Jurnal Studi Agama Vol.6 (2) 2022 e-ISSN: 2655-9439 29 EXPLORING FASTING IN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM Andi Alfian 1 1 Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta; andialfianx@gmail.com Abstract Fasting is one of the religious practices or rituals or worship that can be found in almost every religious tradition, including the Christian and Islamic religious traditions. Several scholars of religious studies, through various research, claim that fasting has been practiced thousands of years ago by various religious adherents in the world and persists to this day. This study attempts to describe the teachings and practices of fasting in Christianity and Islam and then provides an analysis of the similarities and differences in the implementation of these teachings in the context of Indonesia. This study is library research in the sense that this study will rely on books and scientific journals related to this topic as primary data sources. This study found that the practice of fasting in Christianity and Islam each has its meaning and has its uniqueness, and characteristics. For example, they have their meaning about the purpose of fasting, the arguments they use for fasting, the types of fasting, and the procedures for fasting. This study argues that religious teachings, both Christianity and Islam, are dynamic, multi-interpretative, and contextual by exploring these issues. Keywords: Abstinence, Christianity, Fasting, Islam, Religious Teaching. Abstrak Puasa merupakan salah satu praktik keagamaan atau ritual atau ibadah yang nyaris dapat ditemukan dalam setiap tradisi keagamaan, termasuk dalam tradisi agama Kristen dan Islam. Para akademisi studi agama, lewat berbagai penelitian, mengklaim bahwa puasa telah dipraktikkan sejak ribuan lalu oleh berbagai penganut agama di dunia dan bertahan hingga hari ini. Penelitian ini berusaha menggambarkan bagaimana ajaran dan praktik puasa dalam agama Kristen dan Islam, lalu memberikan analisis persamaan dan perbedaan pelaksanaan ajaran tersebut dalam konteks di Indonesia. Penelitian ini bersifat library research dalam pengertian bahwa penelitian ini akan mengandalkan buku-buku dan jurnal ilmiah yang berkaitan dengan topik ini sebagai sumber data primer. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa praktik berpuasa dalam agama Kristen dan Islam masing-masing memiliki pemaknaan mereka tersendiri, punya keunikan dan kekhasan mereka masing-masing, mulai dari tujuan mereka berpuasa, dalil yang mereka gunakan untuk berpuasa, macam-macam puasa, hingga pada tata cara berpuasa. Dengan menelusuri persoalan-persoalan tersebut, studi ini berargumentasi bahwa ajaran agama, baik Kristen dan Islam, pada dasarnya bersifat dinamis, multitafsir, dan kontekstual . Kata Kunci: Ajaran Agama, Berpantang, Berpuasa, Kristen, Islam. INTRODUCTION Religion is an important aspect of human life. We cannot fully understand humans without understanding their religion, and we cannot understand religion