Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Introduction

The basic principle of Religion is that it is a collection of traditions, which are designed to guide the social development of a particular group of people within the respective society (Pals, p. 15). The most significant aspect of religion is that it symbolizes the ultimate hope that when someone dies, the universe will provide a spiritual accommodation for their soul. In the field of religions and beliefs, many fruitful future research areas can be found. The humanities, especially the principles of religion, which are linked to anthropological and socio-cultural research, create new research areas; rituals are analyzed in order to discover the common structures of rituals in different religions or beliefs (Shea, p.98). Furthermore, the discourse of religions and beliefs are examined as well. Therefore, the dynamics and controversies within this discursive process are analyzed and described in order to obtain more results concerning the relationship between different religions and belief systems. In this paper I will be comparing the religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, highlighting their differences and similarities.

Discussion

Jewish religion or belief is the theological tradition and culture of the Jewish people. It is the oldest of the three monotheistic religions most widely practiced (along with Christianity and Islam). Together these religions can be called as Abrahamic religions (Monahan, William and Emerson, p.45). In the New Testament, the kingdom of God is that divine power or reign which Jesus of Nazareth proclaims as present reality and therefore good news (cf. Mark 1: 15). Consequently, it is the eschatological irruption of God's will into the world, the power of eternity which Jesus wields and which, in the achievement of miracles , validates his ministry as messiah (cf. Luke 4:16-21). The kingdom of God is thus intimately related to the claims made by and for Christology in the Christian tradition, specifically in relation to the encounter between church and society (Lindbeck, p. 34).

Judaism proclaimed monotheism, in-depth teaching on the creation of man by God in his own image - resulting in the love of God to man, God's desire to help people and confidence in the ultimate victory of Good. This teaching has given and gives rise to profound philosophical and religious insights, revealing the depth of its content over the centuries, all with more and more of the parties (Pals, p.18). In contrast, Christianity and the Islam religion are the two largest religions in the world. Although both vary in different ways, both religions do have a wide range of beliefs and practices. However some things regarding both religions have similarities. Through my investigating I found several things that were similar, but I will only list the similarities I found the most interesting and dominant.

The first similarity I discovered was the Lord's Prayer in the Bible (Christianity)”Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name” and the opening chapter in the Qur'an (Islam)”Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, the compassionate, the merciful. King of the day of reckoning” (Idliby, Suzanne and Warner, ...