This book explores the story of the Israelites' worship of the Golden Calf in its Jewish, Christian, and Muslim contexts, from ancient Israel to the emergence of Islam. It focuses in particular on the Qur'an's presentation of the narrative and its background in Jewish and Christian retellings of the episode from Late Antiquity.

• Preface and Acknowledgements


• Note on Style


• 1: Introduction: Method and Context in the Study of Bible and Qur'an


• Part I: Foundations


• 2: Biblical Beginnings: The Calf of Sinai, the Calves of Jeroboam, and the Invention of Idolatry


• 3: Early Jewish Interpretation: An Opportunity for Repentance, a Pretext for Polemic


• Part II: Jews, Christians, and the Contested Legacy of Israel


• 4: A Hard Yoke upon Their Neck: Patristic Polemic and Amoraic Apologetic


• 5: The Syrian-Palestinian Milieu in Late Antiquity: The Contested Legacy of Aaron and the Priesthood


• Part III: The Qur'anic Calf Episode


• 6: The Qur'anic Calf Episode between Orientalism and Islamic Tradition


• 7: A Living Calf at Sinai? Reevaluating the Qur'anic Calf Episode


• 8: Rescripting Sinai: The Qur'an in the History of Interpretation of the Calf Episode


• 9: Conclusion


• Bibliography

Michael Pregill is a scholar of comparative religion, specializing in the history of the scriptural cultures of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Much of his research focuses on the reception of biblical, Jewish, and Christian traditions in the Qur'an and Islam. He lives and teaches in Los Angeles, California.