Albert Nolan in his excellent book Jesus Before Christianity describes Jesus as the gifted man, the prophet of his time, in historical terms, not in terms of Christian Tradition and Theology. Nolan says in his introduction that his book is designed to be read without faith ( meaning faith in Christianity and Christian Theology). Faith in Christian terms may come after considering the facts of history. I agree that faith may come but there are other alternatives to faith that should be considered. One of them is Quranic faith. It is my conviction that this Quranic faith alternative is more universal, more rational, more inclusive, and better suited today's pluralistic world than the Christian alternative.
As portrayed in Nolan's book, the best reading of the facts of the Bible portray Jesus' life as following the pattern laid down by Abraham, Moses and the Jewish Tradition-- the pattern of the Jewish prophet. As Jesus responds to the coming political catastrophe of the Jewish nation, he points out the general psychological methods whereby one can remain in God's favor and reside in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus clearly shows the main obstacles to leading a faithful life; placing before the love of God, the love of money, possessions, scholarship, prestige, status, privilege, power, and narrow group identities of family, party, religion, and nation. Jesus is a prophet in the same line as Abraham, Moses, Amos, and Isaiah.
The Jewish nationalists, turning to the scriptures, believed that a Messiah would come to save the Jewish nation just as the Maccabees had come before. The facts of history show that Jesus was not this hoped-for political or military Messiah. Later Greek interpreters translated the Hebrew concept Messiah to the Greek Christ which had godlike connotations. In Greek and Roman cultures the gods did come down on earth and even married human beings producing children which were half-gods. In Christian theology Jesus eventually became Christ, "true god and true man".
Jesus as god is not faithful to the Jewish Tradition from which Jesus emerged. It is not Quranic ( faithful to the scripture of Islam-The Quran). Orthodox Jewish scholars living at the time of Jesus believed that the age of the prophets had come to a close hundreds of years before the time of Jesus. They did not interpret Jesus as a prophet. Political antagonisms between Jewish groups and Christian-Jewish groups consolidated the Orthodox Jewish evaluation of Jesus, that he was not a prophet To the majority of Hebrew peoples Jesus was not the Messiah and he was not a prophet!
Quranic tradition does not impose limits on prophet hood. Jesus was not only a prophet but a great prophet, a messenger (rasul) of Allah. Only Moses, Jesus and Muhammad can be called messengers; those that bring a scripture, the written word of Allah. These three great messengers brought the Torah, The Gospel and the Quran to humanity. God's message to man is always the same message, but tailored to the needs of the time and culture. People following these scriptures were called "People of the Book". They showed mankind how to "love God and love neighbor" the essential message of all spiritual laws and prophets.
As Quranic tradition spread over the world, Muslim theologians decided that the Semitic culture did not include all the prophets of all people on earth. The Quran clearly states that Allah has sent prophets to all nations on earth. Other scriptures were accepted as Allah's message to other peoples. All these traditional peoples who possessed a scripture were termed "People of the Book" Historically this has included Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Sikhs. The great Muslim empires of the past were highly tolerant of these foreign peoples (People of the Book) and despite recent political propaganda, such tolerance and respect of cultural differences surpassed that of Christian Europe.
In Asia with its ancient civilizations it is estimated that only 5% convert to Christianity. Before Vatican II, non-Christians were not entitled to salvation. Since then Church had agreed there is salvation in the other faiths. The emphasis now is interfaith dialogue rather than conversion to Christianity. Quranic Tradition has accepted this "new" Christian approach since the time of Muhammad. According to the Quran the "Peoples of the Book" need to "vie with each other in good works", focus on improving the lot of mankind and the planet. Arguments about the True, the Only , the Exclusive faith and the missionary calling for conversion are no longer respectable among today's scholars.
The faith that Jesus life points to is faith in Allah, not faith in Jesus as a particular person, not faith in Jesus as God, not faith in exclusive Christian, Jewish, or Muslim religion theology. We can all have faith in Allah, the great value of prophets and teachers, the value of all great scriptures of the world. To declare a prophet as God is idol worship, Shirk in Quranic Tradition. This is one of the greatest of sins -to mistake the particular for the universal. " God is One. Humankind call him by different names" according to the Hindu Vedas.
Their have been lesser prophets and interpreters of Christian tradition whose teachings and actions are very Quranic. They have asked us to love and follow God and see beyond the particular and the exclusive. Lord Herbert of Cherbourg the father of Deism, Martin Luther, George Fox, and Mother Ann of the Shaker Community have all pointed beyond materialistic concerns to the Love of God, the Inner Light, The Grace of God, and the Universals of morality that unite us all together. To these real prophets compassion, integrity, love of God are the essence of spiritual life. This is the Spirit of the Law-the Kingdom of God as pointed out by Jesus. " The letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life".
The history of the world's cultures reveals to us an inclusive faith that the great messengers have tried to teach to humankind. Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Buddha, the Vedic Sages are all true Muslims.They have surrendered to God. They have shown that love of God transcends the material specifics of life. Jesus of Nazareth does not ask us to pray to him or the Trinity as God. He asks us to pray and surrender to Allah "Our father who art in Heaven".