The Abrahamic religions are a set of monotheistic religions that respect or admire the religious figure Abraham as a patriarch and/or as a prophet, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as smaller religions such as the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism. The term may also include religions such as Yazidism, Mandaeism, Yarsanism, Shabakism, although their status as Abrahamic religions is highly controversial and hotly debated because their doctrines set them significantly apart from other Abrahamic religions. The religions of this set share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrast them with Indian religions, Iranian religions, and East Asian religions, although some smaller Abrahamic religions, such as the Baha'i Faith, are also Iranian religions.Brague, Rémi, 'The Concept of the Abrahamic Religions, Problems and Pitfalls', in Adam J. Silverstein, and Guy G. Stroumsa (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Abrahamic Religions (2015; online edn, Oxford Academic, 12 Nov. 2015), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697762.013.5, accessed 12 Feb. 2024Goshen-Gottstein, Alon. "Abraham and ‘Abrahamic Religions’ in Contemporary Interreligious Discourse." Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 12.2 (2002): 165–183. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are the three largest Abrahamic religions, with Christianity and Islam being followed and adhered to by around half of the world's population. The term, introduced in the 20th century, replaced "Judeo-Christian" to include Islam as an Abrahamic religion and acknowledge differences between Judaism and Christianity, while the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism were recognized and classified as Abrahamic religions by a significant minority of scholars in the 20th century. However, the term has been criticized by some scholars for reportedly oversimplifying cultural and doctrinal nuances between the different religions.
Usage The term Abrahamic religions (and its variations) is a collective religious descriptor for similar and closely related elements shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as the smaller religions such as the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism.Gaston, K. Healan. "The Judeo-Christian and Abrahamic Traditions in America." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. 2018. It features prominently in interfaith dialogue and civil discourse, as well as academic discourse.Bakhos, Carol. The Family of Abraham: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Interpretations. Harvard University Press, 2014.Dodds, Adam. "The Abrahamic faiths? Continuity and discontinuity in Christian and Islamic doctrine." Evangelical Quarterly: An International Review of Bible and Theology 81.3 (2009): 230–253. The term appears for the first time in the second half of the 20th century.Stroumsa, Guy G. "From Abraham's Religion to the Abrahamic Religions." Historia religionum: an international Journal: 3, 2011 (2011): 11–22. p. 21
Although historically the term Abrahamic religions was limited to just Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, restricting the category to these three religions has come under criticism.* The late-19th-century Baháʼí Faith has been characterized as Abrahamic, as it is a monotheistic religion that recognizes its own descent from Abraham.
Theological discourse The figure of Abraham is suggested as a common ground for Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as Samaritanism, the Druze Faith, the Baha'i Faith, and Rastafari and a hypothesized eschatological reconciliation of the seven religions.Krista N. Dalton (2014) Abrahamic Religions: On Uses and Abuses of History by Aaron W. Hughes, Oxford University Press: New York, 2012, 191 pp. , US$55.00 (hardback), Religion, 44:4, 684–686, DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2013.862421Hughes, Aaron W. Abrahamic religions: On the uses and abuses of history. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 17 Commonalities may include creation, revelation, and redemption, but such shared concepts vary significantly between and within the Abrahamic religions themselves. Proponents of the term argue that all seven religions are united through the deity worshipped by Abraham.
The Catholic scholar of Islam Louis Massignon argued that the phrase "Abrahamic religion" means that the religions come from one spiritual source. The modern term comes from the plural form of a Quranic reference to dīn Ibrāhīm ("religion of Abraham").
In Christianity, Paul the Apostle, in Romans 4:11–12, refers to Abraham as "father of all", including those "who have faith, circumcised or uncircumcised." From its founding, Islam likewise conceived of itself as the "religion of Abraham". The Bahá’í scriptures state that the religion's founder, Baháʼu'lláh, descended from Abraham through his wife Keturah's sons.
Criticism The appropriateness of grouping Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as "Abrahamic religions" and related terms has been challenged. Adam Dodds argues that the term "Abrahamic faiths", while helpful, can be misleading, as it conveys an unspecified historical and theological commonality that is problematic on closer examination. While there is commonality among the religions, their shared ancestry is mainly peripheral to their respective foundational theological claims, practices, and cultures, concealing irreconcilable differences. Alan L. Berger, professor of Judaic studies at Florida Atlantic University, wrote in 2012 that "while Judaism birthed both Christianity and Islam, the three monotheistic faiths went their separate ways", and "each tradition views the figure [of Abraham] differently as seen in the theological claims they make about him."Berger, Alan L., ed. Trialogue and Terror: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam after 9/11. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012. Aaron W. Hughes, meanwhile, describes the term as "imprecise" and "largely a theological neologism." Hughes observes that before the 20th century, the adjective "Abrahamic" appeared exclusively in the context of Christian supersessionism, and that the equivalent Muslim term millat Ibrahim was used as part of an Islamic historiography rather than to join different religions together. Furthermore, Massignon's early use of "Abrahamic religions" had similarly theological overtones, offering a path for converting both Jews and Muslims.
