History Commons^™

The Qur'anic Jesus: A Study Of Parallels With Non-Biblical Texts, Brian C. Bradford

Dissertations

This study examines which texts and religious communities existed that could well have contributed to Muhammad’s understanding of Jesus. The most important finding is that the Qur’anic verses mentioning Jesus’ birth, certain miracles, and his crucifixion bear close resemblance to sectarian texts dating as early as the second century. Accordingly, the idea that such verses from the Qur’an involving Jesus are original productions of the seventh century should be reconsidered.

The research covers a series of significant topics that support these findings. They include theological conflicts in third century Arabia; the interaction between Christian monks, Saracens, Arabs, and Ishmaelites; sectarian …

Why Are We So Interested In Buddhism?, Victoria Leach

Honors Theses

Buddhism in American mainstream society and an identification of the categories of the New American Buddhist. The introduction is a critical look at the type of Buddhist practitioner including demographics and their personal history that introduced them to the Buddhist tradition, discovered by previous researchers. This also takes into account Buddhism in popular culture. Then to continue that research I employed my own methods, influenced greatly by phenomenology, to go out into the field to conduct my own qualitative study on local Buddhist groups to see if my experience corresponds to previous research. I collected data on demographics, religious history, …