Comparing Religions Through Law: Judaism and Islam [Paperback]

Jacob Neusner (Author), Tamara Sonn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415194873 | ISBN-13: 978-0415194877 | Publication Date: August 19, 1999 | Edition: 1

Comparing Religions Through Law offers a ground- breaking study which compares these two religions through shared dominant structures. In the case of Judaism and Islam the dominant structure is law.
Comparing Religions Through Law presents an innovative and sometimes controversial study of the comparisons and contrasts between the two religions and offers an example of how comparative religious studies can provide grounds for mutual understanding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This work provides a scholarly model for a greater understanding of the two relilgions of Judaism and Islam. Highly recommended...
–Choice

...a hugely important and fascinating topic.
–Middle East Quarterly, June 2000

About the Author

Tamara Sonn is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, specialising in Islam. Her publications include Interpreting Islam: Bandali Jawzis Islamic Intellectual History. Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York. He is the author of numerous publications, the most recent being The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415194873
• ISBN-13: 978-0415194877
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Eastern Religions > Jainism
  • #49 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Law

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, December 3, 2000

By 

Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comparing Religions Through Law: Judaism and Islam (Paperback)

This book does less 'comparing' than I expected. 3/4 of the book describes explains the religious law of Judaism & Islam independent of any attempt at comparisons; thus, it reads nearly like two parallel books. To be fair, each chapter does end with an overview of material covered, pointing out similarities, but this is usually only 1 or 2 paragraphs long. Nonetheless, the other 1/4 of the book achieves some interesting conclusions and, I feel, makes the book worthwhile.

Sonn and Neusner set the parameters of their study within 'classical' Judaism and Islam beforehand. Though this itself raises many questions, they provide a sound justification for this approach in the opening pages that, even if you disagree with their starting point, makes the entire enterprise of this book intelligible. Neusner and Sonn both wrote the book well; however, I feel that Neusner quoted large, extended passages from the Misnhah and Talmud too often, which interrupted the flow of his presentation, and Sonn depended too much on secondary sources, which causes modern views more palatable to Westerners to dilute her presentation of classical Islamic law.

I enjoyed a good part of this book, but like I said above, the failure of the majority of the book to 'compare' disappointed me. Nonetheless, this work is a wonderful contribution, and reading it should be quite fruitful to understanding both systems of religious law.