Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
Conventions Used in This Book 3
How This Book is Organized 4
Part I: History is a Happening Thing 4
Part II: The Development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 4
Part III: Shared Aspects of the Faiths 5
Part IV: Shared Ideas Among the Faiths 5
Part V: The Part of Tens 5
Part VI: Appendixes 5
Icons Used in This Book 5
Where to Go from Here 6
Part I: History is a Happening Thing 7
Chapter 1: One God, Three Faiths 9
Holy Toledo! How Many Gods are There? 9
Monotheism Develops 10
Egypt tries the one-god concept 11
Yahweh steps down from the mount 12
Following Abraham’s Lead: Judaism 13
Josiah and his faith: The beginnings of Judaism 13
God becomes universal 14
God provides protection and an identity 15
Christianity: Crossing in a New Direction 16
Paul finds a way to link beliefs 16
The Christian message spreads through the empire 16
Islam: Submitting to God 17
Chapter 2: Following Abraham’s Path 19
What We Do and Don’t Know about the Historic Abraham 19
Taking a tour of Father Abraham’s neighborhood 20
Following the laws of Abraham’s time 21
Speaking Abraham’s language 22
Practicing religion before Abraham came on the scene 22
Abraham’s Early Years 23
The Beginnings of Judaism 24
Agreeing to the covenant 25
Isaac’s close call demonstrates Abraham’s love for God 25
Following the family tree 26
In Islam, Ishmael Finds a New Way 27
Jesus Joins the Genealogy 28
Three Faiths: One Founder 29
Part II: The Development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 31
Chapter 3: Judaism: Oy Vey, What a History! 33
From Abraham, Judaism Takes the Long Road 34
Like father, like son: The leaders after Abraham 35
Over the river and through the desert, to Pharaoh’s land we go 35
Moses, Receiver of God’s Laws 36
Relying on plagues and walls of water to escape slavery 37
Counting on the Ten Commandments 38
Joshua takes control 38
The Days of the Judges 39
The Time of Kings 39
David starts a dynasty 40
Solomon rules wisely 40
Splitting into two kingdoms 40
Getting Conquered: The Jews Find Themselves in Hot Water 41
Monotheism arrives 42
Living under foreign rule 42
Christianity’s Emergence Puts the Jews on the Defensive (Yet Again) 43
How Jews Have Influenced Society 44
Emphasizing education 45
Inventing languages 46
Jewish humor: The joke’s on everyone 46
Fulfilling their dreams in America 48
Dominating the silver screen 48
Flying the Blue and White Banner of Israel 49
Chapter 4: Judaism Finds God in Everything 51
A Little of This, A Little of That 52
Maintaining Daily Practice 52
Let us pray 53
Exploring the worship wardrobe 54
Keeping kosher 55
Remembering the Sabbath 57
Observing Jewish Holidays 58
High Holy Days: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur 58
Passover: Recalling the great escape 59
Planting and harvesting holidays 61
Purim: A great reason to party 62
Hanukkah: In praise of victory and light 62
Other holidays 63
Understanding Jewish Rituals 64
Circumcision: No getting around it 64
Bar mitzvah: All grown up in God’s eyes 65
Mazel tov! Celebrating a Jewish wedding 66
Understanding Jewish Symbols .67
The menorah 67
The ark 68
The Jewish star 69
Chapter 5: Jesus and the Origins of Christianity 71
Jesus’s Life and Death 71
A remarkable birth 72
The few historical records of Jesus’s life 73
Preaching and teaching God’s word 74
Jesus’s claims stir the pot and create controversy 75
A date with the cross 76
The First Believers 76
What the early followers believed 77
The first missionary of Jesus 78
A New Religion Grows 79
The destruction of the Temple fuels growth 79
Christians separate from Judaism 80
Christian practices: It’s no mystery 80
The big time arrives: Legitimacy in the Roman Empire 81
Nicene council sets the belief 82
The Greeks split while the Romans grow in influence 83
It’s Hard to Keep Everyone Happy 84
Martin Luther spells out his displeasure 85
