Christianity and the Qur'an
The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Publishing:28th Oct '25
£25.00
This title is due to be published on 28th October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A leading Qur’anic scholar’s revisionary account of how Islam emerged in dialogue with Christian traditions
Challenging the dominant narrative about the history of the Qur’an and the emergence of Islam in a predominantly pagan context, Gabriel Said Reynolds presents the Qur’an as a text born within a largely Christian culture. As he examines the ways the Qur’an engages with Christian traditions—not only those of the New Testament but also those of late antique Christian literature—and with Christians themselves, Reynolds also draws on recent scholarship on pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions suggesting that monotheism, Christianity in particular, was a significant presence in the pre-Islamic Hijaz, the region in which Muhammad preached.
This study re-situates the Qur’an as a text thoroughly concerned with Christianity, not just the longer narratives of individuals such as Mary and Jesus but also passages that do not mention Christians explicitly. The Qur’an’s stance toward Christianity is on occasion controversial, aiming to advance Islamic theology and undermine Christian apologetical arguments, yet the Qur’an is not always polemical. At times, the text makes use of the audience’s knowledge of the Bible to advance its own vision of God and God’s relationship with humanity.
“Gabriel Reynolds is one of the leading scholars of the Qur’an working anywhere in the world today. Christianity and the Qur’an represents the culmination of many years of meticulous study on this topic. Reynolds skillfully synthesizes a vast amount of disparate secondary scholarship, combining this with his deep knowledge of the Qur’anic text to make a very interesting and important argument about Christianity and the Qur’an’s environment, audience, and overall purpose. It will be an instant classic and point of reference for further studies in this area.”—Jack Tannous, Princeton University
“Reynolds has written a wonderful book on the late ancient Christian context of the Qur’an—a worthy successor to Richard Bell’s Origin of Islam in Its Christian Environment (1926) and a far superior book at that.”—Sean W. Anthony, author of Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam
“Christianity and the Qur’an presents an intriguing and important challenge to what we ‘know’ about the religious, historical, and literary context out of which the Qur’an emerged. In leading readers on an absorbing exploration of an astonishing range of sources, Reynolds’ scholarly acumen is once again in full force and in full view.”—Shari L. Lowin, Stonehill College
“Gabriel Said Reynolds—one of the most creative and consequential scholars in Qur’anic studies today—helps us see Islam’s holy book as if anew: as a text profoundly shaped by the Christian communities and ideas that saturated late antique Arabia. A bold, thought-provoking portrait of the Qur’an and its fundamental relationship with Christianity.”—Christian Sahner, University of Oxford
“A must-read for all students and scholars interested in studying the Qurʾan in its formative period. Reynolds’ handling of the secondary literature is informative, comprehensive, and incisively critical.”—Shady Nasser, Harvard University
ISBN: 9780300281750
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
288 pages