Author Archives: pelhalla

After having read Nostra Aetate, which had such a conciliar tone in talking about other faiths, particularly the monotheistic ones, it was a bit of a suprise to examine the implications of the Regensburg address on interreligious dialogue. Benedict XVI presented Islam as a faith with a severely deficient understanding of God that did notContinue reading “The Regensburg Address and the Possibility of Dialogue”

I must admit that, after having read Kose’s piece, I was rather frustrated by the fact that Gaudeul’s piece did not entail an analysis of the same nature. In retrospect, however, I think that the disparity between the two analyses highlighted the notable and significant difference between the nature of the conversions to and fromContinue reading “Conversions”

In the first half of the assigned piece today, Howard problematizes what appears to be a blithely reductive and optimistic perspective on the similarity and theological compatibility of Islam and Christianity. He states that the interactions between the two sides often have been reduced to polemical characterizations of the other and triumphalist portrayals of one’sContinue reading “Howard- A Point of Reconciliation Between Muslims and Christians”

Regarding the Islamophobic perspective of many Americans, Allen offered several reasons for why American Christians might have Islamophobic sentiments. But while many of his arguments were well-made, he missed a significant point, namely that the Evangelical Christians have (theoretically) allied themselves with Israel (or what they perceive to be the present incarnation of the biblicalContinue reading “A Thought on Allen”

“That Jesus should recite a Qur’anic verse would not be at all unnatural in a Muslim context; the Qur’an, after all, is the Book and all prophets in the Qur’an are Muslims.” Khalidi, p. 56, commenting on no. 9 I can certainly understand the Islamic proposition that all of the prophets were Muslims, and thusContinue reading “Khalidi: Jesus and Qur’anic Quotation”

“The combination of standing, recitation of scripture, and repeated prostration characteristic of salat … appears to most closely parallel the documented practices of contemporary Eastern Christians… In contrast, whereas prostration is characteristic of Israelite Temple worship as described in the Hebrew Bible, the formal daily prayers prescribed by rabbinic Judaism involve only standing, bowing, andContinue reading “A Thought on the Origins of Islamic Salat”

I thought that the evaluation that D’Costa wrote of Volf’s argument was rather fair, though flawed. D’Costa did well to commend the clarity of Volf’s argument and acknowledged that Volf’s argument was well-supported. At the same time, I thought that his critiques of Volf appeared to engage with what might be inferred from Volf’s argument,Continue reading “Thoughts on D’Costa’s Evaluation of Volf”

It appears that the intellectual and philosophical tradition of Islam was certainly much more developed than I had anticipated. I was struck by the similarity of the argument of contingency in this context with the argument from contingency that Aquinas uses in the Summa Theologiae as an argument for the existence of God. I wouldContinue reading “A Thought on Rahman”

I was frankly surprised at the wisdom and astuteness of Qutb’s evaluation of the contradiction of genius and primitiveness in the American mind. Although several of the details of his analysis were certainly arguable (such as the motivations behind the Civil War and similar claims), his overarching claim appeared to me to be quite accurate.Continue reading “Sayyid Qutb’s Evaluation of America”

One.I found it amusing that Rida’s responses to many of the arguments he lays out in response to Christian challenges are presented in the same form as many of the hadiths. He begins every response with a sort of isnad, establishing the source of the question, from whom it came, and who exhorted him toContinue reading “Two Thoughts on Rashid Rida”