A Critique of the Early Islamic Charge That Paul Corrupted Christ’s Original Religion

Abstract

This dissertation is a critique of the early Islamic charge that Paul corrupted Christ’s original religion with doctrines and practices that Jesus did not promote. Muslim writers in the first six centuries of Islam claimed that core Christian doctrines and practices were inventions of Paul, namely the doctrines of the Trinity and Christ’s divinity and the practices of consuming pork and abstaining from circumcision. In chapter 1, I introduce the dissertation by surveying modern research on the topic of alleged Pauline corruption, stating the original contribution of my research, and then outlining the study. In chapter 2, I lay the foundation for my dissertation by examining the accounts of Sayf ibn ‘Umar (d. ca. 796), ‘Abd al-Jabbār (d. 1025), and al-Qarāfī (d. 1285), three men whose accounts of alleged Pauline corruption have received the majority of modern research. In the following two chapters, I make my original contribution, which is to bring additional accounts of alleged Pauline corruption into conversation with the accounts from Sayf, ‘Abd al-Jabbār, and al-Qarāfī to highlight similarities and differences. In chapter 3, I examine corruption accounts in Muslim historiographical writings, and in chapter 4, I examine corruption accounts in Muslim commentaries on the Qur’ān. Then, having brought these additional accounts into conversation with the accounts of Sayf, ‘Abd alJabbār, and al-Qarāfī, I devote chapter 5 to the question of why the story of alleged Pauline corruption emerged in Muslim thinking. My analysis of corruption accounts from multiple authors, genres, geographical locations, and time periods led me to the conclusion that early Muslim authors expanded a preexisting Jewish tradition of corruption into the Muslim Pauline narrative to undermine Christian doctrines and practices. Through the narrative of alleged corruption, Muslim writers were able to dismiss the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the practices of eating pork and withholding circumcision as innovations of Paul, not elements of Christ’s original religion. Finally, in chapter 6, I summarize the findings of my research and address the missiological implications of the dissertation. Because modern Muslims continue to allege Pauline corruption of Christ’s original religion, Christians must understand the content and origin of the corruption narrative so that they can critique Muslim claims and defend Paul’s apostleship and teachings.