Protestants reform, the Church counterreforms, and fighting ensues 86
The rise of science in a Christian world 87
Conflict revives Armageddon ideas 88
Christianity Today 88
Chapter 6: Christian Beliefs and Practices 91
The First Noel: Christmas and the Roots of Christianity 92
Why a holiday for the Nativity? 93
Why December? 93
Other Christian Holidays 95
Hallelujah! He is risen: Easter 95
A solemn and somber season: Lent 97
A weekly holy day: The Sabbath 98
Happening upon Christianity’s Holy Sites 99
Seeing how sites become holy 99
Wandering around Rome and the Vatican 99
Rituals: Outward Expressions of Faith 100
One bread, one body: Communion 101
Welcoming new Christians through baptism 102
Celebrating additional sacraments 103
The Different Symbols of Christianity 103
The old rugged cross 103
What’s the bright idea behind halos? 106
Fish, lamb, doves, and more 106
Many Christians, Many Sects 106
Chapter 7: The Birth of Islam: The Prophet Submits to Allah 109
Islam, Born in the Desert 109
All roads lead to Mecca 110
Meccans become traders with the world 111
The Prophet Arrives 111
Muhammad’s early life 112
Starting out as an average guy 112
Beginning of a faith 113
Solitude leads to action 114
The faith develops: Introducing the five pillars 114
Writing the Koran 115
Muhammad Takes Command 117
Spreading the new faith 118
The Farewell Sermon 119
Breakdown at the Start-Up: Sunnis and Shi’ites Can’t Get Along 119
Choosing a leader causes strife early on 120
How Sunnis and Shi’ites practice Islam 121
The Ottoman Turks Dominate Islam 123
Chapter 8: Islam: Submission of the Faithful 125
The Core of Islam: One God with Muhammad as His Last Prophet 125
Allah: The Almighty of Islam 126
The history of Allah 127
Allah’s divine role 128
The Pillars of the Faith 129
First pillar: Creed (Shahada) 129
Second pillar: Prayer (Salat) 130
Third pillar: Purifying tax (Zakat) 131
Fourth pillar: Fasting (Sawm) 132
Fifth pillar: Pilgrimage (Hajj) 133
Meeting Some Muslim Sects 133
Ahmadiyya 134
Ismailis 134
Kahrijites 134
Kurds 135
Sufis 135
Wahhabis, or Muwahiddun 135
Gender Equality in Islam 136
Observing Muslim Holidays 137
Ramadan 137
Hijra: Turning the page to a new year 137
Ashurah: A day of many remembrances 138
Id Milad al-Nabi: Marking Muhammad’s birth and death 138
Id al-Adha: Honoring Abraham’s dedication to God 138
Lailat al-Baraa: Seeking and granting forgiveness 139
15th of Sha’ban: Shaking things up 139
27th of Rajab: A heavenly holiday 139
Getting to Know Saints in Islam 139
Common Rituals and Daily Practices 140
Getting hitched in Islam 140
Other ways of keeping the faith 141
Islam’s dietary requirements 142
The Story Behind Symbols and Colors 143
Part III: Shared Aspects of the Faiths 145
Chapter 9: Reading the Holy Words 147
The Hebrew Bible 148
Sections of the Hebrew Bible 148
When were the books written? 149
When did the books become holy? 150
Understanding the Bible through JEPD 151
It’s all Greek to me 151
The Christian Bible 152
The structure of the New Testament 152
Who wrote the books? 153
Where were they written? .153
When were the books written? 154
Drawing material from many sources 154
Jerome gets an assignment: Revise the Bible 155
The Koran 156
Revealing the Koran’s history 156
Outlining the Koran’s organization 157
Understanding the Texts 157
Translating can be such sweet sorrow 157
That’s not what that says 158
I can read it, but what does it mean? 159
Things get really complicated in the Koran 159
Where are the originals? 160
Unrolling the Dead Sea Scrolls 161
What’s in the Dead Sea Scrolls? 162
How do they help us translate the Bible? 163
Perusing Other Sacred Books 164
The insightful Talmud 164
The mysterious Kabbalah 165
Christians stick with the original reference book 166
The Hadith collects Muhammad’s sayings and teachings 166
Chapter 10: Houses of Prayer 169
Early Sacred Sites: Stone Mounds and Altars 169
The Many Lives of the Temple in Jerusalem 171
