Christians believe the image of God to be three Gods merged into one. The Trinity’s components are the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and they are all equal. Each form of God has the same attributes of all-powerful, all-knowing, always present, unchanging, and everlasting. (Dew)
Concept of Prayer:
For Christians, prayer is the foundation of their religion, but is less strict than Islam. Christian believers create and sustain a relationship with God through direct two-way communication in prayer.
The Book of Prayer and its Origins:
The Bible is composed of both the book of Judaism and the story of Jesus’ life. Various authors wrote the 66 separate books containing the word of God. These circulated independently until the Council of Hippo compiled chosen books into the one volume Bible that is used by Christians.
Date of the Book:
The dates of the books of the Bible are only approximated. The Old Testament was written from around 1250B.C. to 100B.C. and the New Testament from 40A.D. to 70A.D. The 66 books were compiled together in 390 A.D. at the Council of Hippo. ...
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Responsibilities Toward Children:
Fathers have the responsibility of ensuring the survival of the children. Mothers are responsible for the moral and social education of the children.
Concept of Sin and Repentance:
In Islam, there is no belief in original sin. All of humanity is destined for heaven unless they refuse Allah. A Muslim only has to repent and ask forgiveness to be saved by God.
The Priests/ Jurists and their Roles:
Since there is no institution like the Church in Islam, there is no official authority. So, there is no hierarchy of spiritual leaders such as priests, but each believer controls their own spirituality.
The Christian Scriptures is the entire Christian Bible. It is composed of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is composed of several books all containing stories about Jesus, and the Christian Testament (New Testament) which contains the stories of Jesus and the earliest Christian Communities. Although these stories cannot confidently prove to us that they are true there are several distinct similarities, which are contained in nearly all of the books. These similarities are so frequent that their constant occurrence seems more than coincidence. Although these similarities occur often in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four short books included in the Christian Testament, which we must rely on to understand Jesus’ ministry and life.
Modern scholars believe that the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, was composed by four or five writers between 1000 to 400 BCE based on much older traditions. The New Testament was composed by a variety of writers between 60 to 110 CE. The contents of the New Testament were formalized by Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 CE, and finally canonized in 382 CE (Geisler and
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
It contains sixty-six smaller books, and those books are divided into two different parts, called the Old Testament and the New Testament (“Fast Facts about the Bible”). The Old Testament has thirty-nine books, and even those books are divided into sections. The first five books of the Bible make up the Pentateuch, which contains the laws that the early Israelites had to live by. The next group of books are the Historical books, which tell the stories of many different people that Christians look up to. After those come the books of Poetry, and the Major and Minor Prophets. In the New Testament, there are twenty-seven books, which are also made up of different parts. The first four books in the New Testament are different accounts of the Gospel of Jesus, which tells of His life and ministry on Earth. Those are followed by the Church’s history, and Paul’s letters to the churches from that time period. And, the last book of the Bible is a part of its own theme, the prophecy. It depicts the future events of the world, and what will happen during the end
There are four major differences between Islam and Christianity. The first one being that Christians believe in the Holy Trinity. This means God takes on three forms, the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. In the Islamic religion they believe in only one God, they call Alla...
common. However, by exploring into the fundamental areas such as, beliefs, rituals, founders, ethics, and sacred objects, the two show strong differences. The literal word Islam means,"submission." This submission is to the one god, Allah. In this instance, Muslims are those who have submitted themselves. Both Muslims and Christians are monotheists, believing
Christianity is the most widespread religion in the world with two billion followers. Many aspects of Christianity are based on Judaism (Tiemann 526). Christianity is based on the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ’s message to everyone is personal salvation and also promises faith and love triumphs over sin and death. The origins of Christianity are based on the book that Christians read, the Holy Bible. Christians believe the Bible is God’s word. In the Bible, God talks about The Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are agreements between God and his chosen people. Christianity is an example of monotheism. What makes up the God that Christians believe is God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit. The three of these makes up the Trinity of Christianity (Brown 76). Some of the Christian practices are gathering at churches for worship, fellowship and engage in the world through evangelism. One of the beliefs that Christians have is Jesus will come back to earth and take those who believe in Him back to Heaven.
