Witnessing God
Christians, Muslims, and the Comparative Theology of Missions
Published on 19. December 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
284 pages
978-90-04-51911-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book is a comparative theological investigation into the following question: how does one theologically understand the sincere-truth-seeking religious other who rejects one's truth claims not out of animosity or ignorance, but rather from a desire to worship God in spirit and in truth? Specifically, this book investigates the extent to which soteriologically exclusivist Muslims and Christians maintain their respective truth claims while maintaining a posture of vulnerability to the revisionary power of the religious other's claims. To answer these questions, this book examines comparative theology's missiological foundation through a dialogical study of neo-Calvinist and Reformist Sunni understandings of the epistemic status of the religious other. This book is a practice in comparative theology with the goal of rethinking neo-Calvinist theology of religions through Islamic thought to present a missiological comparative theology amenable to exclusivist theological positions within Christianity and Islam.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
445 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-51911-4 (9789004519114)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alexander E. Massad, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of World Religions at Wheaton College (IL) and an Affiliate Faculty in the School of Mission and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary (CA). He is a comparative theologian whose research and publications focus on Evangelical and Reformed theology in dialogue with the Muslim tradition.
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction
?1 Purpose and Outline of the Book
?2 Clarifications and Nuances
PART 1: Methods, Comparative Theology, and Missions
1 A Historical Account of Christians Accounting for Non-Christians
?1 Missionaries, the "Old" Comparative Theology, and the Scientific Study of Religion
?2 The Theology of Religions: a Response to Christian Primacy
?3 The "New" Comparative Theology: an A Posteriori Response to Hegemony
?4 Assessing the "Dialectical" Narrative
?5 Critique of Nicholson's Narrative - Overstating the Dialectic
?6 The Missionary Spirit in Comparative Theology
2 The Potential for a Missiological Comparative Theology
?1 Evangelical Concerns: Comparative Theology, Multiple Religious Belonging, and Missions
?2 Hegemonic Discourse: Comparative Theology's Amenability to Missiology
??2.1 The Promise of a Missiological Comparative Theology
?3 An Aggiornamento for Exclusivism and Comparative Theology
?4 Review of Part One
PART 2:Neo-Calvinism and the Islamic Tradition
3 A Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology
?1 Neo-Calvinist Soteriology and Epistemology
?2 Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology and Soteriological Exclusivism
?3 Warranting a Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology
??3.1 Abraham Kuyper: Common Grace and Comparative Theology
??3.2 Herman Bavinck: General Revelation and Comparative Theology
??3.3 Contemporary Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Common Grace and General Revelation
?4 Developing a Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theological Perspective
?5 Concluding Remarks
4 Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
?1 Abraham Kuyper's Encounter with the Islamic Tradition
?2 Herman Bavinck's Meditations on Islam
?3 Johan Herman Bavinck's Preoccupation with Islam
?4 Assessing Early Neo-Calvinist Theological Engagements with Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
?5 Contemporary Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??5.1 Contemporary Antithesis-Driven Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??5.2 Bartholomew and Strange: a Priori Presuppositionalism
?6 Contemporary Common-Grace-Driven Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??6.1 Mouw and Kaemingk: an Unwitting Perpetuation of Binaries
?7 The Need for a Neo-Calvinism Aggiornamento with Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
PART 3: Contemporary Reformist Muslims and the Religious Other
5 Rashid Ri?a and Christianity: the Problem of Christian Missions and Ri?a's ?ariq al-Da?wa
?1 Ri?a and ?a?n
?2 Ri?a and Ta?rif
?3 Ri?a and Da?wa
?4 "Missiology" and Ri?a's ?ariq al-Da?wa
6 From Da?wa to Shahada: Muslim Religious Imagination and the Religious Other
?1 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Imagination and Engagement
??1.1 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Prostration
??1.2 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Engagement
??1.3 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Imagination
?2 Reimagining Anthropology: From al-Ghazali's Epistemological Emphasis to Ri?a's Fi?ra Focus
?3 Ri?a - Religious Imagination in al-Ghazali's Soteriological Taxonomy
?4 From Dar al-Islam to Dar al-?Ahd to Dar al-Da?wa