The Temple’s significance to the Jews 172
The Temple’s destruction 172
A new Temple rises 173
A battle for the Temple and its rededication 173
Romans defile the Temple 174
Herod’s version of the Temple 175
The Romans’ view of the Temple 175
The Romans burn the Temple 176
Synagogues become the Jewish houses of prayer 178
Christians Choose Churches 179
The churches of early Christians 179
Church design evolves 180
Artistry and music abound 181
Byzantine style moves in .182
Later styles emerge, but some things don’t change 182
Mosques Reflect the Prophet 182
How mosques are designed 183
Inspecting the interior of a mosque 184
Who’s Welcome for Worship? 185
Chapter 11: Religious Leaders: Keeping the Faith 187
Great Jewish Leaders of the Past 188
Prophets emerge from the shadows 188
After the prophets: Sages 189
Rise of the Rabbi 189
A rabbi’s job description 190
Education: The key to leadership 190
Modern Jewish leaders 191
Christian Leaders 192
The pope becomes the point man 192
Christianity’s organization 193
The requirements and roles of Christian church leaders 194
Church Leaders from the Early Days Until Now 195
Lighting up in the Middle Ages 195
Modern Christian leaders 196
Following Muhammad 197
Great Muslim leaders in history 197
Modern Islamic leaders 198
Chapter 12: Sacred Sites 199
Jerusalem: Important to All Three Religions 200
A city with a fuzzy origin .201
Jerusalem in history 202
Jerusalem in symbolism 205
Sacred Sites of Judaism 205
Bethel: Home of the law .206
Shechem: Future home of the Samaritans 206
Mount Moriah: Site of the Wailing Wall
and the Dome of the Rock 206
Mount Zion: A conquered fortress 207
Mount Sinai: God and Moses’s chat room 207
In Islam, All Roads Lead to Mecca 208
Christian Sacred Sites 209
Shrine of Thomas Becket 210
House of the Virgin Mary .210
Assisi, home of Saint Francis 211
Lourdes and its healing waters 211
The Vatican: Small, but holy 211
St. Peter’s Basilica 212
Other Catholic sites 213
Chapter 13: Thy Kingdom Come: The Messiah Concept 215
The Origins of the Messiah Concept 216
Isaiah outlines a role 216
Other prophets predict a messiah 217
The messianic concept takes shape with King David 218
The messiahs disappear 218
New messianic duties surface 219
The Romans create more fervor 219
Two messiahs? 220
Later messiahs in Judaism 221
Christians Adopt Jesus as the Messiah 222
Comparing old messiahs to Jesus 223
Other messianic figures around the time of Jesus 225
Jesus wins out 228
Islam Develops a Messiah: Madhi 228
The Shi’ite vision 228
Sunnis disagree 229
Other Mahdis 229
The last Mahdi? 230
Chapter 14: Holy Catastrophe: End of the World 231
Where Did the Idea of the End of the World Come From? 231
Judaism’s Belief in the End and Its Influence on Christianity 232
The end as predicted in the book of Daniel 233
Other prophesies predict the end 234
The death of Augustus 235
The destruction of the Temple: A sign for Jews and Christians 235
Other predictions of the final year 236
The Christian notion of the “antichrist” 238
Islam’s View of the End 238
Turning to texts for support 238
The end is near 239
How the End of the World Will Take Place 240
Signs of the end 240
How the end will begin, so to speak 242
Jesus gets an encore to limited audiences 242
Rise and shine for the resurrection 243
Standing by during the destruction 243
Awaiting the final judgment 243
How about stopping in purgatory? 244
Part IV: Shared Ideas Among the Faiths 247
Chapter 15: Dealing with Sin 249
What is Sin, and Where Does It Come From? 249
Sources of sin: The Devil made me do it and other reasons 250
Considering human nature 251
Judaism: Sinners defy God’s commandments 251
Christianity: We’re born with sin 252
Islam: Sin comes from straying off the path 254
Facing Punishment for Sins 255
Judaism: God gets angry but can forgive 256
Christianity: Salvation is possible 256
Islam: Cleansing by fire 257
Receiving Redemption 257
