The sixth volume of the series Key Concepts of Interreligious Discourses investigates the roots
of the concept of person in Judaism Christianity and Islam and its relevance for the present
time. The concept of person lies at the core of central ideas in the modern world such as the
value and development of personal identity the sanctity of human person and the human rights
based on that. In societies that are shaped by a long Christian tradition these ideas are
associated often with the belief in the creation of man in the image of God. But although
Judaism shares with Christianity the same Biblical texts about the creation of man and also the
Qur an knows Adam as the first human being created by God and his representative on earth the
focus on the concept of person is in each one of these religions a different one. So the
crucial question is: how did the concept of person evolve in Judaism Christianity and Islam
out of the concept of human being? What are the special features of personhood in each one of
these traditions? The volume presents the concept of person in its different aspects as
anchored in Judaism Christianity and Islam. It unfolds commonalities and differences between
the three monotheistic religions as well as the manifold discourses about the meaning of person
within these three religions.
