Jesus in the Qur'an (Spring 2016 Segovia), course
Jesus in the Qur'an' is a course offered by Carlos A. Segovia at Saint Louis University - Madrid Campus in the Spring 2016.
Overview
This course examines afresh the ways in which Jesus is described in the Qur’an as a means to investigate the sectarian background of formative Islam, make its theology more accessible to non-Muslim students, and implement interfaith dialogue.
Lectures:
Office: SIH 3rd Floor, Room 315
e-mail: segoviaca@slu.edu
History
Carlos A. Segovia is Professor of Biblical and Quranic Studies in the Humanities Division at Saint Louis University - Madrid Campus since the Fall 2013.
Syllabus (Spring 2016)
Course: THEO-3930: Jesus in the Qur’an Semester: Spring 2015 Time: Professor: Carlos A. Segovia Credits: 3 Prerequisites: THEO-100 and one 200-level Theology course
1. Course purpose and objectives
The Qur’an is often interpreted as displaying a twofold contradictory attitude towards Christianity that oscillates between its approval and its dismissal. Jesus’ presentation reflects this complex attitude: on the one hand, he is described as the “son of Mary” against the Christian belief on his divine status; on the other hand, he is acknowledged to be the Messiah. However, a close examination of the Quranic passages mentioning Jesus shows that things are far more complex than this binary approach suggests. First, it is by no means evident that all pre-Islamic Arab Christians accepted Jesus’ divine sonship (for example, Anomoeans, i.e. Arian Arab Christians, did not); therefore, downplaying the latter need not be regarded as being specifically anti-Christian. Secondly, both Jesus’ name in the Qur’an (‘Isa) and his aforementioned description as the “son of Mary” have clear parallels in Dyophysite/Nestorian, and hence Eastern-Syriac, Christianity; thus they could have likewise been acceptable for at least some Christians of late antiquity. Thirdly, Jesus’ two additional Quranic titles as “God’s word” and “God’s spirit,” as well as the Quranic narratives about his miraculous birth and miracles and his implicit depiction as the second or true Adam, amount to the view that he was conferred a very especial role within the early Muslim faith. Lastly, the frequent anti-Jewish overtones of the Quranic narratives about Jesus contribute in their own way to strengthen this point. For these reasons, it is worth reconsidering in some depth what we think we know about the Quranic Jesus and examining afresh early Muslim-Christian relations. The fact, moreover, that a text mentioning Jesus was intentionally placed at the very centre of the two inscriptions contained within the walls of the first official Islamic building ever built – the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem – and the similarly intriguing fact that Muhammad and Jesus therein seem to share the very same attributes, suggests that there is more in such relations that meets the eye. Reflecting on these issues is as essential for a correct understanding of emergent Islam as it is valuable to help foster interfaith dialogue in our time.
Students who successfully complete the course will have achieved the following learning objectives:
to understand the style, purpose, and content of the Quranic narratives about Jesus to understand the complex textual and contextual problems that they present to critically asses the merits and demerits of their traditional interpretation to canvass the main results achieved in the study of such narratives over the past decades to ponder their relevance for rethinking the emergence Islam and early Muslim-Christian relations to critically asses their implications for modern interfaith dialogue to determine, by one’s own lights, how to better deal with all the aforementioned issues
2. Course description
The course would divide into nine sections:
I Pagans, Jews, and Christians in Pre-Islamic Arabia II Jesus, Muhammad, and The Quranic Milieu III Jesus’ Name and Titles in the Qur’an IV The Quranic Narrative of Jesus’ Birth V The Quranic Report about Jesus’ Teachings and Miracles VI Revisiting the Quranic View on Jesus’ Death VII Noah, Jesus, and the Quranic Prophet VIII Jesus, Muhammad, and the Inscriptions on Dome of the Rock IX Jesus in Muslim-Christian Dialogue
3. Textbook
The text for the course is Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem. The Qur’an: A New Translation. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
It is required and available at SLU Madrid bookshop.
A Kindle edition can be purchased through www.amazon.com
4. Supplementary bibliography:
Block, C. Jonn. The Qur’an in Christian-Muslim Dialogue: Historical and Modern Interpretations. London and New York: Routledge, 2014. Khalidi, Tarif: The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Lawson, Todd. The Crucifixion and the Qur’an: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought. Oxford: Oneworld, 2009. Leirvik, Oddbjorn. Images of Jesus Christ in Islam. London: Continuum, 2010. 2nd edition. Parrinder, Geoffrey. Jesus in the Qur’an. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Peters, Francis E. Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Reynolds, Gabriel Said. The Qur’ān and Its Biblical Subtext. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. Robinson, Neal. Christ in Islam and Christianity. New York: State University of New York Press; and London: Macmillan, 1991.
5. Grading and attendance
In this course final grades are calculated as a weighted average of four scores: two exams, a paper, and participation. The scores are weighted as follows:
Midterm exam: 25% Paper: 25% Final exam: 25% Participation: 25%
Exams and paper: The exams must be taken and the paper turned in on the dates assigned (see Section 6 below). Violations of this policy will result in the loss of a grade point (from B to C, for example) in all but the most exceptional cases.
