Stephen J Shoemaker Libri

Early Islam has emerged as a lively site of historical investigation, and scholars have challenged the traditional accounts of Islamic origins by drawing attention to the wealth of non-Islamic sources that describe the rise of Islam. A Prophet Has Appeared brings this approach to the classroom. This collection provides students and scholars with carefully selected, introduced, and annotated materials from non-Islamic sources dating to the early years of Islam. These can be read alone or alongside the Qur'an and later Islamic materials. Applying historical-critical analysis, the volume moves these invaluable sources to more equal footing with later Islamic narratives about Muhammad and the formation of his new religious movement. Included are new English translations of sources by twenty authors, originally written in not only Greek and Latin but also Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Hebrew, and Arabic and spanning a geographic range from England to Egypt and Iran. Ideal for the classroom and personal library, this sourcebook provides readers with the tools to meaningfully approach a new, burgeoning area of Islamic studies.

For the first time a noted historian of Christianity explores the full story of the emergence and development of the Marian cult in the early Christian centuries. The means by which Mary, mother of Jesus, came to prominence have long remained strangely overlooked despite, or perhaps because of, her centrality in Christian devotion. Gathering together fresh information from often neglected sources, including early liturgical texts and Dormition and Assumption apocrypha, Stephen Shoemaker reveals that Marian devotion played a far more vital role in the development of early Christian belief and practice than has been previously recognized, finding evidence that dates back to the latter half of the second century. Through extensive research, the author is able to provide a fascinating background to the hitherto inexplicable "explosion" of Marian devotion that historians and theologians have pondered for decades, offering a wide-ranging study that challenges many conventional beliefs surrounding the subject of Mary, Mother of God.

Stephen J. Shoemaker investigates contradictory traditions about the end of Muhammad's life in the Islamic and non-Islamic sources of the seventh and eighth centuries.

The author, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, explores the historical and religious significance of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption in his work. His expertise in ancient traditions provides a scholarly perspective on these pivotal events in Christian theology, shedding light on their cultural and spiritual implications.

The traditional narrative of the Qur'an's origins : a scholarly sunnism -- 'Abd Al-Malik, Al-Ḥajjāj, and the composition of the Qur'an -- Radiocarbon dating and the origins of the Qur'an -- The Hijaz in late antiquity : social and economic conditions in the cradle of the Qur'an -- Literacy, orality, and the Qur'an's linguistic environment -- Remembering Muhammad : perspectives from memory science -- Re-remembering Muhammad : oral tradition and collective memory -- The Qur'anic codex as process : writing sacred tradition in late antiquity -- The Qur'an's historical context according to the Qur'an.

The author, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, explores significant themes in Islamic history, particularly focusing on the final days of Muhammad and the early development of Islam. His work provides insights into the religious and historical context surrounding these pivotal moments.

By employing methods similar to those used in biblical scholarship, the lead essay explores the historical figure of Muhammad, revealing that our understanding of him and the origins of Islam is less comprehensive than that of Jesus and early Christianity. The book also features four republished essays addressing topics such as the Qur'an's classification as a late ancient biblical apocryphon, the connection between the Jerusalem Temple and the Holy House in the Qur'an, and the eschatological themes present in early Islamic tradition.