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Christian borrowings from Islamic theology in the classical period
This article explores examples of Arab Christian theologians making use of Muslim theological concepts in the early Islamic period. It shows that while Christians appear to have possessed more than passing knowledge of the terminology and methodology employed by contemporary Muslim scholars, they made little use of this, except as a means to explain their teachings and to retaliate against argume...
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This article explores examples of Arab Christian theologians making use of Muslim theological concepts in the early Islamic period. It shows that while Christians appear to have possessed more than passing knowledge of the terminology and methodology employed by contemporary Muslim scholars, they made little use of this, except as a means to explain their teachings and to retaliate against arguments from their Muslim counterparts. It begins by discussing the extent to which the 9th century East Syrian theologian ʿAmmār al-Baṣrī adopted elements from Muslim teachings about the divine attributes, looks at evidence of borrowing in ʿAmmār’s Muslim contemporary Abū ʿĪsā al-Warrāq, and goes on to examine traces of counter-arguments from Christians in a refutation of the Trinity by the 10th century Ashʿarite scholar al-Bāqillānī. In none of these instances is there much sign of extensive absorption by Christians of Muslim concepts. The article then explores in detail traces of possible borrowings by Christians in arguments by the 11th century master al-Juwaynī and his pupil Abū l-Qāsim al-Anṣārī. In neither case does it find evidence of extensive borrowing by Christians, but rather indications that although they lived in an increasingly Islamic society, where their language and thought was imbued more and more with Islamic vocabulary and conventions, Christians continued to maintain their doctrines in forms they had inherited from pre-Islamic times. The record of Muslim theological works up to the 12th century indicates that Christians were not known by Muslims for demonstrating much interest in Muslim theology or for trying to express their doctrines in idioms established by Muslim theologians.
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2014
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The Mutakallimūn and non-Muslim religions
The military successes of the 7th and 8th centuries that brought large populations of non-Muslims under Islamic rule presented Muslims with the challenge of what to do with them and how to understand them. As in almost all other matters, Muslims turned for guidance to the Qurʾān, and on the basis of its scattered references to Christians, Jews and others, they constructed a legal framework by whic...
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The military successes of the 7th and 8th centuries that brought large populations of non-Muslims under Islamic rule presented Muslims with the challenge of what to do with them and how to understand them. As in almost all other matters, Muslims turned for guidance to the Qurʾān, and on the basis of its scattered references to Christians, Jews and others, they constructed a legal framework by which to regulate the place of non-Muslims in Islamic society, and a theological framework to establish their relationship to Islamic truth.
The Qurʾān intimates that before the coming of Islam a succession of messengers had been sent with earlier versions of the revelation it contained. From early Islamic times, salvation histories located Islam as the culmination of earlier divinely inspired messages. The result was that historians and theologians tended to refer to historical groups of believers, such as 'Jews' and 'Christians', but not distinct religious traditions, such as 'Judaism' and 'Christianity'. There was only one religion stretching down through history, and any divergences from the final form of its teachings and beliefs must be mistaken.
Systematic theologians in the 9th and 10th centuries gave expression to this outlook by demonstrating that doctrines held by non-Muslim groups were incoherent in their error. Their contention that any departure from simple monotheism lacked logic showed they thought Islam alone met the demands of reason, and their selection of isolated doctrines from the belief systems of non-Muslims showed they did not accept that non-Muslims possessed integrated bodies of beliefs.
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2018
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