My final course for Fuller was an introduction to Islam. For my final paper, I had to look into the portrait of Jesus in the Qur’an and look for points of common ground with the NT Gospels. Instead of focusing on negative contrasts, we were to “evaluate the quranic Jesus and suggest how it can serve as a bridge for interpreting the biblical Jesus” and to look for “areas that might suggest bridges for discussion between Muslims and Christians.” For the record, I’m a little iffy on using the quranic Jesus to “interpret” the biblical Jesus, or vice versa for that matter. Each account serves completely different purposes in history and culture. Finding bridges for discussion on the other hand, is quite helpful. Before the project, I knew next to nothing about Jesus in the Qur’an. I’d like to summarize what I’ve learned and hope to get (unheated) responses from folks who know more than me.
Many Christian apologists will be quick to point out that the Jesus of the Qur’an is no more than human (e.g., Sura 43:59) and is rejected as a member of the Trinity (e.g., Sura 5:73). They will highlight the fact that Jesus does not actually die in the Qur’an and thus he is not resurrected (Sura 4:157). Non-dead people do not need to be raised from the dead, after all. From the Christian perspective, it seems the quranic account of Jesus skips the death and resurrection and jumps immediately to the ascension of Jesus (Sura 4:158). Sure, Mary gives birth to Jesus as a virgin in the Qur’an, the Christian apologist might say, but the Qur’an does not make the connection between the virgin birth and Jesus’ divine nature as Christian theology does.
But right now, we’re trying to make a bridge between the Bible and the Qur’an. One of the first steps in the process, is realizing the nature of the New Testament and how primitive “Christian theology” is within it, compared to the later statements of church councils. We do not have a full blown doctrine of the Trinity within the New Testament, although I will allow that there may be hints of the beginnings of such thought. In this comparative exercise, we should be aware of whether we are talking about the doctrines of Christ later formulated with great precision by the church or the interpretations of Jesus found within the NT documents.
(See part two . . . )
