Historical sources on the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Extract A: Genesis 17:1–8

“1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed [descendants] after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 

Extract B: Galatians 3:6–9

“6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen [non-Jewish peoples] through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” 

Extract C: Matthew 16:13–18

“13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [shown] it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

Extract D: 2 Timothy 3:14–17

“14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration [the breath] of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 

Extract E: Matthew 28:18–20

“18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” 

Extract F: 1 John 5:7–8

“7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” 

Contextual information:

The Bible is the central scripture of Christianity and Judaism's shared tradition. The Book of Genesis records God's covenant with Abram, who was renamed Abraham and identified as the father of many nations, making this passage the foundational text in which God promises Abraham a line of descendants who would carry on a shared ancestral tradition across all three Abrahamic faiths. The letters of the Apostle Paul, the Gospels, and the Epistles were written by first-century followers of Jesus of Nazareth and were collected into the New Testament, which together with the Hebrew scriptures forms the Christian Bible. 

Bibliographical reference:

The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1769). Oxford University Press. 

Copyright: Public domain 

Extract A

“I Suppose that by my books of the Antiquity of the Jews, most excellent Epaphroditus [my noble patron], have made it evident to those who peruse [read] them, that our Jewish nation is of very great antiquity, and had a distinct subsistence [way of life] of its own originally; as also, I have therein declared how we came to inhabit this country wherein we now live. Those Antiquities contain the history of five thousand years, and are taken out of our sacred books, but are translated by me into the Greek tongue. However, since I observe a considerable number of people giving ear to the reproaches [insults] that are laid against us by those who bear ill-will to us, and will not believe what I have written concerning the antiquity of our nation, while they take it for a plain sign that our nation is of a late date, because they are not so much as vouchsafed [given] a bare mention by the most famous historiographers [historians] among the Grecians. I therefore have thought myself under an obligation to write somewhat briefly about these subjects, in order to convict those that reproach us of spite and voluntary falsehood, and to correct the ignorance of others, and withal [also] to instruct all those who are desirous of knowing the truth of what great antiquity we really are.” 

Extract B

“For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. … but it is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them.” 

Contextual information:

Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian who was born in Jerusalem around 37 CE and later worked as a writer under Roman patronage. His work Against Apion, written around 94 CE, was a defence of Jewish history and scripture against Greek critics who claimed the Jewish people were a relatively recent nation. In Extract B, Josephus identifies the five books of Moses — the Torah — as the foundational sacred scripture of Judaism, a tradition he describes as stretching back nearly three thousand years. 

Bibliographical reference:

Josephus, F. (1737). Against Apion (W. Whiston, Trans.; Book I, §§1, 8, pp. 904–905, 908). (Original work written ca. 94 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A: Sura 2

“And this to his children did Abraham bequeath [pass down], and Jacob also, saying, “O my children! truly God hath chosen a religion for you; so die not unless ye be also Muslims.” Were ye present when Jacob was at the point of death? when he said to his sons, “Whom will ye worship when I am gone?” They said, “We will worship thy God and the God of thy fathers Abraham and Ismael and Isaac, one God, and to Him are we surrendered (Muslims).”” 

Extract B: Sura 2

“No doubt is there about this Book: It is a guidance [direction from God] to the God-fearing, Who believe in the unseen, who observe prayer, and out of what we have bestowed on them, expend for God; And who believe in what hath been sent down to thee, and in what hath been sent down before thee, and full faith have they in the life to come: These are guided by their Lord; and with these it shall be well.” 

Extract C: Sura 33

“[40] Mohammed is not the father of any of your men, but the Apostle [messenger] of God, and the Seal of the Prophets [the final prophet]; for God all things doth know!” 

Contextual information:

The Qurʼan is the holy text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the direct word of God as received by the Prophet Muhammad, who was born in Mecca around 570 CE and died in 632 CE. Sura 2, known as “The Cow,” is the longest chapter in the Qurʼan and addresses matters of faith and religious law, including Islam's claim to the tradition of Abraham. Sura 33, known as “The Confederates,” contains the Qurʼan's clearest statement about Muhammad's unique status as the final prophet of God. 

Bibliographical reference:

The Qurʼan. (1876). The Koran (J. M. Rodwell, Trans.; Sura 2, verses 1–5, 132–133, pp. 354–355, 371–372). Trübner & Co.; The Qurʼan. (1880). The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. IX (E. H. Palmer, Trans.; Sura 33, verse 40, p. 118). (Original text compiled ca. 632 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

“But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations [offerings] of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration [fire] was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite [extreme] tortures on a class hated for their abominations [supposed crimes], called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators [governors], Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition [dangerous belief], thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.” 

