A Comparative History of Catholic and Ašʿarī Theologies of Truth and Salvation

Abstract

In the larger field of religious studies, cross-traditional comparison of hard-core systematic or ‘doctrinal’ creedal formularies as a sub-discipline is still in its infancy. Broad mono-traditional explorations of Christian theological themes have been widely available for generations, while Islamic counterparts have remained relatively scarce until quite recently. One can virtually count on one’s fingers explicit and academically substantial comparisons of parallel Christian and Muslim theological concerns. Among such rarities is a collaboration by James A. Bill and John Alden Williams in Roman Catholics and Shiʿi Muslims. David Thomas also offered a rich variation on the theme of implied comparison in his Christian Doctrines in Islamic Theology. The present volume is a worthy entry into this field of inquiry. Mohammed Gamal Abdelnour’s educational background includes important experience of work at Cairo’s venerable Al-Azhar as well as at Durham University’s Department of Theology. He begins his study by situating it in the context of previous Christian and Muslim contributions to the theology of religions (and its three-fold typology – exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism), and further qualifies his approach as a contribution to the emergent sub-discipline of comparative theology, as he proposes a synthesis of methods articulated by Francis Clooney, Robert Neville and Keith Ward. He retains the triple typology as a structural/heuristic ingredient throughout the book. Abdelnour clearly lays out his six goals: focus on theological schools rather than individual theologians; keep a clear distinction between soteriology and epistemology by separating the assumption of others’ possible salvation from acknowledging others’ truth claims; connect present to past by drawing a thread from earliest to most recent times; ask whether claims of two major ‘schools’ (Ashʿarite and Roman Catholic) lead to kindred conclusions; and supply the need for non-Christian broad-canvas studies of theology. His breakdown of essential methodological concerns is excellent, digging forthrightly into historically nettlesome problems and potential dialogue-assassins. I have poked around for possible lacunae in this regard but found none. Abdelnour has organized this expansive exploration clearly and convincingly into three parts, each covering a historical period, with separate chapters for the two traditions in each: Formative (Catholicism 100–700; Ashʿarism 900–1111) Middle (Catholicism 700–1750; Ashʿarism 1111 [death of al-Ghazali]–1850); and Modern (Catholicism 1750–1965 [as Vatican II ends]; Ashʿarism 1870–1978). Each chapter is further divided (generally) into discrete segments on epistemology and soteriology. Each of the three main parts surveys the contributions of major theologians from both traditions. Featured ‘early’ figures include Augustine (with briefer attention to half a dozen Greek and Latin Fathers), and al-Ashʿari himself along with major Ashʿarite figures in succeeding generations. Middle period focus is on Aquinas and arguably the most celebrated of all the Ashʿarites, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Modern period Christian exemplars include Louis Massignon and Karl Rahner, especially in relation to Vatican II’s broadest-scope documents, while the ‘modernist’ Muhammad ʿAbduh and two prominent shaykhs of Al-Azhar, the slightly ‘less liberal’ Muhammad Shaltut, and ʿAbd al-Halim Mahmud, represent twentieth-century Muslim approaches. Among the most notable services Abdelnour provides is the remarkably even-handed treatment of all his signature contributors, Christian and Muslim alike, asking of each the