Berkey, Formation of Islam, Ch. 1:

Marshall Hodgson/Karl Jaspers: concept of the "Axial Age" (800-200 B.C.E./Before Common Era)

Lao-Tzu, the Buddha, Greek philosophers, Hebrew prophets, Upanishads in India

Hellenistic era (post-Alexander: 200 B.C.E-600 CE /Common Era): Fertile Crescent As a crossroads of civilizations

imperial rivalries of Byzantine (Eastern Roman) and Persian (Sasanian) Empires

Urban mercantile economy and the spread of religions

Max Weber and the sociological understanding of religion: Scripture, formal organization of religious authority, judgment in the afterlife

Association of major religions with states and empires: Christianity and Roman Empire; Zoroastrianism and Persian Empire; isolated Jewish kingdoms, revolts against Romans

Universalist character and claims of religions of late antiquity

Monotheism as a distinctive feature of late antiquity (Greek Stoics, Hermetic teachings, Egyptian hymns)

Militant Universalism and empire

       [Berkey overstresses the exclusive identification of the individual with a single religion]

Following Muhammad, Ch. 2:  Understanding Islam in Terms of Religion

Islam and the modern concept of religion

Religion according to Cicero, Augustine, and Grotius: from philosophy to missions

Tolerance a truce with Christians only

Enlightenment tolerance as reaction to religious wars

Muslim responses to missionaries

Islamic pluralism

Post-colonial states and redefining Islam

Islam and the academic study of religion

Protestant templates and comparative religion: missionary contest

Problems of categorization

Religious studies and American pluralism

Historical study, vs. essences and reification

Prescriptive and descriptive approaches

Media access to Islamic "authorities" and pet academics

Protestant scripturalism as a fallacy

Self-identification of religious identity

Problems in academic study, lack of general knowledge

Islam defined by the state and by the numbers

State definition of religion: Israel, Beirut examples

Religion in the Indian census, Japan

Muslim census figures around the world

Islamic religious language

Islam

Din

Reformism

Fundamentalism or Islamism