When does redemption take place? 258
How does someone get redeemed? 260
Excommunication: When Redemption Isn’t an Option 264
Chapter 16: Good Heavens: Life after Death 265
Where Do Ideas about the Afterlife Come From? 265
Early humans: Always be prepared 266
Egyptians: Soul men who needed their mummies 266
Greeks: Dead on their feet 267
Romans: A-wandering we shall go 267
Zoroastrians: Choosing between good and evil 268
What is Heaven? 269
Who you’ll meet in heaven 270
Opening up the gates of heaven to the righteous 271
What is heaven like? 271
Why go to heaven? 273
Angels: God’s Helpers 274
Early concepts of angels 274
Angels in monotheism 276
Chapter 17: Hell in a Nutshell 279
Starting with the Roots of Hell .280
Revealing the earliest references 281
Jews’ souls go to Sheol 281
Souls in Gehenna are goners 281
Why punishment in hell? .282
What is Hell Like? 282
Judaism: Hell is distance from God 282
Christianity: Hell’s a place of torment 283
Islam: Hell features wild climate extremes 287
Speaking of the Devil 287
Early concepts of hell’s ruler 287
Judaism: Satan is God’s adversary 288
Christianity: Satan is the deceiver and prince of darkness 288
Islam: Satan encourages wrongdoing 290
Watching Out for Devilish Assistants 290
Judaism: Demons in nature 291
Christianity: The witches will get ya 291
Islam: Powerful genies aid Iblis 292
What Happens to Satan? 293
Judaism: God destroys all .293
Christianity: Satan puts up a fight 293
Islam: Judgment comes 294
Chapter 18: War and Peace: Why Can’t We All Get Along? 295
A Shared Heritage 296
Belief in one God 297
Shared internal conflicts .298
Differences, Disagreements, and Conflicts 300
Universality versus exclusivity 301
Judaism offers a solution 302
Christianity closes doors, and Islam follows suit 303
War and Not So Much Peace 304
Muslims conquer for a time 304
Christianity envelops mankind 305
Christian missionaries 305
The Jews Struggle 307
No home anywhere 308
The birth of Israel: More strife 308
Troubles continue inside Israel 308
Finding Solutions in Secularism 309
Separation of church and state in the United States 309
In the Islamic world, secularism struggles 310
Where we are today 312
What does the future hold? 313
Part V: The Part of Tens 315
Chapter 19: Ten Misconceptions about Jews, Christians, and Muslims 317
Judaism Struggles against Anti-Semitism 318
Jews belong to a separate race 318
Jews want to take over the world 318
Jews killed Jesus 318
Christianity Focuses on Fundamentals 319
Christians think God will solve their problems 319
Only good Christians go to heaven 319
A person who is “born again” enjoys a miraculous, dramatic feeling 319
Islam Emerges to Slow Understanding 319
Muslims are violent 320
All Muslims are Arabs 320
Muslims don’t believe in Jesus or other prophets 320
Muslims worship a different God 320
Chapter 20: Ten Films Drawn from Biblical Accounts 321
The Ten Commandments 322
King of Kings 322
The Greatest Story Ever Told 322
Jesus Christ Superstar 323
The Passion of the Christ 323
The Prince of Egypt 324
The Last Temptation of Christ 324
Solomon and Sheba 324
David and Bathsheba 325
Samson and Delilah 325
Chapter 21: Ten-Plus Ways Religion Influences the World 327
Read All About It: Literature 327
Music as an Expression of Faith 328
Politics and Religion: Not Always Easy to Separate 329
Bringing the Bible to Life through Art 329
Recording Biblical Stories on Film 330
Spreading the Word through Television 331
Seeking Insight into God through Science 332
Education: Wearing a Skullcap and a Thinking Cap 332
Being Holy Improves Your Health and Well-Being 333
Social Welfare: Doing unto Others 334
Disagreeing about Environmental Issues 334
Part VI: Appendixes 335
Appendix A: Timelines for Religions 337
Judaism 338
Christianity 340
Islam 341
Appendix B: Genealogies 343
Judaism and Christianity 344
Islam 348
Index 351
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