Trinity in Dialogue with Muslims

CONTENTS

Foreword by Ayman Ibrahim ix

Introduction 1

PART ONE: DIALOGUE ON THE TRINITY IN THE ERA
OF MUSLIM RULE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 5

1. Christian Presentations of the Trinity in the
Early Period of Muslim Rule 9

2. Christian Presentations of the Trinity for
Muslims in the Medieval Period 27

3. Evaluation of Christian Presentations of the Trinity
in the Era of Muslim Rule in the Middle East
in the Light of Muslim Responses 47

PART TWO: DIALOGUE ON THE TRINITY IN THE ERA
OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY 77

4. Missionaries to Muslims Presenting the Trinity to Muslims 81

5. Western Theologians Dialoguing with Muslims on the Trinity 101

6. Christian Theologians within the Islamic World
Presenting the Trinity to Muslims 123

7. Evaluation of Christian Presentations of the Trinity
in the Modern Era in the Light of Muslim Responses 139

Conclusion 161

Bibliography 175
General index 183

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mark Beaumont is a research associate at London School of Theology. He has published books and articles on Christian-Muslim relations, particularly on theological issues.

QUESTIONS TO THE AUTHOR:

1. Why did you decide to write your book?
I had published Christology in Dialogue with Muslims with Regnum Press in 2005. This was the printed version of my 2003 OCMS PhD that studied Christian efforts to explain the divinity of Christ to Muslims. I wanted to produce a follow-up volume on Christian attempts to explain the Trinity to Muslims and I approached Regnum once again.

2. What is distinctive about the content of your book? There is no other book that traces the history of Christian attempts to explain the Trinity to Muslims from the early days of the Muslim conquest of the Middle East to our contemporary era. The book also looks at Muslim responses to these Christian writings addressed to them.

3. Why is this subject important?
Relations between Christians and Muslims are often fractured by polemic. This book should enable both Christians and Muslims to look at the way God is understood in a less polemical way and could lead to better understanding between the two communities.

4. What difference would this book make for the ministry?
Christians who are engaged in witness to Muslims should find useful models for their conversation on the Trinity.

5. Feel free to add anything else you find relevant. Muslims who read the book should be able to read other Muslim responses to the Trinity from the long history of Christian-Muslim relations and find useful models for their conversations with Christians today.

The Christian belief in the Trinitarian nature of God has come under criticism from Muslims who are convinced that the oneness of God is compromised by the Christian
assertion that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Throughout nearly fourteen hundred years of relations between Muslims and Christians, Muslims have challenged Christians to agree with them that God is one. Christians have responded by saying that they hold
to the oneness of God who reveals himself in threeness without sacrificing his oneness. This book examines Christian attempts to present the Trinity to Muslims along with Muslim reactions to these efforts. Part One deals with communication by Middle Eastern Christians with Muslims after the Arab armies took over the Middle East in the seventh century up to the thirteenth century. Part Two studies the writing of mainly Western Christians who began to take dialogue with Muslims seriously from the nineteenth century until today. The reader will be able to see Christian presentations alongside Muslim responses to gain a comprehensive view of dialogue on the nature of God between Muslims and Christians.

One of the few experts of early Middle Eastern Christology, Mark's work on the Trinity in dialogue
with Muslims is a rigorous examination of the thinking on the Trinity of Christians living under Muslim rule. It shows refreshingly new early evidence of Christian argument on the nature of monotheism. What makes this monograph even more valuable is evident in the comparative
engagement with the modern era where Mark masterfully engages with both the Western and non-Western missionary/theological sources. This work adds substantially to another trinitarian angle (among others) to his previously published work on Trinity for Muslims: Christology in Dialogue with Muslims (Regnum, 2005). I recommend this highly to Christian readers in both
the Muslim majority and minority contexts, especially if they care about relating with Muslims as their neighbours.
David Singh, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

With opposing perceptions of the being of God, Christians and Muslims have questioned each other’s
beliefs from their first encounters to the present. In this comprehensive survey, Christian expositions of the doctrine of the Trinity and Muslim challenges to it are clearly introduced and the respective arguments analysed. Progressing from little-known medieval scholars to leading modern theologians, it graphically traces Christian attempts to establish the logic of their doctrine and Muslim expositions of the flaws in them. Everybody who seeks to learn about Christian-Muslim relations will benefit from this expert and accessible history.
David Thomas FBA, Emeritus Professor of Christianity and Islam, University of Birmingham