Byzantine theology and Islam : Paul of Antioch's irenic approach

Bogataj, Jan Dominik (author)

For the West, Islam has generally been seen as a typical example of exotic, dan-gerous and unknown culture, whereas for the Byzantines, Islam was much better known, since they had to live together with Muslims for centuries and therefore their attitude could not have been uniformly hostile but consisted of manifold attempts to hold a (theological) dialogue. The paper presents some key features of the heterogeneous Byzantine theology of Islam within the corpus of the theological polemical works which have been produced from 7th to the 13th century. After examining John Damascene (app. 676–749), the first Byzantine theologian who wrote on Islam and gained knowledge of Islam at first hand as a civil servant in the court of the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus, the present study examines a relatively unknown work, Paul of Antioch’s Letter to a Muslim Friend (MS Sinai Arabic 448; 531). The text of this Melkite bishop of Sidon was written in Arabic somewhere around 1200 and is one of the most authentic contributions to the Byzantine-Islam polemics about Paul’s irenic approach and his interpretation of Qur’an. Although it still applies a clear apo-logetic approach, Paul’s Letter may be viewed from the perspective of the theological dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Christian-Muslim dialogue, John Damascene, interpretation of Quran, polemics, apologetics
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2019
• Number of pages: Str. 195-210
• Numbering: Letn. 74, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-118065
• UDC: 27-528.8:28
• ISSN on article: 2335-4127
• DOI: 10.34291/Edinost/74/02/Bogataj
• COBISS.SI-ID: 11042563
• Publication date in RUL: 18.08.2020

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Edinost in dialog
• Publisher: Inštitut za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog pri Teološki fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2335-4127
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268194560

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Bizantinska teologija in islam : irenični pristop Pavla iz Antiohije

Abstract

Na splošno so Zahodnjaki islam stereotipno videli kot primer eksotične, grozeče in neznane kulture, medtem ko ga je bizantinska civilizacija poznala veliko bolje, saj so mo-rali stoletja živeti skupaj z muslimani. Njihov odnos je bil zato veliko bolj kompleksen in ni mogel biti zgolj enostransko sovražen, temveč najdemo tudi številne in raznolike poskuse teološkega dialoga. Razprava tematizira nekaj ključnih značilnosti heterogene bizantinske teologije islama znotraj korpusa teoloških polemičnih del, ki so nastajala od 7. do 13. stoletja. Po predstavitvi nauka Janeza Damaščana (ok. 676–749), prvega bizantinskega teologa, ki je pisal o islamu, saj je bil visoki uradnik na dvoru umajadskega kalifa v Damasku in se je tako lahko spoznal z novo religijo iz prve roke, članek analizira delo Pavla iz Antiohije Pismo mu-slimanskemu prijatelju (MS Sinai Arabic 448/531). Delo melkitskega škofa iz Sidona je bilo napisano okoli leta 1200 in je eden najbolj izvirnih prispevkov znotraj bizantinske polemike z islamom zaradi Pavlovega ireničnega pristopa in njegove interpretacije Korana.Čeprav kot otrok svojega časa uvaja jasen apologetičen pristop, lahko Pavlovo Pismo razumemo v perspektivi teološkega dialoga med krščanstvom in islamom.

• Keywords: krščansko-islamski dialog, Janez Damaščan, razlaga Korana, polemika, apologetika