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Document Details :

Title: Divine Embodiment in Christian-Muslim Perspective
Author(s): KROKUS, Christian S.
Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
Volume: 22    Issue: 2   Date: 2012   
Pages: 158-169
DOI: 10.2143/SID.22.2.2965150

Abstract :
Building upon the work of Harry Wolfson, Kenneth Cragg, Daniel Madigan, and others, the author attends to the notion of the divine Word as a locus for fruitful examination of divine embodiment in Christian-Muslim comparative theological perspective. Although the official (Qur’anic) denials of the incarnation seem to preclude comparison, the author, a Roman Catholic, argues that investigating the structural similarities in the ways theologians and mystics in both traditions discuss the relevant material proves fertile ground, especially for purifying Christian understandings of incarnation and union with God. The author approaches the topic both from above, via a comparison of classical theological reflections on the relationships between God and God’s Word and between God’s Word and the world, and also from below, via a comparison of the way Christian and Muslim mystics discuss the possibility of union with God (another form of divine embodiment) and the way claims to union are received in each tradition.

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