TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Contributors xi Introduction xiii ADAM J. SILVERSTEIN, GUY G. STROUMSA, AND MOSHE BLIDSTEIN PART I. THE CONCEPT OF THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS 1. Abraham and Authenticity 3 REUVEN FIRESTONE 2. Yet Another Abraham 22 GIL ANIDJAR 3. Abrahamic Experiments in History 37 ADAM J. SILVERSTEIN 4. Three Rings or Three Impostors? The Comparative Approach to the Abrahamic Religions and its Origins 56 GUY G. STROUMSA 5. The Abrahamic Religions as a Modern Concept 71 MARK SILK 6. The Concept of the Abrahamic Religions, Problems and Pitfalls 88 REMI BRAGUE PART II. COMMUNITIES 7. Islamo-Christian Civilization 109 RICHARD W. BULLIET 8. The Abrahamic Religions in the Mediterranean 121 DAVID ABULAFIA 9. Justice 137 URIEL SIMONSOHN Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 10. Jews and Muslims in Christian Law and History 166 JOHN TOLAN 11. Beyond Exclusivism in the Middle Ages: On the Three Rings, the Three Impostors, and the Discourse of Multiplicity 189 DOROTHEA WELTECKE PART HI. SCRIPTURE AND HERMENEUTICS 12. Historical-Critical Readings of the Abrahamic Scriptures 209 NICOLAI SINAI 13. Interpreters of Scripture 226 CAROL BAKHOS 14. The Finality of Prophecy 254 DAVID S. POWERS 15. Apocalypticism, Millenarianism, and Messianism 272 LUTZ GREISIGER PART IV- RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 16. The Abrahamic Religions and the Classical Tradition 297 PETER E. PORMANN 17. Confessing Monotheism in Arabic (at-Tawhid): The One God of Abraham and his Apologists 315 SIDNEY H. GRIFFITH 18. Philosophy and Theology 332 CARLOS FRAENKEL 19. Science and Creation: The Medieval Heritage 355 WILLIAM E. CARROLL 20. Mysticism in the Abrahamic Religions 373 MOSHE IDEL 21. Political Thought 390 ANTONY BLACK 22. Religious Dualism and the Abrahamic Religions 405 YURI STOYANOV TABLE OF CONTENTS PART V. RITUALS AND ETHICS 23. Prayer 429 CLEMENS LEONHARD AND MARTIN LUSTRAETEN 24. Purity and Defilement 448 MOSHE BLIDSTEIN 25. Dietary Law 466 DAVID M. FREIDENREICH 26. Life-Cycle Rites of Passage 483 HARVEY E. GOLDBERG 27. The Cult of Saints and Pilgrimage 499 YOUSEF MERI 28. Religions of Love: Judaism, Christianity, Islam 518 DAVID NIRENBERG AND LEONARDO CAPEZZONE 29. Religion and Politics in the Age of Fundamentalisms 536 MALISE RUTHVEN PART VI. EPILOGUES 30. Jewish and other Abrahamic Philosophic Arguments for Abrahamic Studies 559 PETER OCHS 31. Christian Perspectives: Settings, Theology, Practices, and Challenges 580 DAVID F. FORD 32. Islamic Perspectives 597 TARIQ RAMADAN Index 6l3.