Contextual information:

Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman senator and historian who lived from approximately 56 CE to 120 CE. He wrote his Annals around 116 CE as a history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Augustus to Nero. This passage describes the Emperor Nero's decision to blame Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE, resulting in their arrest and execution; it is one of the earliest surviving accounts of Roman persecution of Christians written by a non-Christian author. 

Bibliographical reference:

Tacitus, C. (1876). The Annals (A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb, Trans.; Book XV, ch. 44, p. 304). Macmillan. (Original work written ca. 116 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

“In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have been denounced [reported] to me as Christians is this: I interrogated [questioned] them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment [execution]; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed. For whatever the nature of their creed [beliefs] might be, I could at least feel no doubt that contumacy [stubborn refusal to obey] and inflexible obstinacy [determination] deserved chastisement [punishment]. There were others also possessed with the same infatuation [unreasonable devotion], but being citizens of Rome, I directed them to be carried thither [there].” 

Contextual information:

Pliny the Younger was a Roman lawyer and government official who worked as governor of the province of Bithynia-Pontus, in what is now northern Turkey, from around 111 CE. He wrote this letter to the Emperor Trajan around 112 CE asking for guidance on how to handle Christians who had been brought before him for trial. This letter is one of the earliest surviving Roman documents to describe the official legal process used against Christians, confirming that the Roman state treated Christianity as a crime punishable by death. 

Bibliographical reference:

Pliny the Younger. (1878). Letters (W. Melmoth, Trans., rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet; Book X, Letter 96, p. 395). George Bell & Sons. (Original work written ca. 112 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain.

1. Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic [universal Christian] Faith

2. Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

3. And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

4. Neither confounding [mixing up] the Persons: nor dividing the Substance [essential nature].

5. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal [existing together forever].

7. Such as the Father is: such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost.

8. The Father uncreate [not created]: the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost uncreate.

9. The Father incomprehensible [beyond full understanding]: the Son incomprehensible: and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

10. The Father eternal: the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal.

11. And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal.” 

Contextual information:

The Athanasian Creed is a statement of Christian belief that dates from approximately the fifth or sixth century CE, and was for many centuries wrongly attributed to St Athanasius of Alexandria. It was written in Latin and later translated into English for use in church services during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. This passage is the most precise formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in Christian tradition, defining the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost as three distinct persons who are at the same time one God. 

Bibliographical reference:

Schaff, P. (Ed.). (1877). The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes (Vol. II, pp. 66–70). Harper & Brothers. (Original creed composed ca. 5th–6th century CE; English translation ca. 1548) 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

“We say “restore,” because all the great cultures of the world hitherto, Judaism and Christianity in the Bible, Islam in the Koran, have used some sort of cosmogony [account of how the universe began] and world history as a basis. It may indeed be argued that without such a basis any really binding culture of men is inconceivable [impossible to imagine].” 

Extract B

“This essential identity is the most important historical aspect of these great world religions. They were in their beginnings quite unlike the priest, altar, and temple cults, those cults for the worship of definite finite [limited] gods that played so great and so essential a part in the earlier stages of man's development between 15,000 B.C. and 600 B.C. These new world religions, from 600 B.C. onward, were essentially religions of the heart and of the universal sky. They swept away all those various and limited gods that had served the turn of human needs since the first communities were welded together by fear and hope. And presently when we come to Islam we shall find that for a third time the same fundamental new doctrine of the need of a universal devotion of all men to one Will reappears. Warned by the experiences of Christianity, Muhammad was very emphatic in insisting that he himself was merely a man and so saved his teaching from much corruption and misrepresentation.” 

Contextual information:

H. G. Wells was a British author and journalist best known for his science fiction novels, but he was also a serious popular historian. He published The Outline of History in 1920 as a one-volume account of human civilisation for general readers, and it sold over two million copies. This passage surveys the Abrahamic faiths as parallel religious traditions that dominated the medieval world, identifying the Middle Ages as the period when Christianity and Islam in particular became the major cultural and religious forces of world history. 

Bibliographical reference:

Wells, H. G. (1920). The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind (Introduction, n.p.; Ch. XXIX, §3, p. 493). Macmillan.  

Copyright: Public domain.