Hawzah News Agency –Speaking among a group of researchers and people interested in comparative studies on Islam and Christianity, Mohammad Hossein Mohammadpour, a researcher of Islamic Research Foundation’s Religions Department, elaborated Prophet Jesus’s personality and explored diversified and paradoxical thoughts on the prophet in 2000-year-old history of Christianity.
He also answered different questions and misunderstandings about Jesus Christ’s personality, life, and relations with other religions.
Also Dr. Mohammad Kazem Shaker, a professor of traditions and Quran sciences at Allameh Tabatabai University, referred to the historical personality of Jesus Christ, saying: “Lives of prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus contain a mix of history and non-history. In other words, it is both historical and non-historical. They are like story of Adam and Eve, which martyred professor Motahhari considers it as symbolic. It does not mean that Adam and Eve did not exist. Adam and Eve existed; rather, their story is a symbolic one”.
He added: “In fact, the story of all prophets, particularly that of Jesus Christ, is based on narrations and we cannot consider all parts of them as historical or non-historical.”
According to him, there is a Jesus-centered Christianity and a history-centered one. The Holy Quran considers Jesus as a personality between historical and mythical aspects. Historical aspect of Jesus is recognized by Quran; rather, the basis of Quran’s viewpoint about Jesus is nothing but a theological issue.
Noting that Quran tried to correct false understandings of Christians of the time, he said: “In al-Ma'idah surah, beliefs of Christians about Jesus Christ have been discussed, the narrative aspects of which are more evident in the last verses of this surah. In fact, what is important for Quran about Jesus Christ is narration-based nature of his story rather than historical or mythical aspect of his personality”.