Jesus Without The Miracles Thomas Jefferson's Bible and the Gospel of Thomas ERIK REECE / Harper's Magazine v.311, n.1867 1dec2005
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/Jesus-Without-Miracles1dec05.htm Peace, Doc On Nov 16, 2:48 pm, "d.b.baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > MÜNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and > Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim > holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has > spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his > life. > > So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the > fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet > Muhammad probably never existed. > > Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who > triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the > Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, > told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure > premises. > > "We had no idea he would have ideas like this," says Thomas Bauer, a > fellow academic at Münster University who sat on a committee that > appointed Prof. Kalisch. "I'm a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and > I'm not a Muslim." > > When Prof. Kalisch took up his theology chair four years ago, he was > seen as proof that modern Western scholarship and Islamic ways can > mingle -- and counter the influence of radical preachers in Germany. > He was put in charge of a new program at Münster, one of Germany's > oldest and most respected universities, to train teachers in state > schools to teach Muslim pupils about their faith. > > Muslim leaders cheered and joined an advisory board at his Center for > Religious Studies. Politicians hailed the appointment as a sign of > Germany's readiness to absorb some three million Muslims into > mainstream society. But, says Andreas Pinkwart, a minister responsible > for higher education in this north German region, "the results are > disappointing." > > Prof. Kalisch, who insists he's still a Muslim, says he knew he would > get in trouble but wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as > Christianity and Judaism. German scholars of the 19th century, he > notes, were among the first to raise questions about the historical > accuracy of the Bible. > > Many scholars of Islam question the accuracy of ancient sources on > Muhammad's life. The earliest biography, of which no copies survive, > dated from roughly a century after the generally accepted year of his > death, 632, and is known only by references to it in much later texts. > But only a few scholars have doubted Muhammad's existence. Most say > his life is better documented than that of Jesus. > > "Of course Muhammad existed," says Tilman Nagel, a scholar in > Göttingen and author of a new book, "Muhammad: Life and Legend." The > Prophet differed from the flawless figure of Islamic tradition, Prof. > Nagel says, but "it is quite astonishing to say that thousands and > thousands of pages about him were all forged" and there was no such > person. > > All the same, Prof. Nagel has signed a petition in support of Prof. > Kalisch, who has faced blistering criticism from Muslim groups and > some secular German academics. "We are in Europe," Prof. Nagel says. > "Education is about thinking, not just learning by heart." > > Prof. Kalisch's religious studies center recently removed a sign and > erased its address from its Web site. The professor, a burly 42-year- > old, says he has received no specific threats but has been denounced > as apostate, a capital offense in some readings of Islam. > > "Maybe people are speculating that some idiot will come and cut off my > head," he said during an interview in his study. > > A few minutes later, an assistant arrived in a panic to say a > suspicious-looking digital clock had been found lying in the hallway. > Police, called to the scene, declared the clock harmless. > > A convert to Islam at age 15, Prof. Kalisch says he was drawn to the > faith because it seemed more rational than others. He embraced a > branch of Shiite Islam noted for its skeptical bent. After working > briefly as a lawyer, he began work in 2001 on a postdoctoral thesis in > Islamic law in Hamburg, to go through the elaborate process required > to become a professor in Germany. > > The Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. that year appalled Mr. Kalisch but > didn't dent his devotion. Indeed, after he arrived at Münster > University in 2004, he struck some as too conservative. Sami Alrabaa, > a scholar at a nearby college, recalls attending a lecture by Prof. > Kalisch and being upset by his doctrinaire defense of Islamic law, > known as Sharia. > > In private, he was moving in a different direction. He devoured works > questioning the existence of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Then "I said to > myself: You've dealt with Christianity and Judaism but what about your > own religion? Can you take it for granted that Muhammad existed?" > > He had no doubts at first, but slowly they emerged. He was struck, he > says, by the fact that the first coins bearing Muhammad's name did not > appear until the late 7th century -- six decades after the religion > did. > > He traded ideas with some scholars in Saarbrücken who in recent years > have been pushing the idea of Muhammad's nonexistence. They claim that > "Muhammad" wasn't the name of a person but a title, and that Islam > began as a Christian heresy. > > Prof. Kalisch didn't buy all of this. Contributing last year to a book > on Islam, he weighed the odds and called Muhammad's existence "more > probable than not." By early this year, though, his thinking had > shifted. "The more I read, the historical person at the root of the > whole thing became more and more improbable," he says. > > He has doubts, too, about the Quran. "God doesn't write books," Prof. > Kalisch says. > > Some of his students voiced alarm at the direction of his teaching. "I > began to wonder if he would one day say he doesn't exist himself," > says one. A few boycotted his lectures. Others sang his praises. > > Prof. Kalisch says he "never told students 'just believe what Kalisch > thinks' " but seeks to teach them to think independently. Religions, > he says, are "crutches" that help believers get to "the spiritual > truth behind them." To him, what matters isn't whether Muhammad > actually lived but the philosophy presented in his name. > > This summer, the dispute hit the headlines. A Turkish-language German > newspaper reported on it with gusto. Media in the Muslim world picked > up on it. > > Germany's Muslim Coordinating Council withdrew from the advisory board > of Prof. Kalisch's center. Some Council members refused to address him > by his adopted Muslim name, Muhammad, saying that he should now be > known as Sven. > > German academics split. Michael Marx, a Quran scholar at the Berlin- > Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, warned that Prof. Kalisch's views > would discredit German scholarship and make it difficult for German > scholars to work in Muslim lands. But Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, an > Islamic studies scholar at the University of Marburg, set up a Web > site called solidaritymuhammadkalisch.com and started an online > petition of support. > > Alarmed that a pioneering effort at Muslim outreach was only stoking > antagonism, Münster University decided to douse the flames. Prof. > Kalisch was told he could keep his professorship but must stop > teaching Islam to future school teachers. > > The professor says he's more determined than ever to keep probing his > faith. He is finishing a book to explain his thoughts. It's in English > instead of German because he wants to make a bigger impact. "I'm > convinced that what I'm doing is necessary. There must be a free > discussion of Islam," he says. > -http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669909279629451.html > > Note: Riot schedules not posted. Stay tuned. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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