No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

The subject of this thesis is the theology of the late 13th- early 14th century churchman 'Abdisho' bar Brikha. Better known by modern scholars for his poetry and canon law, he is far less recognised as a religious controversialist who composed works in Arabic as well as Syriac to answer Muslim criticisms. My overall argument contends that 'Abdisho''s hitherto neglected theological works are critical to our understanding of how anti-Muslim apologetics had by his time become central to his Church's articulation of a distinct Christian identity in a largely non-Christian environment. 'Abdisho' wrote his apologetic theology at a time when Christians experienced increasing hardship under the rule of the Mongol Ilkhans, who had officially converted to Islam in 1295. While the gradual hardening of attitudes towards Christians may well have informed 'Abdisho''s defensive stance, this thesis also demonstrates that his theology is built on a genre of apologetics that emerged as early as the mid-8th century. Our author compiles and systematises earlier debates and authorities from this tradition while updating them for a current authorship. In doing so, he contributes to the formation of a theological canon that would remain authoritative for centuries to come. My analysis of 'Abdisho''s oeuvre extends to three doctrinal themes: the Trinity, the Incarnation, and devotional practices (viz. the veneration of the Cross and the striking of the church clapper). I situate his discussion of these topics in a period when Syriac Christian scholarship was marked by a familiarity with Arabo-Islamic theological and philosophical models. While our author does not engage with these models as closely as his better-known Syriac Christian contemporary Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286), he nevertheless appeals to a literary and theological idiom common to both Muslims and Christians in order to convince his coreligionists of their faith's reasonableness against centuries-long polemical attacks.

This study endeavors to set Christian writing about Islam from the period of the Islamic expansion in the broader context of Christian theological development in Late Antiquity. To this end, this study traces elements of continuity in Christian thought from the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth century, particularly from the Council of Chalcedon in 451and the resulting emergence of the communities of Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites as the dominant strands of Christianity in the Near East at the rise of Islam. In order to understand how Christians began to integrate the Islamic expansion into their thinking, this study focuses particularly on Christian writings about Islam and the descriptions of Muslims in Christian writings from the rise of lslam, through the seventh and early eighth centuries, up to the Abbasid revolution in 750. It also considers the contemporary descriptions of Christians in the Qur'an, in order to illustrate that these descriptions have both a different starting point and a different focus, suggesting that both Christian discussions about Muslims and Muslim discussions about Christians were internal discussions, taking place within each tradition, and do not represent true inter-religious dialogue. In this way, this study attempts to illustrate how the rise of lslam, the emergence of the caliphate and the resulting separation of the Near Eastern churches from the Christian hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople influenced Christian identity in the Near East. The writings of the seventh century, and the Christian identity they preserve, emerge as a hybrid, integrating elements of the competing, pre-Islamic concerns of doctrinal purity versus church unity, but also attempting to address, in a variety of ways, the initial fear over Muslim victory and the eventual acceptance of Muslim rule as the new status quo in the Near East.

