ARTICLE Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The problem of “Abrahamic religions” and the possibilities of comparison Samuel L. Boyd Religious Studies and the Program for Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder Correspondence Samuel L. Boyd, Religious Studies and the Program for Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder. Email: samuel.boyd@colorado.edu Abstract Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have long been known as “Abrahamic religions,” and the comparative study of these three religious traditions has occupied scholars focusing on a variety of time periods from antiquity to modernity. Recent research has begun to question, or at least to com- plicate, the label “Abrahamic religions,” opening up a host of new avenues of inquiry when examining the history and development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this arti- cle, I explore the relationship between popular and scholarly modes of understanding these religions. I examine the role of religious competition as a framework through which to research Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I offer concluding thoughts regarding why this framework is beneficial not only to scholars of religion but also to lay readers for under- standing why this field of comparative scholarship matters to them. 1 | INTRODUCTION The comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has become increasingly important in the past two decades. Both world events and developments in the research of the histories of each religion have demanded ever more rigorous frameworks for understanding the evolution and religious outlook of various groups of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. These advancements in the academic study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have, at times, conflicted with popular perceptions of the comparative goals for examining these three so-called “Abrahamic religions.” In the following, I explore the popular and academic perceptions of researching Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and I offer the reasons behind the scholarly approach that many academics take for examining the competitive DOI: 10.1111/rec3.12339 Religion Compass. 2019;e12339. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rec3 © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 of 7 https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12339