“A challenging, sensitive, appreciative, deep and broad-minded book.” The Muslim World Book Review
“The work of a master scholar who has devoted a lifetime of scholarly, dialogical, and contemplative reflection to these three interconnected traditions. Audacious in its breadth, the book also addresses important and urgent issues, ranging from creation and eschatology to providence and grace, and the debates that even today continue to divide Jews, Christians, and Muslims. This learned and passionate book is a service to all three communities, a helpful reference work for the ongoing dialogue.” Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University
“Professor Burrell is an intellectual wonder and paragon of interfaith evenhandedness. This book takes us on a cross-religious intellectual journey in a way no other book I know does. It is a seminal piece of writing and its intellectual assumptions hold the key not only to interfaith peace in the world but also objective philosophical excellence.” Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal
Religious debate among Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scholars has acquired urgent new dimensions in recent years. Yet over the course of 1400 years, what have the Abrahamic traditions really learned from each other? Brilliantly demonstrating the ways that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have struggled with similarly intractable issues over the centuries, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers insightful new pathways for productive theological work, along with deep insights into the topic of faith itself.
Burrell uses exercises in “creative hermeneutics” to show how each tradition struggles with complex issues, and how comparative inquiry illuminates those issues to the benefit of each tradition. For each key topic explored, renowned religious scholar and theologian David B. Burrell shows how intellectual trends of their day may be read to extend the reach of each tradition itself. By illuminating the actual and potential interaction among the dominant monotheistic religions, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers inspiration for continued theological dialogue and hope for people of all faiths in the 21st century.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“For using his considerable intellectual skills in that way, he should be commended and thanked.” (International Journal of Systematic Theology, 19 June 2015)
“A new book by David Burrell is always something to look forward to.” (Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 14 November 2014)
“Burrell’s work is highly learned …This is not an easy book, but it is well worth the effort in wrestling with as we attempt to come to our own answers to such vexed questions.” (Regent’s Reviews, 2012)
“This is a challenging, sensitive, appreciative, deep and broad-minded book.” (The Muslim World Book Review, 2012)
“Burrell encourages dialogue between persons – conversations that may foster mutual understanding of such antithetical issues as ways of interpreting Scripture, Scripture as the word of God, Muslim attitudes toward the Christ figure, and Christians relating to a fresh revelation after Christ. [He] concludes that whatever Christians may think about Judaism and Islam, their encounter with Jews and Muslims is what matters. Recommended: Graduate students and above.” (Choice, 2011)
Review
“The work of a master scholar who has devoted a lifetime of scholarly, dialogical, and contemplative reflection to these three interconnected traditions. Audacious in its breadth, the book also addresses important and urgent issues, ranging from creation and eschatology to providence and grace, and the debates that even today continue to divide Jews, Christians, and Muslims. This learned and passionate book is a service to all three communities, a helpful reference work for the ongoing dialogue.” ―Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University
“Comparative Theology at its best, focusing on fundamental religious questions and pointing to ways in which the dialogue between religious traditions can both expand and deepen theological understanding. Skillfully comparing representative thinkers from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions and combining theological reflection with personal narratives, Burrell sheds new light on ancient doctrines and offers helpful suggestions for dealing with issues that have long troubled the relationship between the three traditions.” ―Catherine Cornille, Boston College
“This book is both the fruit of, and an invitation to hospitality. After decades of welcoming and being welcomed by the Jewish and Muslim intellectual traditions, David Burrell challenges Christians, Muslims and Jews to recognize that we share a common intellectual home; that despite our differences–or rather by exploring them–we will discover a richness that each tradition brings to the discourse about the one God.” ―Daniel A Madigan, SJ, Georgetown University
From the Inside Flap
Religious debate among Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scholars has acquired urgent new dimensions in recent years. Yet over the course of 1400 years, what have the Abrahamic traditions really learned from each other? Brilliantly demonstrating the ways that Christianity, Islam, and the Judaism have struggled with similarly intractable issues over the centuries, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers insightful new pathways for productive theological work, along with deep insights into the topic of faith itself.
Burrell uses exercises in ‘creative hermeneutics’ to show how each tradition struggles with complex issues, and how comparative inquiry illuminates those issues to the benefit of each tradition. For each key topic explored, renowned religious scholar and theologian David B. Burrell shows how intellectual trends of their day may be read to extend the reach of each tradition itself. By illuminating the actual and potential interaction among the dominant monotheistic religions, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers inspiration for continued theological dialogue and hope for people of all faiths in the 21st century.
From the Back Cover
Religious debate among Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scholars has acquired urgent new dimensions in recent years. Yet over the course of 1400 years, what have the Abrahamic traditions really learned from each other? Brilliantly demonstrating the ways that Christianity, Islam, and the Judaism have struggled with similarly intractable issues over the centuries, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers insightful new pathways for productive theological work, along with deep insights into the topic of faith itself.
Burrell uses exercises in ‘creative hermeneutics’ to show how each tradition struggles with complex issues, and how comparative inquiry illuminates those issues to the benefit of each tradition. For each key topic explored, renowned religious scholar and theologian David B. Burrell shows how intellectual trends of their day may be read to extend the reach of each tradition itself. By illuminating the actual and potential interaction among the dominant monotheistic religions, Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology offers inspiration for continued theological dialogue and hope for people of all faiths in the 21st century.
About the Author
David B.Burrell, Hesburgh Professor emeritus at University of Notre Dame, teaches Ethics and Development at Uganda Martyrs University. He has published extensively in comparative issues in philosophical theology in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and is the author of Faith and Freedom (2006), Wiley-Blackwell.
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