Arianism and Mu'tazilism: Parallels between the Early Christological Debates and the Medieval Islamic Debate on the Nature of God (original) (raw)

Published in LOGOS: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Vol. 59, Nos. 1-4 (2018). For published version of this paper, email me at luis.dizon@mail.utoronto.ca SUMMARY: During the ninth century C.E., one of the greatest theological controversies in Islamic history took place. This controversy pertained to the nature of God as it related to God's attributes. This debate encompassed such important topics as how to relate free-will to predestination, how anthropomorphic language in the Qur'an was to be interpreted, and whether such attributes as God's speech are, in fact, eternal. The last of these issues proved to be the most divisive, and lead to polemics and inquisitions over whether or not the Qur'an was eternally pre-existent. It is interesting that many of these theological debates have parallels in similar debates that took place among Christians over the nature of Christ in the fourth century C.E. Those familiar with church history are aware that during that century, the Arian controversy raged throughout Christendom as various groups debated over how to understand the person of Christ and whether he is to be seen as a creature of God or as being of the same substance as God. Many of the arguments and concepts that were put forward during the Arian controversy closely mirrored similar arguments and concepts that would arise five centuries later in the Islamic context. The goal of this article is to look at the debates regarding the nature of God during the Islamic middle ages (8 th to 13 th centuries C.E./2 nd to 6 th centuries A.H.), as they were participated in by the Mu'tazilis and Ash'aris. We will look at the arguments and issues that were raised during the debate. Also, we will look at parallels with early Christian controversies regarding Christology, showing how similar theological issues arose in both traditions, and were resolved in surprisingly similar ways.