Christianity & the Qur'an | A Conversation with @ExploringtheQuranandtheBible

In this episode we’re joined by Prof. Gabriel Said Reynolds 🎙️📚 to discuss his latest book Christianity and the Qur’an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia 📖 https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/97803002...

Reynolds argues that the Qur’an emerges from a religious environment in which Christianity, not paganism, was the dominant frame of reference ✝️ including in western Arabia 🏜️. Rather than treating the Qur’an as a transcript of the Prophet’s immediate social encounters, he approaches it as a carefully composed literary text ✍️ shaped by biblical language, narrative conventions, and theological polemic 📜

We explore the methodological foundations of this approach 🧠 and discuss its implications

🔹 Why explanations invoking “heretical Christian sects” in Arabia are historically unconvincing ❌
🔹 Whether pre-Islamic Arabic poetry can be used as reliable historical evidence ✒️
🔹 How the Qur’an adapts biblical stories and employs Jesus as a polemical spokesperson ✝️📖
🔹 What indicators within the Qur’an suggest an audience already steeped in Christian tradition 👥
🔹 How epigraphic evidence, neutral monotheism, and references to Arabian deities should be interpreted 🪨🕊️

We also examine the Qur’an’s reported speech, redaction history, its apparent favouring of Christians over Jews 📜 and why later Islamic sources may have obscured the presence of Christianity in the Hijaz 🏜️

💬 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe ❤️ — and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 👇

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Hosted by Terron Poole & Roxanna Irani
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