A unique interreligious dialogue provides needed context for deeper understanding of interfaith relations, from ancient to modern times Freedom is far from straightforward as a topic of comparative theology. While it is often identified with modernity and even postmodernity, freedom has long been an important topic for reflection by both Christians and Muslims, discussed in both the Bible and the Qur'an. Each faith has a different way of engaging with the idea of freedom shaped by the political context of their beginnings. The New Testament emerged in a region under occupation by the Roman Empire, whereas the Qur'an was first received in tribal Arabia, a stateless environment with political freedom. Freedom: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, edited by Lucinda Mosher, considers how Christian and Muslim faith communities have historically addressed many facets of freedom. The book presents essays, historical and scriptural texts, and reflections. Topics include God's freedom, human freedom to obey God, autonomy versus heteronomy, autonomy versus self-governance, freedom from incapacitating addiction and desire, hermeneutic or discursive freedom vis-a-vis scripture and tradition, religious and political freedom, and the relationship between personal conviction and public order. The rich insights expressed in this unique interfaith discussion will benefit readers-from students and scholars, to clerics and community leaders, to politicians and policymakers-who will gain a deeper understanding of how these two communities define freedom, how it is treated in both religious and secular texts, and how to make sense of it in the context of our contemporary lives.

A Common Word Between Us and You (ACW) is an open letter, dated 13 October 2007, from leaders of the Islamic religion to those of the Christian religion. It calls for peace between Muslims and Christians and seeks common ground and understanding between both religions. This volume examines the document from a number of perspectives. Exploring the events that led to ACW, it provides an overview of responses to the document and its use of scripture. It also relates the reception of ACW to several specific and contrasting contexts, and recommends new avenues for ACW-inspired discussion. Advancing debate and dialogue between Jews, Muslims and Christians, this volume promotes a distinctive methodology for inter-religious studies, and serves as an invaluable resource for students and scholars of theology and religious studies.

What defines 'humanity' is a seemingly innocuous question and yet one which continues to attract controversy. Directed by this inquiry and bringing together theological insight in conversation with academic interreligious discourse, the present edited volume offers a unique contribution towards articulating the complex and myriad ways in which human life has been conceived and related to the greater vista of reality. Framed around Muslim-Christian theological dialogue, the volume results from a meeting of prominent international scholars, whose contributions investigate the origins of life through to death and beyond. Informed by classical and contemporary theological questions and interests, the volume offers scholarship in the humanities and sciences important insights into debates pertaining to human beings, their nature, future, and purposes.

The present volume is dedicated to the study of 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1641-1731), an outstanding religious scholar, sufi thinker and man of letters from 17th-18th-century Ottoman Syria. With its focus on a careful examination of Nabulusi's multifaceted and enriching textual corpus, the present volume offers an in-depth analysis of both his thought and his intellectual milieu. The essays presented here reflect the wide spectrum of Nabulusi's interests, from scriptural exegesis to theology, from jurisprudence to mysticism, from philosophy to poetry, ethics and aesthetics. Bringing together expertise in Islamic mysticism, theology and jurisprudence, Ottoman studies, and the social and cultural history of the Middle East, it explores Nabulusi's work and persona. The studies included in Part I of this volume remind us that Nabulusi's legacy has many surprises in store for us, and Part II is dedicated to critical editions of three of Nabulusi's short, but nevertheless important, treatises. This volume is intended to be the first of many further publications that would bring together the expertise of numerous Nabulusi scholars across disciplines. The interdisciplinary character of the present volume contributes to a better appreciation of Nabulusi's multifaceted impact on the diversified intellectual and religious history of the 17th-18th-century world of Islam, described until recently as a time of 'stagnation' and 'decline'.

Despite its status as one of the great traditions of Sunni Islamic systematic theology, the Maturidi school and its major texts have remained largely inaccessible to a Western audience. As the first reader of Maturidi theology ever produced in a Western language, this volume meets an urgent need among scholars and general readers. It features selections ranging from the founder, Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, to key texts from the broader Maturidi tradition up to the 18th century. Each selection includes the original Arabic text and an annotated English translation, preceded by a short introduction. The volume's structure mirrors the classical compendia of Islamic systematic theology, known as kalam , exploring questions of Epistemology and Ontology; Metaphysics; Prophethood; Faith, Knowledge and Acts; and Free Will, Predestination, and the Problem of Evil.