This text seeks to provide a guided examination of what unites and divides the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities. With over twenty-five years of experience teaching in the subject area, Dr. Fritz Wenisch begins to unravel this complex and often contentious topic by first discussing the legal injunctions applying to religious studies courses at secular U.S. universities. He investigates the type of monotheism each religion shares before providing an in-depth overview of each religion one by one. An emphasis is placed on the specific teachings of each religion, with consideration given to their practices and their historical development.
"Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Differences, Commonalities, and Community" argues that the hostility between the three religions is misplaced. The argument is grounded on the existence of a shared belief in the same one and only God and reverently looking back to Abraham, as well as the fact that disagreements do not result from ill will, but from alternative convictions held in good faith. Readers will learn that tolerance, while a start, does not suffice; rather, that shared basic beliefs should give rise to mutual appreciation, leading to genuine friendship.
Fritz Wenisch received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1968 from the University of Salzburg in Austria. He has been a member of the philosophy department at the University of Rhode Island since 1971 and has also taught at the University of Dallas and at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Dr. Wenisch's teaching focuses primarily on philosophy and religious studies. He has published two books, one book-length monograph, and numerous articles, as well as being a regular newspaper contributor, having written over twenty articles for the "Rhode Island Catholic" and more than a hundred for the religion page of the "Providence Journal."