Participation: This component of your final grade will be based on oral exercises and commitment to the class discussions, attendance, effort, and punctuality. Seven or more absences for any reason constitute an unrecoverable loss of course content and will result in an F for the course. Mobile phones are to be switched off in class. Computers and tablets are to be used solely for taking class notes. Students are expected not to interrupt class by leaving the room and returning during the class period.
Please note that, as a student in this course, you are required to adhere to the university’s Academic Honesty Policy. Cheating, falsification, and plagiarism are strictly forbidden. Plagiarism is the intentional representation of someone else’s thoughts or words as if they were one’s own. Any violation of this policy will result in an F for the pertinent academic exercise. A detailed statement of the policy may be found at http://spain.slu.edu/academics/academic_advising/docs/Academic_integrity.pdf.
6. Topics ans sessions
Session 1 • Introducing our topic: Old ideas and new insights on the Quranic Jesus • Interpreting some fragmentary, yet puzzling, archaeological evidence
I Pagans, Jews, and Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia
Session 2 • Re-mapping sectarian boundaries: Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Arabian peninsula on the eve of Islam • Looking at the texts themselves: Christian, pro-Christian, and anti-Christian formulas in the Qur’an? • Qur’an 43:57-9 + 61:14; 3:59-64; 4:171; 3:65-8 * Excursus: How is it that religious differences come to be produced and inscribed?
II Jesus, Muhammad, and The Quranic Milieu
Session 3 • Two religious leaders for two different religions, or a single original sectarian milieu? • Muhammad the eschatological prophet and Jesus the Messiah • Did Jesus foretell the coming of Muhammad? • Qur’an 61:6 and John 14:16; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7 * Excursus 1: The story of Muhammad, the Monk Bahira, and Waraqa b. Nawfal * Excursus 2: The report of an early non-Muslim witness to Muhammad’s eschatological claims and military career? The prophet holding the keys of paradise in the Doctrina Jacobi
Session 4 General discussion over Sections I–II
Session 5 • “A Christian Reading of the Qur’an” (G. S. Reynolds) – Video and discussion * Excursus: How do we know what we think we know about the Quranic corpus?
Session 6 • “A Muslim Reads the Bible” (Sh. Akhtar) – Video and discussion * Excursus: Rethinking ancient Muslim-Christian relations
III Jesus’ Name and Titles in the Qur’an
Session 7 • Qur’an 4:171 • Jesus as God’s messenger and servant • Questioning Jesus’ divine sonship: An anti-Christian move? • Jesus’ name in the Qur’an: Why ‘Isa? • Jesus as the Messiah, son of Mary • Jesus as a word from God (Qur’an 3:45), or Jesus as God’s Word? • Jesus as a spirit from God: The enigma behind Qur’an 21:91 and 66:12
Session 8 • Is there an Adam Christology in the Qur’an? Re-reading Qur’an 21:91 and 66:12 in light of Qur’an 15:29 and 38:72 • Eden revisited: Why did the angels worship Adam? • Qur’an 2:30-4; 15:28-31; 38:71-4 • Genesis 1:26-7; 2:7 + Hebrews 1:6 as subtexts? • God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in Qur’an 2:87
Session 9 General discussion over Section III
IV The Quranic Narrative of Jesus’ Birth
Session 10 • Why do the stories of Mary and John the Baptist precede that of Jesus’ birth in the Qur’an? A symptomatic reading of Qur’an 3:33-41; 19:2-15 after Mark 1, Luke 1, John 1, and the Protevangelium of James • Jesus’s annunciation and virginal birth in Qur’an 3:42-51 * Excursus 1: The argument in Qur’an 3:58-64 and 19:35 compared to that found in Qur’an 3:47-8: A polemical development? * Excursus 2: On the expression “People of the Book” in Qur’an 3:64 and 3:65 • Jesus’ birth in Qur’an 19:16-27: One or two tales put together?
Session 11 • Why does Jesus speak from the cradle in Qur’an 3:46 and 19:27-33? • The Qur’an and the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy • The missing connection: The birth of Noah in 1 Enoch 106 and its New Testament parallels • The full symbol: The Son-of-Man passage in Daniel 7:9-28 * Excursus: Qur’an 19:34-40 as a strategic interpolation? General discussion over Section IV
Midterm Exam
Session 12 Invited Talk: “An Early Unnoticed Attempt to Build a Christology Common to Muslims and Christians: Some Thoughts and Insights on the Quranic Mary” – Guillaume Dye (Free University of Brussels [ULB]
V The Quranic Report about Jesus’ Teachings and Miracles
Session 13 • Jesus as a sign for humanity in Qur’an 2:136; 4:163; 21:19; 33:7; 42:13 • Jesus as a messenger to the Children of Israel in Q 3:49-57 • Unraveling the anti-Jewish Christian rhetoric implicit in Q 3:49-57 • Jesus’ disciples, God’s helpers, and the so-called ansar al-islam: On the ambiguity of the wording in Qur’an 3:52 • Jesus’ miracles in Qur’an 3:49 and their canonical and apocryphal sources
VI Revisiting the Quranic View on Jesus’ Death
Session 14 • Who killed Jesus? Traditional and new responses • Who are said to have killed Jesus in the Qur’an? • Did they actually kill him? The interpretative problem in Qur’an 4:157 • Christian docetism, the Qur’an, and the Muslim tradition
Session 15 General discussion over Sections V and VI
VII Noah, Jesus, and the Quranic Prophet
Session 16 • The Noah Narratives in Qur’an 7:59-64; 10:71-4; 11:25-49; 23:23-30; 26:105-22; 54:9-17; and 71:1-28 • The editor’s hand at work in Qur’an 11:25-49 and 71:1-28 • An original single narrative? • Qur’an 11:35 and 11:49 as textual additions
Session 17 • An unnoticed but decisive connection? • Who is who in Qur’an 11:35, 49? • Isaiah 54:7-10 and 4QTanhumim 9-13 as subtexts? • What about 1 Enoch 93:4; Matthew 24:37-9; Luke 17:26; and 2 Peter 3:5-7, 10-12?
Session 18 Paper due General discussion over Section VII
Session 19 Students’ presentations A
Session 20 Students’ presentations B
Session 21 Students’ presentations C
VIII Jesus, Muhammad, and the Inscriptions on Dome of the Rock
Session 22 • The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and its relevance for the study of formative Islam • ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, Jerusalem, and the foundation of the Arab state • ‘Abd al-Malik’s innovative religious policy I: Towards a new confessional formula • ‘Abd al-Malik’s innovative religious policy II: The collection of the Qur’an • The two Kufic inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock • Quranic texts on them? Reassessing a rather complex problem
Session 23 • The inscription on the outer face of the octogonal arcade (Inscription I) • Thematic divisions and rhetorical analysis • Its core message: Jesus is not God’s son • Critical observations on the opening confessional formula
Session 24 • The inscription on the outer face of the octogonal arcade (Inscription II) • Thematic division and rhetorical analysis • Its core message: An expansion of Inscription I? • The elusive referent of the titles “servant,” “prophet,” and “messenger”: A transition text?
Session 25 General discusion over Section VIII
Session 26 “How Islam Began” (F. M. Donner) – Video and discussion
IX Jesus in Muslim-Christian dialogue
Session 27 Provisional conclusions and general discussion
Final Exam
7. Guidelines for writing your paper, preparing your presentation, and taking your two exams
You will have to write a research paper (c. 4,000 words) on one of the topics of the course. Further indications on the eligible topics and the recommended bibliography will be provided in due time.
All students will be asked to individually present their papers on Sessions 19, 20, and 21 (see Section 6 above).
The midterm exam will cover Sections I–IV of the programme (on which see Section 2 above). You will be asked to undertake a textual analysis of two texts. The analysis of each text will be worth 1.75 points; 0.50 additional points will be for style. Your midterm grade will be that of your midterm exam.
The final exam will cover Sections V–VIII of the programme. Like in the midterm exam, You will be asked to undertake a textual analysis of two texts. The analysis of each text will be worth 1.75 points; 0.50 additional points will be for style. As mentioned above (see Section 5), your final grade will be calculated as a weighted average of four scores including your two exams, your paper, and your participation throughout the course.
You will be allowed to bring your class and home notes to both exams, provided they are handwritten. No other materials will be admitted, though.
8. Collection of student work for assessment
Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus is committed to excellent and innovative educational practices. In order to maintain quality academic offerings and to conform to relevant accreditation requirements, we regularly assess our teaching, services, and programs for evidence of student learning outcomes achievement. For this purpose we keep on file anonymised representative examples of student work from all courses and programs such as: assignments, papers, exams, portfolios, and results from student surveys, focus groups, and reflective exercises. Thus, copies of your work for this course, including exams, oral presentations, and/or submitted papers may be kept on file for institutional research, assessment and accreditation purposes. If you prefer that Saint Louis University-Madrid Campus does not keep your work on file, you will need to communicate your decision in writing to your professor.
9. Academic accommodations
In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. Students who think they might benefit from these resources can find out more about: course-level support (e.g., faculty member, departmental resources, etc.) by asking your course instructor; and university-level support (e.g., tutoring/writing services, Disability Services) by visiting the Academic Dean's Office (San Ignacio Hall) or by going to http://spain.slu.edu/academics/learning_resources.html.
Students who believe that, due to a disability, they could benefit from academic accommodations are encouraged to contact Disability Services at +34 915 54 58 58, ext. 204, send an e-mail to counselingcenter-madrid@slu.edu, or visit the Counselling Office (San Ignacio Hall). Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries. Course instructors support student accommodation requests when an approved letter from Disability Services has been received and when students discuss these accommodations with the instructor after receipt of the approved letter.
10. Office and e-mail
Office: San Ignacio Hall, Room 315. E-mail contact: segoviaca@slu.edu