Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? This is perhaps the most
significant question that has emerged during the increased interest in
Islam in the decade following 9/11. Theologian Miroslav Volf tackled
this thorny question in his new book, Allah: A Christian Response. Volf’s
answer to the question is a qualified yes. That is to say, while
Muslims and Christians have different understanding of aspects of God’s
nature and character, so do Christians and Jews and, for that matter, so
do different kinds of Christians. If we say that Muslims and Christians
do not worship the same God, Volf argues, we have to concede that Jews
and Christians (and Arminians and Calvinists for that matter) do not
worship the same God. While Volf’s argument has a certain appeal, when
we dig a little deeper, we find that it is built on a rather shaky
foundation.
What Is Monotheism?
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are commonly known as the “three great
monotheistic religions.” But this label may assume too much. The word monotheism
was not coined until the 17th century when Cambridge don Henry More
used it to describe any view that held to one person (or principle) as
God. The word was co-opted in the 18th and 19th centuries by OT critical
scholars who were engaged in revising OT composition history. In the
spirit of that age, they saw the history of religion on an evolutionary
scale. As human religion developed, it progressed from pantheism to
polytheism and finally to the “ethical monotheism” we see reflected in
“Deutero-Isaiah,” his friend “Trito-Isaiah,” and other later prophets.
This evolutionary process was a movement from the belief that all things
are spiritual and divine, to the belief that only a few things are
divine, and finally only one thing is divine. Keep Reading...
No comments:
Post a Comment