CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM BY C.H. BECKER, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF ORIENTAL HISTORY IN THE COLONIAL INSTITUTE OF HAMBURG TRANSLATED BY REV. H.J. CHAYTOR, M.A. HEADMASTER OF PLYMOUTH COLLEGE 1909 TABLE OF CONTENTS The subject from different points of view: limits of treatment The nature of the subject: the historical points of connection between Christianity and Islam A. Christianity and the rise of Islam: 1. Muhammed and his contemporaries 2. The influence of Christianity upon the development of Muhammed 3. Muhammed's knowledge of Christianity 4. The position of Christians under Muhammedanism B. The similarity of Christian and Muhammedan metaphysics during the middle ages: 1. The means and direction by which Christian influence affected Islam 2. The penetration of daily life by the spirit of religion; asceticism, contradictions and influences affecting the development of a clerical class and the theory of marriage 3. The theory of life in general with reference to the doctrine of immortality 4. The attitude of religion towards the State, economic life, society, etc. 5. The permanent importance to Islam of these influences: the doctrine of duties 6. Ritual 7. Mysticism and the worship of saints 8. Dogma and the development of scholasticism C. The influence of Islam upon Christianity: The manner in which this influence operated, and the explanation of the superiority of Islam The influence of Muhammedan philosophy The new world of European Christendom and the modern East Conclusion. The historical growth of religion Bibliography CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM