The Islamic Belief That the Incarnation Is Incoherent: An Examination and Response
‘The divine gesture in the Incarnation is metaphysically incoherent’, said the late Shabbir Akhtar (1960–2023). He claims this is a religious assumption amongst Muslims more broadly. Akhtar rightly grasps his statement’s implications, for the Incarnation—at the heart of the Nicene faith—is the ‘orth...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
The Evangelical quarterly
Year: 2025, Volume: 96, Issue: 2, Pages: 152-178 |
| Further subjects: | B
Incarnation
B incoherence B Christology B Islam B doctrine of God B Christian-Muslim relations |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | ‘The divine gesture in the Incarnation is metaphysically incoherent’, said the late Shabbir Akhtar (1960–2023). He claims this is a religious assumption amongst Muslims more broadly. Akhtar rightly grasps his statement’s implications, for the Incarnation—at the heart of the Nicene faith—is the ‘orthodox claim on which Christianity rests’. The dismissal of the Incarnation as incoherent, while problematic on many levels, functions as a defeater belief for Muslim openness to the gospel. This article examines, first, Islamic scholarly critiques of the coherence of the Incarnation, and second, the philosophical arguments underpinning these critiques; Christian responses are offered throughout. In defence of the Incarnation’s coherence a summary of one theological model, Bruce McCormack’s Barthian kenotic Christology, is offered. |
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| ISSN: | 2772-5472 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Evangelical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/27725472-09602004 |
