People of the Book

People of the Book: An Interfaith Dialogue about How Jews, Christians and Muslims Understand Their Sacred Scriptures

What is the role of scripture in illuminating the lives of the faithful today? In this book, three experts in Judaism, Christianity and Islam respectively discuss and debate this question, by exploring the core messages of the Torah, Bible and Qu'ran. Taking a deeper look at the wide range of theological, political and social issues that divide (and sometimes unite) their religions, they reveal how inspiration and guidance can be drawn not only on life's big questions such as sin and the afterlife, but also on societal issues including war, suffering, marriage and justice.
"This book is particularly important at a time when isolated verses from holy books are used to justify violence or suppress human rights. I hope it encourages the faithful to read their scriptures for themselves rather than relying on what preachers say. It may even come as a surprise that the Word of God is transmitted to us through human beings and that the Creeds too did not drop down from heaven, but were composed by church leaders. An added bonus is that besides fresh insights into their own scriptures, the reader will learn something about the beliefs of other ‘People of the Book’ as the three authors – Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Jewish), George D. Chryssides (Christian) and Usama Hasan (Muslim) – share information and opinions. This they do, both concisely and honestly. Besides explaining how we come to have Holy Books and the authority given to them, the authors explain what the scriptures say on key subjects such as the Creation of the World by God, Marriage and the Family, War and Peace, and Life after Death. They make clear the different
interpretations within a faith community and, refreshingly, also tell us their personal interpretations and spiritual practices. They also speculate on the possible conflicts between future discoveries of space exploration and our old religious beliefs. Would extra-terrestrial beings, who obviously were not descended from Adam and Eve, be tainted with original sin? Maybe, as the poet Alice Meynell suggested, this would add a new dimension to interfaith dialogue as ‘we compare together...a million alien Gospels’. As it is too few Jews, Christians and Muslims have read each other’s scriptures let alone the Upanishads."