Islam, Christianity and the Realms of the Miraculous: A Comparative Exploration

by Ian Richard Netton

Overview

This new and dynamic approach to the perennially fascinating subject of miracles adopts a strictly anthropological and phenomenological approach. Allowing the miracles to speak for themselves, Ian Richard Netton examines these phenomena in the Islamic and Christian traditions through the lens of narration. What are the stories of the miracles? What are the contexts which gave rise to these miracles and allowed them to garner belief and flourish? Perspectives covered include the views of believers and non-believers alike in these phenomena.
Similarities and differences in content and approach are explored with a primary focus on the five main anthropological topoi of food, water, blood, wood and stone, and cosmology. A range of intertextual elements in both these Islamic and Christian traditions are discerned.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474474511
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Series:	Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ian Richard Netton is Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is the author or editor of 22 other books and is an internationally acclaimed authority in the field of Islamic Studies. His particular research interests include Islamic Philosophy and theology, Islamic anthropology, Sufism, and medieval Arab travellers.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Abbreviations

1. MIRACLES AND RELIGION

1. Definitions
2. The Medieval Mindset: Milieu, Continuity and Contrasts

1. Christian
2. Islamic

1. Narratology

2. FOOD

1. A Proto-Miracle: Manna from the Desert
2. The Feeding of the Five Thousand: Christianity
3. Jesus, the Test and the Table: Islam
4. The Narrative Arena

3. WATER

1. A Proto-Miracle: Water from the Rock
2. Lourdes, Shrines and Healing
3. Zamzam, Shrines and Healing
4. The Narrative Arena　　

4. BLOOD

1. Proto-Miracles: Blood and its Contrastive Christian and Islamic Domains
2. Bolsena 1263: Host > Blood
3. The Writing in the Blood: Sufi Blood and Hallajian Passion
4. The Narrative Arena

5. WOOD AND STONE

1. A Proto-Miracle: The Ark of Gilgamesh and Noah
2. Ark of the Covenant: The Virgin in the House
3. The Angels of the Ka^cba
4. The Narrative Arena

6. COSMOLOGY

1. Proto-Miracles: The Standing of the Sun and the Moon
2. The Miracle of the Sun at Fatima
3. The Splitting of the Moon in the Qur'an
4. The Narrative Arena

7. ENVOI

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CINEMA/DVDs

WEBSITES