Sibling Rivalries, Scriptural Communities: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Inter-religious conflict—and, with it, many questions about the role of scripture in that conflict—is once again at center stage in our geopolitical consciousness. Do the claims of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic holy texts contribute to the violence between the various communities that read them? Or do they provide a basis for solidarity between these three religions? This talk will examine how the Qur’an, Torah, and New Testament have been read at different moments in history to consider the politics of conflict and community among the “peoples of the Book.”

Lecturer:  David Nirenberg, author of Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition (2013) and Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today (2014). Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor of Social Thought, Medieval History, Middle East Studies, and the College and Dean of the Social Sciences Division at the University of Chicago.

The event is sponsored by the Department of Jewish Studies and the Solomon and Dorothy Levites Series of Symposia and Seminars in Jewish Studies.