today are deeply disturbed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL). From another angle, while we do not believe that Islam offers women true liberation, we do not think that every Muslim woman who veils herself is a slave. The veil can be a liberating reality for Muslim women in our sex-saturated cultures, West and East. Likewise, our hatred of Islamic jihad interpreted as conquest and terrorism should not be taken to mean that we have a Pollyanna view of Western societies or of British, German, French, Dutch, Russian, American or other non-Muslim imperialisms.
Second, our strong critique of Islam and our confidence in Christian faith does not mean that there are no serious problems in the Bible or in understanding the Christian view of God, the nature of humanity, the extent of salvation, the problem of pain and evil and so on. Nevertheless, in spite of ambiguities and problems, we assert that Christian faith in Jesus of Nazareth offers true liberation and salvation to all humans.
Third, we ask readers to pay special attention to the fact that the concerns of our book in relation to Muhammad are directed to the traditional interpretation of him and not to Muhammad directly. We do not believe that anyone can credibly describe or reach the historical Muhammad. We do argue, however, that the traditionalist perspective creates many of the moral complications about the prophet and, consequently, that Muslims like Reza Aslan need to learn how to better handle these serious issues for the survival of a healthy Islam.
In our respective disciplines we are used to debate and polemic, but we have written this book to inform, not inflame, even when we offer blunt verdicts about Reza Aslan’s numerous errors in scholarship on both Jesus and Islam. The same applies to our critique of Islam. Our concerns about the traditional view of Muhammad and the standard Islamic view of the Qur’an are raised because of our serious, lengthy academic study of the historical Jesus, Christian tradition and Islamic faith. Given this, our book invites rational examination. We remain open to correction of any errors of fact or interpretation. And we are eager to engage in debate on the matters we address. Since there is a rich philosophical tradition in Islamic thought, we hope that Muslims will meet our perspectives and evidence with reasoned argument.
As the authors of the book we alone are responsible for its content. But we have many people to thank, some of whom are listed. Foremost among all, we thank our respective wives (Gloria Beverley and Ginny Evans) for enduring another book project. We also express our appreciation to Tyndale Seminary and Acadia Divinity College for consistently supporting our research in general and this project in particular. We remain appreciative to Brett Potter and Dwight Crowell for helping on various research tasks. It has been a pleasure to work with our publisher, Larry Willard, and his wife, Marina, on all the details that go into getting a book into print.
Lastly, readers will note the dedication page in memory of Jennifer Keirstead, Professor Beverley’s niece, who died unexpectedly on September 6, 2014, at the age of 21. A month before her death she sat beside him at a baby dedication and sang with others “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” We offer this book in the unwavering conviction of the truth of that simple affirmation.
James A. Beverley
Craig A. Evans
Note: For spelling alternatives, we usually adopt the spelling Muhammad for the prophet and Qur’an for Islamic Scripture. We use different translations of the Qur’an but highly recommend Arthur Droge’s new annotated version (Equinox, 2014). Generally, we avoid diacritical marks. To contact authors write [email protected] and [email protected].
A Thank-You to Colleagues, Friends and Fellow Scholars
We express our appreciation to Tyndale Seminary (President Gary Nelson, Vice-President Janet Clark, and Vice-President Randy Henderson) for funding three research trips for Professor Beverley over the last several years in relation to his ongoing research on Islam. We also thank Dave Collison, a close friend of Professor Beverley, who helped cover costs on one research trip in February and March 2014. These forays have sometimes included interviews or contact by phone and email (Robert Hoyland, Kevin Van Bladel, Herbert Berg, David Cook and Dan Brubaker, for example) and also face-to-face contact with other great scholars of Islam and related fields, including Hans Küng (Germany), Patricia Crone (USA), Lutz Richter-Bernburg (Germany), Frank Peters (USA), Efraim Karsh (England), Josef van Ess (Germany), Christopher Tyerman (England), Michael Cook (USA), Andrew Rippin (Canada), Gerald Hawting (England) and Angelika Neuwirth (Germany), among others.
Professor Neuwirth initiated a visit for Professor Beverley to her Corpus Coranicum project at the Free University of Berlin. The Corpus Coranicum is probably the most significant academic project on the Qur’an in history. Thanks to Professor Neuwirth and to three researchers at the Coranicum (Yousef Kouriyhe, Tobias Jocham and Laura Hinrichsen) for their assistance.
Professor Beverley is grateful to informed friends who helped him on various debatable issues in Islamic studies and the study of religion. Among them are Jay Smith, Wafik Wahba, Sam Solomon, Andy Bannister, Eileen Barker, Bob Morris, Gordon Nickel, Tom Holland, Tony Costa, Keith Small, Rick Love, Don Wiebe, Chad Hillier, Robert Spencer, J. Gordon Melton, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Keith Small and Massimo Introvigne. Professor Beverley is also grateful to two Muslim friends, Muhammad Iqbal Al-Nadvi and Mohammed Atieque (leaders in Canada’s Islamic community), for many hours of conversation.
We also thank President Harry Gardner and the Divinity College of Acadia University for its generous support of Professor Evans’ research, which has made possible travel to scholarly conferences as well as to archaeological excavations in Israel. Professor Evans is grateful to several scholars who over the years have served as dialogue partners and collaborators in various scholarly projects. These include Dale Allison of Princeton Theological Seminary, Bruce Chilton of Bard College, John and Adela Collins of Yale Divinity School, Jimmy Dunn of Durham University, Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Helmut Koester of Harvard Divinity School, Joel Marcus of Duke University, Scot McKnight of Northern Seminary and Armand Puig i Tàrrech of the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia in Barcelona. Heartfelt gratitude is also extended to wonderful colleagues of Professor Evans who in recent years have passed from this life. This includes Martin Hengel of Tübingen University, Bruce Metzger of Princeton Theological Seminary, Ben Meyer of McMaster University, and Graham Stanton of Cambridge University. The world of biblical studies and scholarship concerned with the historical Jesus and Christian origins is challenging and rewarding, but above all it is collegial.
Chapter 1—Are the New Testament Gospels Reliable?
Jesus and His Followers
All competent study of the historical Jesus begins with the four New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). This is because they are the oldest sources and exhibit the features that historians expect of sources that are likely to provide reliable information. Of course, from time to time someone expresses skepticism about the New Testament Gospels. Sometimes Muslims express skepticism, especially when the Gospels and the Qur’an disagree. Therefore we begin our book by addressing the question of the reliability of the Gospels. Do these Gospels tell us the truth about Jesus, about what he taught, what he did, and what really happened to him?
One of the reasons it is good to begin with the Gospels is because they are biographies, based in part on eyewitness testimony. They were written 30 to 40 years after the time of Jesus, while some of his original followers were still living. The sources the Gospel writers drew upon circulated during this period, when the apostles of Jesus were active, teaching and giving leadership to the new movement. The Gospels are not biographies in the modern sense, but they are biographies as written in antiquity.1
