Christian Doctrines in Islamic Theology

Thomas (Christianity and Islam, U. of Birmingham, UK) presents and introduces four of the earliest systematic Muslim theological treatises arguing against Christian theology, originally published between the fourth and the tenth centuries (of the Islamic calendar presumably, as Islam wasn't founded until the seventh century of the Christian calendar). They include the treatises of three of the leading theological experts of the early Islamic era: al-Maturidi, al- Baqillani, and `Abd al-Jabbar (the other is by al-Nashi' al-Akbar). As Thomas notes in the foreword, due to their authorship they are important in their own right, but they also implicitly provide information about Muslim-Christian relations of the time, Christian efforts to defend and explain themselves in Muslim milieus, and of course Muslim attitudes towards Christianity and thus have social- historical as well as theological relevance. The treatises are presented in the original Arabic and in English translation on facing pages and Thomas introduces each with an essay describing intellectual context. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

David Thomas, Ph.D. (1983) in Islamic Studies, University of Lancaster, is Professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham. He has published widely on Christian-Muslim relations including Christian-Muslim Polemic during the Crusades (Brill, 2005).