?5 From Da?wa to Shahada: Tariq Ramadan
??5.1 Ramadan's Call to Western Muslims
??5.2 Ramadan's Fi?ra Anthropology
??5.3 From Fi?ra to Shahada
?6 From Dar al-Da?wa to Dar al-Shahada
?7 Concluding Remarks
PART 4: Comparative Theological Conclusions: Neo-Calvinism, Islam, and Missiological Comparative Theology
7 Reconfiguring Neo-Calvinism through Islamic Thought
?1 Idenburg: a Case Study in Colonial Neo-Calvinism
?2 Colonial Neo-Calvinism and ?a?n
?3 Perpetuating the Problem: a Priori Presuppositionalist Neo-Calvinism
??3.1 The Ethical Problems of Antithesis-Driven A Priori Presuppositionalism
?4 Assessing Ethical Implications within Common-Grace Driven Neo-Calvinism
?5 An a Posteriori Autobiographically Vulnerable Neo-Calvinism: Readings Romans 1 with Ri?a
8 Towards a Missiological Comparative Theology
?1 Accad's Kerygmatic Missiology
?2 Contemporary Muslim ?ariq al-Shahada
?3 Missio Dei and Comparative Theology
References
Index
Introduction
?1 Purpose and Outline of the Book
?2 Clarifications and Nuances
PART 1: Methods, Comparative Theology, and Missions
1 A Historical Account of Christians Accounting for Non-Christians
?1 Missionaries, the "Old" Comparative Theology, and the Scientific Study of Religion
?2 The Theology of Religions: a Response to Christian Primacy
?3 The "New" Comparative Theology: an A Posteriori Response to Hegemony
?4 Assessing the "Dialectical" Narrative
?5 Critique of Nicholson's Narrative - Overstating the Dialectic
?6 The Missionary Spirit in Comparative Theology
2 The Potential for a Missiological Comparative Theology
?1 Evangelical Concerns: Comparative Theology, Multiple Religious Belonging, and Missions
?2 Hegemonic Discourse: Comparative Theology's Amenability to Missiology
??2.1 The Promise of a Missiological Comparative Theology
?3 An Aggiornamento for Exclusivism and Comparative Theology
?4 Review of Part One
PART 2:Neo-Calvinism and the Islamic Tradition
3 A Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology
?1 Neo-Calvinist Soteriology and Epistemology
?2 Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology and Soteriological Exclusivism
?3 Warranting a Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theology
??3.1 Abraham Kuyper: Common Grace and Comparative Theology
??3.2 Herman Bavinck: General Revelation and Comparative Theology
??3.3 Contemporary Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Common Grace and General Revelation
?4 Developing a Neo-Calvinist Comparative Theological Perspective
?5 Concluding Remarks
4 Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
?1 Abraham Kuyper's Encounter with the Islamic Tradition
?2 Herman Bavinck's Meditations on Islam
?3 Johan Herman Bavinck's Preoccupation with Islam
?4 Assessing Early Neo-Calvinist Theological Engagements with Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
?5 Contemporary Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??5.1 Contemporary Antithesis-Driven Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??5.2 Bartholomew and Strange: a Priori Presuppositionalism
?6 Contemporary Common-Grace-Driven Neo-Calvinist Approaches to Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
??6.1 Mouw and Kaemingk: an Unwitting Perpetuation of Binaries
?7 The Need for a Neo-Calvinism Aggiornamento with Muslims and the Islamic Tradition
PART 3: Contemporary Reformist Muslims and the Religious Other
5 Rashid Ri?a and Christianity: the Problem of Christian Missions and Ri?a's ?ariq al-Da?wa
?1 Ri?a and ?a?n
?2 Ri?a and Ta?rif
?3 Ri?a and Da?wa
?4 "Missiology" and Ri?a's ?ariq al-Da?wa
6 From Da?wa to Shahada: Muslim Religious Imagination and the Religious Other
?1 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Imagination and Engagement
??1.1 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Prostration
??1.2 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Engagement
??1.3 Nguyen's Muslim Theology of Imagination
?2 Reimagining Anthropology: From al-Ghazali's Epistemological Emphasis to Ri?a's Fi?ra Focus
?3 Ri?a - Religious Imagination in al-Ghazali's Soteriological Taxonomy
?4 From Dar al-Islam to Dar al-?Ahd to Dar al-Da?wa
?5 From Da?wa to Shahada: Tariq Ramadan
??5.1 Ramadan's Call to Western Muslims
??5.2 Ramadan's Fi?ra Anthropology
??5.3 From Fi?ra to Shahada
?6 From Dar al-Da?wa to Dar al-Shahada
?7 Concluding Remarks
PART 4: Comparative Theological Conclusions: Neo-Calvinism, Islam, and Missiological Comparative Theology
7 Reconfiguring Neo-Calvinism through Islamic Thought
?1 Idenburg: a Case Study in Colonial Neo-Calvinism
?2 Colonial Neo-Calvinism and ?a?n
?3 Perpetuating the Problem: a Priori Presuppositionalist Neo-Calvinism
??3.1 The Ethical Problems of Antithesis-Driven A Priori Presuppositionalism
?4 Assessing Ethical Implications within Common-Grace Driven Neo-Calvinism
?5 An a Posteriori Autobiographically Vulnerable Neo-Calvinism: Readings Romans 1 with Ri?a
8 Towards a Missiological Comparative Theology
?1 Accad's Kerygmatic Missiology
?2 Contemporary Muslim ?ariq al-Shahada
?3 Missio Dei and Comparative Theology
References
Index