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"Somewhere Between Islam and Judaism is of interest to scholars and students of religion concerned with comparison and those studying Islam, Judaism and Jewish-Muslim relations. The essays collected in this volume provide a set of critical reflections on what it means to study these two religious traditions within the larger context of the academic study of religion"--

"In this controversial study, Aaron W Hughes breaks with received opinion that imagines two distinct religions, Judaism and Islam, interacting in the centuries immediately following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes these relations using tropes such as that of "symbiosis." Hughes instead argues that various porous groups--neither fully Muslim nor Jewish--exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process of Islamicization. What emerged as normative rabbinic Judaism on the one had, and Sunni and Shi'i Islam on the other were ultimately responses to such marginal groups. Even the spread of rabbinic Judaism, especially in the hands of Saadya Gaon (882-942 CE), was articulate Islamically. The emergence of the so-called "Golden Age" in places such as Muslim Spain and North Africa continued to see the articulation of this "Islamic" Judaism in the writings of luminaires such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides. Drawing on social theory, comparative religion, and original sources, Hughes presents a compelling case for rewriting our understanding of Jews and Muslims in their earliest centuries of interaction. Not content to remain solely in the past, however, he also examines the continued interaction of Muslims and Jews, now reimagined as Palestinians and Israelis, into the present"--

1. The scholarly dream of following Muhammad's footsteps -- 2. Another painting on Islam's early canvas -- 3. John Esposito and the Muslim women -- 4. Toward a reconfiguration of the category "Muslim women" -- 5. Reflections on Ernst and Martin's rethinking Islamic studies -- 6. From Islamic religious studies to the "new Islamic studies".

2. The Making of the Last ProphetSources; Muhammad at Mecca; Muhammad at Medina; Muhammad and the Jews of Medina; Muhammad's Wives; The Return to Mecca and Death of Muhammad; The Making of the Last Prophet; Polemical Literature Against Muhammad; The Deeds and Sayings of Muhammad: The Genre of Hadith; Representing Muhammad; 3. The Quran: The Base Narrative; Overview; Traditional Accounts; The Critical View; The Linguistic Matrix of the Ancient Near East; Why Don't Muslims Have an "Old Testament"?; Messages and Contents; The Inimitability of the Quran; The Quran in Muslim Life

Aaron Hughes examines the creation and dissemination of 'Abrahamic religions'. Part genealogical and part analytical his study seeks to raise and answer questions about the appropriateness and usefulness of employing these religions as a vehicle for understanding and classifying data

Cet article porte sur la question des «objets de l'histoire des religions » . Bien qu'il existe au sein des départements d'histoire de nombreuses sortes d'historiens spécialistes d'histoire économique, sociale, militaire, etc., on n'y trouve jamais des historiens des religions. Comment expliquer ce fait ? Une réponse possible est que les spécialistes de différentes religions envisagent leurs «objets » comme appartenant exclusivement à leur sous discipline et non au champ plus large dont ils participent. Une deuxième raison peut être le fait que nombre d'historiens des religions utilisent des termes anhistoriques tels que «le sacré » ou «religions abrahamiques » . Cet article conclut que s'il doit y avoir des objets universellement reconnus, ceux-ci doivent être de l'ordre du quotidien.

"Judith Plaskow, Professor of Religious Studies Emerita at Manhattan College in New York, is a leading Jewish feminist theologian. She has forged a revolutionary vision of Judaism as an egalitarian religion and has argued for the inclusion of sexually marginalized groups in society in general and in Jewish society in particular. Rooted in the experience of women, her feminist Jewish theology reflects the impact of several philosophical strands, including hermeneutics, dialogical philosophy, critical theory, and process philosophy. Most active in the American Academy of Religion, she has shaped the academic discourse on women in religion while critiquing Christian feminism for lingering forms of anti-Judaism"--