Christianity, Judaism and Islam

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly examines how the cultural conditions out of which Christianity was born were very similar to those of Judaism and how it is not surprising that Jews and Christians have many things in common. It discusses how, compared to Islam and Judaism, Christianity has by far had much more impact on Western civilization, particularly in the United States and Europe, due to the fact that the ideals and tenets of Christianity have greatly influenced the structure and development of numerous cultural/social systems.

From the Paper:

"As compared to Christianity, Islam has played practically no role in the development of Western civilization (except perhaps for the many religious wars between Christianized nations and Islamic nations in the past one thousand years or so), yet in today's modern world, Islam has taken a foothold in many European nations and in the United States. Islam "is the third of the major Semitic, monotheistic religions, along with Judaism and Christianity" and those that adhere to Islam are known as Muslims. The word Islam can be defined as "the peace of one who submits wholly to God (i.e., Allah)," yet the main difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam is that Muslims follow the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, while almost all Christians follow the teachings of Jesus Christ (Gilsenan, 178). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baker, Liva. World Faiths: A Story of Religion. Israel: Abelard & Schuman, 1965.
• Eliade, Mircea. The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991.
• Gilsenan, Michael. Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Arab World. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982.
• Hunt, Stephen J. Religion in Western Society. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 1980.
• Kisch, H.S. Religion of the Civilized World and Judaism. London: George Routledge &Sons, 1975.

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