Author Archives: claudehanley

Nostra Aetate’s affirmation of the Church’s “esteem” for Muslims is warranted by a number of different points. Muslims adore the one God whom Christians also worship, reverencing many of the same attributes. They reverentially submit to that God, linking themselves to Abraham. They adore Jesus and are devoted to Mary. The passage ends with thisContinue reading “Nostra Aetate and the Christian-Muslim Dialogue”

The conversion narratives recounted by Gaudeul make for an interesting meditation on the interaction between the interior movements and grace and the exterior ones. I’m reminded particularly of an Augustinian account of conversion as the interplay of God’s interior action upon the will and the simultaneous arrangement of environmental circumstances which allow what is workedContinue reading

I greatly appreciated several aspects of the Common Word document as well as the Yale theologians’ response thereto. I found its emphasis on the practical dimensions (and necessity) of the common ground between Islam and Christianity bracing and astute: the double love commandment certainly should constitute the foundation of a Christian attitude toward Muslims andContinue reading ““For” and “Against””

I appreciated Daniel Madigan’s analysis of the difficulties and hopeful prospects of cultural and theological dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Particularly, I found his analysis of the “clash of civilizations” assessment of the relationship between Islam and Christianity to be helpful. It is not the case that recognizing a “clash of civilizations” makes discourse hopelessContinue reading “Dialogue and Ecclesial Responsibility”

I found Clinton Bennett’s description of different Christian positions vis a vis Muhammad intriguing and occasionally troubling. I wish to focus this post on the latter reaction, particularly with regard to Bennett’s description of his own views toward the end of the essay. Bennett claims, evoking the apophatic language of “paradox,” that “unity and TrinityContinue reading “A Fuller Affirmation of Muhammad?”

One minor but significant theme in the Khalidi text is Jesus’s confrontations with and condemnations of scholars. The first such saying, 17, condemns as “seditious” the errant scholar, because his errors cause many others to fall as well. Frequently, scholars are condemned for having knowledge but lacking good works (e.g., 43, 46). Saying 67 andContinue reading “Scholars and the Islamic Jesus”

I was particularly struck by this reading’s emphasis on the manner in which prayer shapes the attitude of the one who prayers. This emerges first in reference to the salat prayers, at whose heart lies that prostration which Katz describes as “the fundamental stance of the cosmos towards its creator” (15). It is, in thisContinue reading “Prayer and Creation in Islam”

One of the less palatable habits of Miroslav’s Volf’s chapter on the Trinity is his blithe dismissal of the personal names of Father, Son, and Spirit as mere “metaphors.” One example comes from page 138: “Using metaphorical terminology of ‘Fatherhood’ and ‘Sonship,’ in John’s Gospel Jesus claims, ‘The Father is in me an I amContinue reading “Reality, Metaphor, and Trinity”

Rahman’s dense account of the Qur’anic understanding of God places considerable stress on the relationship between God and human beings. Particularly, Rahman is concerned to emphasis the mercy of God in the Qur’an, over against polemical or misinformed Western portraits thereof. In the course of emphasizing this attribute, Rahman points to a number of waysContinue reading “Grace in Islamic Theology?”

I found Qutb’s “The America I Have Seen” by turns insightful, ignorant and frustrating. On the one hand, Qutb’s critique of sexuality in American life rings true in many places; I think particularly of Qutb’s account of his conversation with a university student who profoundly proclaims, “Sex is not a moral matter at all.” TheContinue reading “Sayyid Qutb on America”