The Influence of Christian Theology on the Development of Tawḥīd in Early Kalām
Abstract
How did Christian theology, in turn, help shape the Muslim doctrine of divine oneness? Fr Romain Louge shows how the first Muslim theologians, the Muʿtazila in particular, developed their conception of tawḥīd partly in response to Christian theological language, especially its Trinitarian formulations.
The chapter thus brings out the density of theological exchange between Christians and Muslims in the first centuries of Islam, when the two traditions answered one another in a shared scholarly language.
This chapter by Romain Louge appeared in the collective volume Islamic Perspectives on God and (Other) Monotheism(s) (ed. Wahid M. Amin, Aaron W. Hughes and Sajjad H. Rizvi, AMI Press, 2025, pp. 38-59).
Résumé
Comment la théologie chrétienne a-t-elle contribué, en retour, à façonner la doctrine musulmane de l’unicité divine ? Le père Romain Louge montre comment les premiers théologiens musulmans, en particulier les mutazilites, ont élaboré leur conception du tawḥīd en partie en réponse au langage théologique chrétien, notamment trinitaire.
Le chapitre met ainsi en lumière la densité des échanges théologiques entre chrétiens et musulmans aux premiers siècles de l’islam, lorsque les deux traditions se répondaient dans une même langue savante.
Ce chapitre du père Romain Louge a paru dans l’ouvrage collectif Islamic Perspectives on God and (Other) Monotheism(s) (dir. Wahid M. Amin, Aaron W. Hughes et Sajjad H. Rizvi, AMI Press, 2025, p. 38-59).
ملخّص
كيف أسهم اللاهوت المسيحي، بدوره، في تشكيل العقيدة الإسلامية في وحدانية الله؟ يبيّن الأب رومان لوج كيف صاغ أوائل المتكلّمين المسلمين، ولا سيّما المعتزلة، تصوّرهم لمفهوم التوحيد جزئياً ردّاً على اللغة اللاهوتية المسيحية، وبخاصةٍ صياغاتها الثالوثية.
ومن ثمّ يُبرز الفصل كثافة التبادل اللاهوتي بين المسيحيين والمسلمين في القرون الأولى للإسلام، حين كان التقليدان يتحاوران في لغةٍ علميةٍ واحدة.
صدر هذا الفصل للأب رومان لوج ضمن الكتاب الجماعي التالي (تحرير وحيد م. أمين وآرون و. هيوز وسجّاد ح. رضوي، AMI Press، 2025، ص 38-59):
Islamic Perspectives on God and (Other) Monotheism(s)
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