fascinating article by Juan Cole [View all]

[ChairmanAgnostic]

what a joy it is to read a historian write about something he/she knows. Especially when the topic is christianity - muslim religions (and how their early days were so murky).

Here's a sample:

First of all, we know very little about the lives of Jesus (d. circa 30-33 CE) or Muhammad (d. 632 CE). As a historian, I’m looking for early sources and diverse sources. The earliest manuscripts of the New Testament are second century, and in Greek rather than in the original Aramaic (some ideas may have changed radically with the translation– the Aramaic almost certainly did not have the phrase ‘son of God.’) There are many variants among the manuscripts and among the Gospels. Did Mark even know about a resurrection? There are even questions about what sources early Christians accepted (is the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas a Gospel?) All of the extant accounts of Jesus obviously come from a small number of early Christian communities. There is no early outside source. We historians want accounts coming from several different sources.

Amazingly, 600+ years later, there were outside sources discussing Muhammed, something the christians sorely lack.

Here's the cite. http://www.juancole.com/
A very interesting read. Especially how growing numbers of ".....istan" peoples are doing without religion.

I just hope his conclusion, that 200 yrs from now both those religions will be dead. They've caused enough pain and suffering by now, haven't they?