Prophecy and Power: Muhammad and the Qur'an in the Light of Comparison

by Marilyn Robinson Waldman, Bruce B. Lawrence (Editor)

Overview

A posthumous work by the most rigorous comparativist in her generation of Islamic studies scholars, Prophecy and Power proposes a major innovative approach to both the Prophet Muhammad and the Noble Qur’an. By the end of the ninth century the Prophet Muhammad had emerged as an intercommunal norm beyond compare, and yet the very constructedness of this model of Muhammad allows historians of religion to see how the process itself requires us to undercut the terms used. We undercut them by qualifying them with multiple meanings, both overlapping and corrective, but we also decapitalize them in order to suggest how much broader they were in earlier contexts, and how much broader they may become, or were intended to become, in later contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781790304
Publisher:	Equinox Publishing
Publication date:	09/30/2013
Series:	Comparative Islamic Studies
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Marilyn Robinson Waldman (1943-1996), the last graduate student of Marshall G.S. Hodgson from the University of Chicago, taught at Ohio State University, where she established the Religious Studies Program and also served as Director of the Center for Comparative Studies. Her research covered the areas of Islamic historiography, the history of religions, and comparative humanities. Bruce B. Lawrence is Nancy & Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Professor and Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. A specialist in Indo-Persian culture and the comparative study of religious movements, he has authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited sixteen books. They include translations, monographs and trade books, the most recent being The Qur'an: A Biography (2006) and, with Aisha Karim, On Violence: A Reader (2007).

Table of Contents

Preface Bruce B. Lawrence Prologue: Inviting Prophets and Entertaining Comparisons 1. Opening a Black Box: Rethinking the Comparative Study of 'Prophecy' 2. Comparatively Speaking: Qur'anic Comparison as a Modality of Change 3. Beyond Compare: Muhammad as Exemplar and Foil 4. An Experiment in Comparison: Muhammad and Alinesitoue (edited by Robert M. Baum, University of Missouri) Postscript Lindsay Jones, The Ohio State University

Editorial Reviews

Marilyn Waldman died in 1996, at the age of only 53, leaving behind a rough, incompletemanuscript that Bruce Lawrence and others have edited into this remarkable book, which is a“must read” for those engaged in comparative religion. Although certainly accessible to thegeneral reader, scholars who teach so-called Abrahamic or Western religions courses would greatly benefit from Waldman’s insights because of the comparisons inherent in such courses.

Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

This is a remarkable book that provides significant material for extended reflection; it will prove profitable to all those who feel that religious studies really is about “comparative religion” and who thus wish to think about what that really means and how best to go about the task. The work is complemented by two very appreciative essays on Marilyn Waldman and a bibliography of her works.

Studies in Religion

From the Publisher