The common Christian doctrines of Jesus's Incarnation, the Trinity, and the resurrection of Jesus, for example, are accepted in neither Judaism nor Islam. There are fundamental beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are likewise denied by most of Christianity (e.g., the religious restrictions on the consumption of pork found in Jewish and Islamic dietary laws), and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháʼí Faith not shared by Judaism (e.g., the prophetic and messianic status of Jesus).
Religions Judaism
Jewish tradition claims that the Twelve Tribes of Israel are descended from Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, whose sons formed the nation of the Israelites in Canaan.; ; ;
In its early stages, the Israelite religion (Yahwism) shares traits with the Canaanite religions of the Bronze Age; by the Iron Age, it had become distinct from other Canaanite religions as it shed polytheism for monolatry. They understood their relationship with their god, Yahweh, as a covenant and that the deity promised Abraham a permanent homeland.Cohen, Charles L. The Abrahamic religions: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. p. 9
While the Book of Genesis speaks of ʾĔlōhīm, comparable to the Enūma Eliš speaking of various gods of the Canaanite pantheon to create the earth, at the time of the Babylonian captivity, Jewish theologians attributed the six-day narrative all to Yahweh, reflecting an early conception of Yahweh as a universal deity.Burrell, David B., et al., eds. Creation and the God of Abraham. Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 14–15 The monolatrist nature of Yahwism was further developed in the period following the Babylonian captivity, eventually emerging as a firm religious movement of monotheism.; ; ; Quote from the BBC documentary (prof. Herbert Niehr): "Between the 10th century and the beginning of their exile in 586 there was polytheism as normal religion all throughout Israel; only afterwards things begin to change and very slowly they begin to change. I would say it [the sentence "Jews were monotheists" – n.n.] is only correct for the last centuries, maybe only from the period of the Maccabees, that means the second century BC, so in the time of Jesus of Nazareth it is true, but for the time before it, it is not true." With the Fall of Babylon, Judaism incorporated concepts such as messianism, belief in free will and judgement after death, conception of heaven and hell, angels and demons, among others, into their belief-system..
Christianity
Christianity traces back their origin to the 1st century and refers to themselves as a continuation of Judaism (commonly referred to as the old covenant) initially led by Jesus. His followers viewed him as the Messiah, as in the Confession of Peter; after his crucifixion and death they came to view him as God incarnate,Pavlac, Brian A (2010). A Concise Survey of Western Civilization: Supremacies and Diversities. Chapter 6. who was resurrected and will return at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and create an eternal Kingdom of God.
In the 1st century AD, under the Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth; Christianity spread widely. Paul the Apostle interpreted the role of Abraham differently from the Jews of his time.Howard, James M. "Paul, Monotheism and the People of God: The Significance of Abraham Traditions for Early Judaism and Christianity." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49.1 (2006): 516. While for the Jews, Abraham was considered a loyal monotheist in a polytheistic environment, Paul celebrates Abraham as a man who found faith in God before adhering to religious law. In contrast to Judaism, adherence to religious law becomes associated with idolatry.Howard, James M. "Paul, Monotheism and the People of God: The Significance of Abraham Traditions for Early Judaism and Christianity." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49.1 (2006): 517.
While Christians fashioned their religion around Jesus of Nazareth, the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), forced Jews to reconcile their belief-system with the destruction of the Second Temple and associated rituals.Cohen, Charles L. The Abrahamic religions: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. p. 41 At this time, both Judaism and Christianity had to systematize their scriptures and beliefs, resulting in competing theologies both claiming Abrahamic heritage.Cohen, Charles L. The Abrahamic religions: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. p. 41–57 Christians could hardly dismiss the Hebrew scriptures as Jesus himself refers to them according to Christian reports, and parallels between Jesus and the Biblical stories of creation and redemption starting with Abraham in the Book of Genesis.Burrell, David B., et al., eds. Creation and the God of Abraham. Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 41 The distant God asserted by Jesus according to the Christians, created a form of dualism between Creator and creation and the doctrine of Creatio ex nihilo, which later heavily influenced Jewish and Islamic theology.Burrell, David B., et al., eds. Creation and the God of Abraham. Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 25–39 By that, Christians established their own identity, distinct from both Greeks and Jews, as those who venerate and worship the deity of Jesus.Cohen, Charles L. The Abrahamic religions: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020. p. 40