The New Testament is a part of the Christian Canon, which is inclusive of the Old and New Testament. The New Testament consists of twenty-seven books, and is the foundation of the Christian religion. The New Testament has set the bar for Christianity as a religion, but many questions surround the New Testament. These questions surrounding the New Testament have continuously sparked controversy. The Old Testament revealed how worshipers of Christianity were to live their lives, and helped to guide them through their lives. Many do not question the validity of the Old Testament. Books were left out essentially fitting into what the church wanted, and not seeing eye to eye with their Christian ideals. The New Testament
Both Christianity and Islam mirror Judaism. From Judaism, Christianity and Islam derived the doctrines of monotheism, prophecy, resurrection, and a belief in the existence of heaven and hell. Both Islam and Christianity have a holy book. Christians consider the Bible the inspired word of God, however Muslims believe that the Koran is the literal word of God. Mohammed was merely transcribing the words of Allah, much as a court reporter does. Muslims therefore attribute greater spiritual
The Bible can largely be divided into two parts: the Old and New Testament; it is said that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic language and the New one in Greek originally. And since at first it was written for being recited or spoken aside, the 66 books are still sorted as chapters and verses. Commonly, people consider the Bible as a prose (or novel, for some). Yet, the primitive form of a poem actually can be seen in the Bible, the origin of the ancient Hebrew
The Old Testament is divided into six major sections. During each of these sections, elements of Old Testament history foreshadow various New Testament themes and events. Some of these various accounts recorded in the Old Testament are prophetical in nature and foretell specific details about various events that will be fulfilled in New Testament times. Each of the six major sections carries its own unique overarching theme that will in some way tie into New Testament history and theology. The six major sections of Old Testament are: creation (Genesis 1-11), covenant (Genesis 12-50), congr...
Both Christians and Islam believe in one Supreme Being but according to Christian they call Him God while Muslims call him Allah. The two religions conceptualize God in different ways. Muslims view Allah as one God, this is emphasized through the word ‘tawhid’ which in Islam means “absolute unity”. Christians on the other hand view God as three holy beings, God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. According to theology this is known as the holy trinity. Early Christians did not understand the meaning of the word trinity which led to the thought that they worship three gods. However, through Christian teachings the meaning of trinity is brought out through the concept of love. Love cannot exist in seclusion ’God is Love’; hence God cannot exist in one form. This is considered blas...
Islam and Christianity have a vast amount of similarities as well as differences. Islam searches for guidance from the Qur’an and Christianity depends on faith in Jesus. Islamic faith believes in the God, Allah. Above anything else, all religious Muslims obey Allah and his commandments to obtain peace. On other hand, Christianity puts faith in Jesus who is the son of God. A major concept that separates both of the religions is the fact that the God of each faith has different qualities. This means Islam and Christianity don’t worship the same God. Islam and Christianity are two separate belief systems in which two separate Gods exist.
Although Islam and Christianity differ in major ways, they also share some similarities in their belief of God. First of all, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions; worshipping only one God. While both believe in the same God, he is called by two completely different names. He is referred to as "Allah" by Muslims and "God" by Christians. The basic creed of Islam is brief: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”. Islam teaches that there is one God: the creator and sustainer of the universe, whom is compassionate and just. He calls all the people to believe in Him and worship Him. When someone disobeys the Lord, they may be forgiven if they are sincerely repent. In Christianity, the first, and most important of the Ten Commandments states that "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me". Identical to Muslims, Christians also believe that their God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. The Bible begins with the creation of the Earth by God in seven days.
The bible is more than history though, it is a map that leads us to the words of God, and the Pentateuch especially tells us the story of God and his plan for humanity. Just like all history though, it has to be questioned and examined in order to have a strong belief that the stories passed down through generations is true. The Pentateuch’s history can be analyzed by dates, genealogy, archeology, and traditions. The writing of the Pentateuch spanned over many centuries, so in effort to present the history The Book of Deuteronomy will be the base. Deuteronomy is said to be written around 621 B.C., making it the time of Joshua. This is because the Judean and Assyrian kings were against the work of Deuteronomists, which was the central focus of Joshua in his efforts to make one “central shrine” in Jerusalem where all could gather to worship the Lord. Joshua had to wait until the kings fell out of power before his work could be available. Joshua and the Deuteronomists determine that the shrine will be located in Jerusalem, whereas the The Book of Deuteronomy does not make reference to a central shrine being located in Jerusalem. This inconsistency caused for the higher critics to determine that the central shrine would have already been created when the author was writing this because the Deuteronomy or any books before it do not