Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam

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Title: Christianity and Islam
Author: C.H. Becker
Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11198]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM ***

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CHRISTIANITY
AND
ISLAM
BY
C.H. BECKER, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF ORIENTAL HISTORY IN THE COLONIAL
INSTITUTE OF HAMBURG
TRANSLATED BY REV. H.J. CHAYTOR, M.A.
HEADMASTER OF PLYMOUTH COLLEGE

1909

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The subject from different points of view: limits of treatment
The nature of the subject: the historical points of connection between
Christianity and Islam
A. Christianity and the rise of Islam:
1. Muhammed and his contemporaries
2. The influence of Christianity upon the development of Muhammed
3. Muhammed's knowledge of Christianity
4. The position of Christians under Muhammedanism
B. The similarity of Christian and Muhammedan metaphysics during
the middle ages:
1. The means and direction by which Christian influence affected Islam
2. The penetration of daily life by the spirit of religion; asceticism,
contradictions and influences affecting the development of a clerical
class and the theory of marriage
3. The theory of life in general with reference to the doctrine of
immortality
4. The attitude of religion towards the State, economic life, society, etc.
5. The permanent importance to Islam of these influences: the doctrine
of duties
6. Ritual
7. Mysticism and the worship of saints
8. Dogma and the development of scholasticism
C. The influence of Islam upon Christianity:
The manner in which this influence operated, and the explanation of the
superiority of Islam
The influence of Muhammedan philosophy
The new world of European Christendom and the modern East
Conclusion. The historical growth of religion
Bibliography

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM
A comparison of Christianity with Muhammedanism or with any other

religion must be preceded by a statement of the objects with which
such comparison is undertaken, for the possibilities which lie in this
direction are numerous. The missionary, for instance, may consider that
a knowledge of the similarities of these religions would increase the
efficacy of his proselytising work: his purpose would thus be wholly
practical. The ecclesiastically minded Christian, already convinced of
the superiority of his own religion, will be chiefly anxious to secure
scientific proof of the fact: the study of comparative religion from this
point of view was once a popular branch of apologetics and is by no
means out of favour at the present day. Again, the inquirer whose
historical perspective is undisturbed by ecclesiastical considerations,
will approach the subject with somewhat different interests. He will
expect the comparison to provide him with a clear view of the influence
which Christianity has exerted upon other religions or has itself
received from them: or he may hope by comparing the general
development of special religious systems to gain a clearer insight into
the growth of Christianity. Hence the object of such comparisons is to
trace the course of analogous developments and the interaction of
influence and so to increase the knowledge of religion in general or of
our own religion in particular.
A world-religion, such as Christianity, is a highly complex structure
and the evolution of such a system of belief is best understood by
examining a religion to which we have not been bound by a thousand
ties from the earliest days of our lives. If we take an alien religion as
our subject of investigation, we shall not shrink from the consequences
of the historical method: whereas, when we criticise Christianity, we
are often unable to see the falsity of the pre-suppositions which we
necessarily bring to the task of inquiry: our minds follow the doctrines
of Christianity, even as our bodies perform their functions--in complete
unconsciousness. At the same time we possess a very considerable
knowledge of the development of Christianity, and this we owe largely
to the help of analogy. Especially instructive is the comparison between
Christianity and Buddhism. No less interesting are the discoveries to be
attained by an inquiry into the development of Muhammedanism: here
we can see the growth of tradition proceeding in the full light of
historical criticism. We see the plain man, Muhammed, expressly
declaring in the Qoran that he cannot perform miracles, yet gradually

becoming a miracle worker and indeed the greatest of his class: he
professes to be nothing more than a mortal man: he becomes the chief
mediator between man and God. The scanty memorials of the man
become voluminous biographies of the