@lalala2004 they have the same titles, sure, but the words and stories are very different
They are both translated from the exact same Hebrew books. Translations may be different, but they have the same source. I know the Qu'ran is different, but the Torah and the first 5 books on the Old Testament are the same Hebrew texts.
Don't know what to tell you guys. Studied this for quite awhile in undergrad and I can tell you that the the first five books of the Old Testament are based on the Torah, but they are different. They did not copy and paste the Torah and include it with the rest of the books
Also not sure how to tackle the "it's not canon" part, as I'm obviously Muslim. To me the Quran is the inerrant and only incorrupted words of God. The Christina bible is heavily influenced and changed by history and man (through translation and copies and wars and rulers...) and the Quran has never had a single word changed since its revelation. The earliest copies (dating to the time of the prophet) use the same exact words. Plus, it's been memorized since day one since its a giant poem.
Don't know what to tell you guys. Studied this for quite awhile in undergrad and I can tell you that the the first five books of the Old Testament are based on the Torah, but they are different. They did not copy and paste the Torah and include it with the rest of the books
Also not sure how to tackle the "it's not canon" part, as I'm obviously Muslim. To me the Quran is the inerrant and only incorrupted words of God. The Christina bible is heavily influenced and changed by history and man (through translation and copies and wars and rulers...) and the Quran has never had a single word changed since its revelation. The earliest copies (dating to the time of the prophet) use the same exact words. Plus, it's been memorized since day one since its a giant poem.
This is what I got my PhD in:) The first five books of the Christian Bible and the Hebrew Torah are based on the same exact Hebrew text (the Masoretic Text). In fact, when Martin Luther translated the Bible into the vernacular, he discounted as apocryphal all the books he couldn't find a Hebrew original for (which is why Catholics and Protestants have different Bibles, because the Catholics consider canonical Jewish books written in Greek, while Protestants do not).
Also, the Christians absolutely did "copy and paste" from the Jewish text: for the first few hundred years after Christ they thought they (Christians) were the Jews who got it right. Marcion and other early Christians who tried to argue that Christianity did not need Jewish scripture were anathematized. Justin Martyr and others argued that the Jews just did not know the true meaning of their own scripture.
Because Christians felt that the Old Testament pointed to the New, they could not change it nor get rid of it. And the Jews were not about to change their scripture just because the Christians had laid claim to it. This is why the Christian "Old Testament" corresponds to the Jewish Tanakh (Torah, Neviim, Ketuvim).
As for Islam, the only absolute and undisputed canonical text is the Quran, which, as recitation, does not retell stories: it refers to stories, assuming the reader knows them, but does not retell them in sequential detail. The Hadith are not concerned with stories about figures other than Muhammad and his early followers, so again, references to the stories are referential, not retellings. The legal writings come closest, often explicating the stories to justify interpretations, but those are not canonical, and also do not retell the stories in narrative fashion apart from snippets. I don't know of any canonical Muslim literature that retells stories rather than referring to them elliptically.
I'm not saying the Quran is not canonical. I'm saying the stories Christians and Jews know from the "five books of Moses" appear in the Quran only as intertexts, and that there is no canonical narrative for them in any form of Islam I've encountered.
I like the name as well! My only thought of caution would be that other kids in his Sunday school (or other environment) may tease him. (although it would be a good learning opportunity for those kids!!) I think an alternate spelling would also help.
Cain is already a different spelling because in Hebrew his name was Qayin (actually without vowels because no vowels were used traditionally) so Cain is the English re rendering. It's also a pun linguistically (as most biblical names were) and is derived from metalsmith, which alludes to his work as a farmer.
Also:
That aside, I am not Christian, but I am a person of faith , and I cannot get around the whole "he committed the first sin on earth" thing. But most of the Old Testament is ignored anyways, so if you're in love with the name, go for it
(BTW, you do know Cain/the Old Testament are part of the Jewish and Muslim faiths right, it will have implications to a wider group
Technically the Old Testament is not a part of either faith. Some stories have the same characters but the stories are pretty different and they all have separate books. People of the Jewish faith have the Torah, Muslims have the Quran. And like I mentioned earlier, Jews would know it by a different spelling and in the Quran neither of the brothers are mentioned by name.
Qayin obviously isn't the true spelling either since Hebrew does not use Roman letters. So any roman spelling isn't the true spelling.
Thanks for responding @dshannah since apparently my not studying this in college means I don't know it, as @Nunuu implied. Is your PhD in religious studies?
@lalala2004 Yes! In Religious Studies with a specialty in History of Christianity, but since my time period is late antiquity we need to do a lot of work in Judaism and early Islam.
I thought of Cain as a name for my baby but my friend just named her baby Abel and they will end up playing together one day... And it would be really awkward to yell "Cain stop hurting Abel".
I know this was from a long time ago and the kid is already probably 10 years old, but h came across this post while looking for name ideas for my August 2025 baby and thought I would answer to help other moms out there. Namin your son Cain or, as I was considering, Cain as a middle name, would be almost like naming your daughter Delilah, and most people wouldn’t bat an eye to a little girl named Delilah. As long as you don’t associate a negative connotation to you son then it should be fine.
Re: Naming advice from Christian mama's?
Also not sure how to tackle the "it's not canon" part, as I'm obviously Muslim. To me the Quran is the inerrant and only incorrupted words of God. The Christina bible is heavily influenced and changed by history and man (through translation and copies and wars and rulers...) and the Quran has never had a single word changed since its revelation. The earliest copies (dating to the time of the prophet) use the same exact words. Plus, it's been memorized since day one since its a giant poem.
BFP! 8/28/2015