The Annunciation to Mary: A Christian Echo in the Qurʾān
The Annunciation to Mary as presented in the Protevangelium of James is an early account of Mary’s childhood and the Virgin Birth that flourished in both Western and Eastern Churches. This Annunciation account, distinct from versions found in the canonical gospels of the New Testament, successfully migrated beyond its Christian milieu, where it had traversed primarily by textual means in late-antiquity. The account’s widespread influence is attested to by its entry into the oral milieu of Arabia, the account being the basis by which the Qurʾān vindicates Mary and corrects Christological error amid a seemingly polemical environment. This article will evaluate qualities of the selected passage Q. 3:42-7 that elucidate the Annunciation’s gain of a new identity as it became adopted into the Qurʾānic corpus while considering how the Annunciation as presented in the passage provides further clarity as to the polemical and political circumstances surrounding the proto-Muslim community.
Mar yam, Androtokos: The Qur’anic Mar y, Her Origins, and Her Implications
Most, if not all writing about Mary’s role in the Qur’an begins with the statistic that the Qur’an mentions her more often than the Bible does—a fun fact for sure, though it somewhat ignores the history and intertextuality between the two scriptures that necessitates this to be the case. After all, the Qur’an has roughly 600 years of Marian arguments and exegesis to work with and therefore has to both establish a new interpretation of Mary while also contesting much of the existing Christian material about her, especially when it comes to theology. The Qur’an mentions Mary in a total of 6 surahs, but tells her story most extensively in the third surah, Al-Imran (“The House/Family of Imran”), following her birth, childhood, and the Annunciation, and the nineteenth surah, Maryam (“Mary”), covering the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus. The latter is especially notable, as it’s one of eight surahs to be named after a person (along with Yunus, Hud, Yusuf, Ibrahim, Luqman, Muhammad, and Nuh) and the only one to be named after a woman. Its contents are also extremely interesting, as they seem to diverge sharply from the traditional Biblical or otherwise Christian stories of Jesus’ birth. Where did this new narrative come from, and more importantly, what does it suggest about Mary and her theological implications? Throughout Maryam, Mary’s character and role in Islamic theology are developed in dialogue with Christian beliefs, scripture, and Apocrypha, emphasizing some aspects while contradicting others, to create a uniquely Islamic view of Mary. Although the Qur’an assumes familiarity with the Bible and various Apocrypha,1 the presence of similarities between the texts does not necessarily imply that the Qur’anic narrative of Mary is directly derived from these sources. The Arabs of Pre-Islamic
Church, state and schools in Britain, 1800-1970
Originally published 1971, this volume unravels the complicated history of the religious question in British education. The background of the key Acts of Parliament which established the "dual" system - of Church and Local Authority school - is examined. The changing policies of different religious groupings are analyzed, and their outcome in legislation brought out.