- In the Qur’an the Prophet Muhammad refers to Jews and Christians as “people of the book” —a name that identifies these societies as significantly different from other cultures and communities. The fact that a universalizing social identity was developed out of a “book” or set of scriptures that reflects the religious and cultural experiences o a tribal society over a millennium signifies a new way of creating what Charles Taylor calls a “social Imaginary.” Using examples from your readings from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Augustine’s Confessions, and/or the Qur’an, develop your own thesis about how this universalizing process of identity is produced through stories, figuration, and ultimately the conversion narrative. Why was this “figural” identity with • a book so effective in Creating subsequent large-scale communities?
Sample Solution
