Quotes from Jeffrey J. Bütz

If and when it is ever fully realized, the emerging paradigm shift presented here could forever change how the three great Western religions—the "people of the Book," as the Qur'an calls the descendants of Abraham—understand their holy scriptures and their relationship to each other. This paradigm shift could even help to usher in—at long last—peace in the Middle East.

As we enter the third millennium, our human community is rent by war, increasing distrust, and the loss of a sense of our common nature and past. We seem to be more tempted than ever to define ourselves in opposition to the Other and more threatened than ever by a paradigm, or worldview, that separates rather than unites us.

But my overriding goal all along has been a quest for truth—no matter where it may lie, and no matter what inherited dogmas may need to be abandoned in order to attain it.

Paradigm challenges are never suffered lightly by the orthodox establishment in any field.

Neither George Washington, nor Thomas Jefferson, nor Benjamin Franklin believed that Jesus was anything more than a divinely inspired and chosen human being—which is exactly what James and the earliest Christians believed.

If more open-minded Christians, Jews, and Muslims were to sit down at a round table to try to achieve the holy grail of peace and unity, they would certainly have to be people of vision, willing to compromise.