Religious experience is a narrative reality, while it certainly relates to doctrines and rituals, it is embodied by the stories people tell which express the meaning of conversion as understood by the converts themselves. In order to enter this narrative world we must engage the actual stories told by converts, making space for their narratives as they make meaning of their experiences and thus open windows on the emic perspective. Sometimes this happens through stories that are largely thematic—expressing conversion in mainly one metaphor. Other times, narratives may touch on many different ideas, allowing us to discern various internal structures, such as some of the factors leading to conversion. Nevertheless, as important as these narratives are, they are only part of the picture because religious conversion always takes place in context. Therefore, if we are to properly understand the deeply personal experience we call conversion, we must frame it within the social, cultural and historical currents swirling around that experience. The conversions in this study are rooted in the religious history of Central Asia, particularly the seventy-odd years of Soviet rule. By the end of that era, it is probably more appropriate to think in terms of localized islam, rather than a universal religion based on the text of the Quran. Not only so, but the once proudly distinct Muslim peoples, now living under Russian rule, had become enculturated into Russian patterns of life, thought, and worldview, a process referred to as Russification, something which had profound effects on the way some of them have experienced conversion away from their natal religion. This study examines both of these aspects, first the contextual and then the personal, through the stories of thirty-six Muslims who converted to faith in Christ in post-Soviet Central Asia. By exploring the deeply personal and the broadly contextual together, this study offers a clear view of the meaning of religious conversion, in a historical, social, and religious context. / Religious Studies & Arabic / D.Lit. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Die verhoudings tussen Christene en Moslems word dikwels vertroebel deur wantroue, misverstand en kultuurverskille. Hierdie studie behandel gebed as 'n moontlike brug van begrip tussen Moslems en Christene. Die motivering vir die studie le egter dieper as die soeke na goeie wedersydse verhoudings. Dit vloei voort uit deelname aan die "God se sending" in die wereld. Hoofstuk 2 gee 'n noukeurige beskrywing van Moslemgebed (salat), deur te kyk na die oproep tot gebed, voorneme, wassing, gebedshoudings, asook die plek en rigting van gebed. Hoofstuk 3 bevat 'n Christelike interpretasie van Moslemgebed. Di t bestudeer die aanroep ("In die naam van God"), die Moslem-geloofsbelydenis en salat as ritueel. Hoofstuk 4 tref 'n vergelyking tussen die eerste Soerah (Al-Fatihah) en die "Onse Vader". Beide verskille en ooreenkomste word aangetoon. Hoofstuk 5 trek dan 'n paar missiologiese konklusies, met die klem op gebedshoudings en die verhouding tussen dialoog en getuienis. / Relations between Christians and Muslims have often been strained due to mistrust, misunderstanding and cultural differences. This study focuses on prayer as a possible bridge to mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians. However, the motivation for this study goes deeper than a search for good neighbourliness. It stems from participating in the ''mission of God" in society. Chapter 2 gives a detailed description of Muslim prayer (salat), looking at the call to prayer, intention, ablution, prayer postures, the place and the direction of salat. Chapter 3 contains a Christian interpretation of Muslim prayer. It examines the invocation ("In the name of God"), the Islamic Creed, and salat as ritual. Chapter 4 draws a comparison between the opening Surah (Al-Fatihah) and the Lord's Prayer. Both the common and distinguishing features are highlighted. Chapter 5 draws some missiological implications, focusing on prayer postures and the relationship between dialogue and witness. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis looks at the development of Protestant and Evangelical encounter with Muslims from the earliest days of the Modern missions movement. Special attention is given to the dynamic equivalence model (DEM), which resulted in a new method for interpreting the Qur’an called the Christian Qur’anic hermeneutic (CQH). I begin with the early Protestant ministers among Muslims, such as Martyn and Muir. Pfander’s (1910) book, The balance of truth, embodies the view that the Qur’an teaches an irrevocable status of inspiration for the Old and New Testaments. The early and mid-twentieth century saw a movement away from usage of the Qur’an during Evangelical encounter with Muslims. Direct model advocates bypass the Qur’an and other religious questions for an immediate presentation of the gospel. The 1970s saw the development of the DEM, which produced significant changes in how Evangelicals encountered Muslims. Pioneers like Nida, Tabor, and Kraft implemented dynamic equivalence as a model in Evangelical ministry. Concurrently, Accad and Cragg laid groundwork for the CQH. The DEM creates obscurity in anthropology by promoting an evaluation of cultural forms as essentially neutral. This is extended to religious forms, even the Qur’an. Such a simple, asocial value for symbols is not sufficient to account for all of human life. Cultural forms, especially those intrinsically religious, are parts of a complex system. Meaning cannot be transferred or equivocated with integrity from one context to another without a corresponding re-evaluation of the entire system. Theological difficulties are also produced by the DEM and the CQH, and include the assigning a quasi-inspirational status to the Qur’an and a denial of unique inspirational status to the Christian Scriptures. If the gospel is communicated through the Qur’an, then it is difficult to deny some level of God-given status to it. Further, the Christian Scriptures are not unique as inspired literature. My proposal for how to use the Qur’an responsibly looks to Bavinck’s elenctics and is presented as Qur’anic pre-evangelism. Rather than communicating Biblical meaning through the Qur’an, Evangelicals can focus on areas of the Qur’an that coincide with a lack of assurance felt by Muslims in anthropology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2005 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: No abstract available / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming

Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 386-425) and index.