The Muslim Jesus: Reception History, Christological Encounter, and Interreligious Hermeneutics
摘要
How does Islam understand Jesus? Was Muhammad a prophet like Isaiah or Jeremiah? First, the chapter will give an insight into the rich reception history of the Muslim Jesus. Second, it will discuss hallmarks in the framework of their Christologies: a voluntary image of God (Jesus’ relationship to God defined by his devotion and obedience), a representational Christology (Leirvik) as a sign of God’s mercy (Singh), and a soteriology connected with a relatable image of God, namely, the reestablishment of the relationship between God and humans as removal of the veil that separates them (Ibn Arabi). Third, in the resulting image of Jesus, we will revisit overarching questions and themes concerning the Christian dogma of Jesus Christ—mainly the question pertaining to his person (sonship, human, and divine nature)—and ask about his works (salvation, suffering, and crucifixion). Through such careful considerations, we will, finally, make an attempt at a new interreligious hermeneutic, a way to understand the variety of religions as the result of searching for answers which for Christians have their origin in Christian faith. We will argue that interreligious encounter will not be adequately dealt with by manner of either relativizing the Christology of the church, nor by a hasty adaptation to tendencies within Islam that might also exhibit elements of Christian doctrine (e.g., the interpretation of Jesus in the Qur’an, the Hadith, and the Muslim Gospel). Moreover, consideration of a multifaceted dimension of interreligious concepts of the person and work of Jesus Christ presents a many-sided, total picture—a mosaic that can be placed in relation to each other in certain hermeneutical ways.