1st Edition
The New Testament in Muslim Eyes Paul's Letter to the Galatians
Introduction
1. Preface to the Commentary
2. ‘There is no gospel except the only Gospel’ (1.1-12)
3. The Apostle’s Apologia and Gospel (1.13-3.5)
4. The Promise of Abraham’s Gospel (3.6-4.7)
5. Pastoral Interventions: Saint Paul as Pastor Paul (4.8-20 and 5.2-12)
6. Covenant of the Spirit (4.21-5.1 and 5.13-26)
7. Law of Christ, Gospel of the Cross (6.1-18)
8. Crisis of Law, Promise of Grace: Inter-faith Interfaces in Galatians
9. Epilogue: Missionaries in Reverse: Learning from the Rival
Biography
Shabbir Akhtar is a research fellow at the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religions at the University of Oxford, UK. He is author of The Quran and the Secular Mind (Routledge, 2007) and Islam as Political Religion (Routledge, 2010).
While thoroughly aware of conventional New Testament scholarship, this author brings a challenging and intensely interesting Muslim perspective to the Apostle Paul’s claim that Christ brings freedom from religious law. Skilfully drawing out themes that unite and divide members of three monotheistic religions, this commentary is remarkable, provocative, and essential reading.
Paul S. Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of OxfordThis is an extremely interesting, and very important, book. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, with its insistence that the Galatian followers of Jesus do not need to be circumcised, is an absolutely central text for understanding the evolution of Christianity as a tradition of faith distinct from its Jewish ancestor, and this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first time that a Muslim writer has wrestled with it in as much detail as Dr. Akhtar has; he is very much to be congratulated for doing so with such thoroughness, and the Oxford Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies is also to be commended for providing the environment within which he has been enabled to do so.
Hugh Goddard, University of Edinburgh Reviewed for The Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford
