RT Article
T1 Ibn al-Ṭayyib's Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu
JF Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
VO 29
IS 2
SP 123
OP 143
A1 Kuhn, Michael
LA English
PB Taylor & Francis
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1580019854
AB This article examines a theological treatise of Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṭayyib, a savant of the Assyrian Church of the East. The treatise discusses the Attributes of Deity demonstrating a thematic correspondence with the dominant polemical arguments occasioned by the Christian view of the Trinity and Christology. These include the relation of the hypostases to the attributes of essence, specifically the unity of the divine essence in contrast to the plurality of the hypostases. Ibn al-Ṭayyib also borrows concepts from the Muslim milieu to commend his Christian formulation. Most notable among these is the Ashʿarī concept of the divine attributes (ṣifāt) and their categorization. The Ashʿarīs had limited the attributes of essence to seven. Ibn al-Ṭayyib limits them to three: paternity, filiation and procession. The article considers Ibn al-Ṭayyib's Christian intellectual forebears, demonstrating that he used and amended their formulations. Finally, two Muslim polemicists are considered to establish that Ibn al-Ṭayyib was engaging with specific objections concerning the Christian Trinity. This thematic correspondence warrants a reconsideration of Ibn al-Ṭayyib's contribution to the Muslim-Christian interface. Although never an explicitly polemic theologian, the savant-priest developed an implicit apologetic through his theological treatises that provided intellectual fortification for his Christian community.
K1 Church of the East
K1 Ibn al-?ayyib
K1 Trinity
K1 Apologetic
K1 Divine Attributes
K1 Essence
K1 Filiation
K1 Hypostasis
K1 Paternity
K1 Tawḥīd
DO 10.1080/09596410.2018.1441787