Author: Linda Thayer

Growing up Christian, Dr. Linda Thayer came to realize in her teens, that Jesus as 'divinity' and Jesus as the second 'person' of a 'Godhead' (the doctrine of the 'Trinity') were philosophical constructs, evolved later and not part of the New Testament Gospel books' portrait of the Son of Mary. In her 30's, when working as Bible translations consultant and linguistic advisor in West Africa, she had already added all things Islamic to her reading list, along with Biblical Studies. She has three university degrees in linguistic science (BA, MA, PhD), with a minor in anthropology. She believes that her fellow Muslims need to be current with the thinking and findings of modern Biblical Studies in order to meet Christians halfway in understanding the prophetic mission and personal nature of Jesus. To this end, she writes of the historical phenomenon of the Jesus movement from an interfaith perspective that dovetails with the Quran and ahâdîth.

Food Matters – When Less Is More (3)

IN PART 2 we focused on the modern question of what we humans are meant to eat. This question is currently being repeatedly asked relative to discussions of Vegetarianism. While taking the life of our fellow human beings is forbidden and punishable…

Food Matters – When Less Is More (2)

IN PART 1 we discussed how Islam accepts the norm of eating the flesh of [properly slaughtered] animals as one of the sources of our food. Until recent times meat was consumed on an irregular basis, and generally for special occasions. Vegetarianism…

Food Matters – When Less Is More (1)

WE ALL ASPIRE to be more ‘healthy,’ more ‘wealthy,’ more ‘wise.’ How do we attain to the ‘more’? When does ‘less’ turn out to be more? Our dietary practices are a strong key to reaching our full potential—as individuals and as a…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – 10 | Linda Thayer

Using Richard E. Rubenstein’s book, When Jesus Became God, The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome, we have introduced the 4th century theological dispute in Alexandria, Egypt, featuring Arius vs. Athanasius, a controversy that would develop and continue…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – 9 | Linda Thayer

We return to retelling the story of the 4th century Church’s theological exploits, following Richard E. Rubenstein’s book, When Jesus Became God, The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome; page numbers refer to material taken from this work.…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – 8 | Linda Thayer

HOW DID JESUS become defined as ‘God’? Beginning with this installment, we travel back to the 4th century of the Christian Era (ce) and observe the proceedings of Christian authorities. These events account for a bellwether stage in the historical legacy left…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – Part 7 | Linda Thayer

We ended our previous Part 6 noting that if the Church had not accepted Paul as a valid spokesman for Jesus, then a “Christological” belief system—including the supposed divinity of Jesus, a divine son-ship relationship to God, a Trinitarian model of deity—could…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – Part 6 | Linda Thayer

In previous parts of this series, we concluded that Paul’s ‘gospel’ differed dramatically from the Gospel message (Arabic: injîl) of Jesus as found in the several opening documents (Gospel books) of the New Testament of the Bible (i.e., Christian scripture). Accordingly, we…

Monotheism In Interfaith Exchange – 4 | Linda Thayer

WE HAVE BEEN looking at Dr. James D. G. Dunn’s study of the use of words in the Christian New Testament (NT) (compared with Hebrew/ Jewish usage in the Old Testament—since Jesus conformed to the model of a Jewish prophet), words meaning “worship”—as…

Monotheism in Interfaith Exchange – Part 3 | Linda Thayer

As a means toward interfaith understanding of Islam’s vindication and re-establishment of true monotheism among the Heavenly Revelations, we are analyzing James D. G. Dunn’s arguments in his book Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? The New Testament Evidence. Dunn is a British New Testament…