The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology

by Edited by Tim Winter

• ISBN13: 9780521780582
• ISBN10: 0521780586
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This series of critical reflections on the evolution and major themes of pre-modern Muslim theology begins with the revelation of the Koran, and extends to the beginnings of modernity in the eighteenth century. The significance of Islamic theology reflects the immense importance of Islam in the history of monotheism, to which it has brought a unique approach and style, and a range of solutions which are of abiding interest. Devoting especial attention to questions of rationality, scriptural fidelity, and the construction of 'orthodoxy', this volume introduces key Muslim theories of revelation, creation, ethics, scriptural interpretation, law, mysticism, and eschatology. Throughout the treatment is firmly set in the historical, social and political context in which Islam's distinctive understanding of God evolved. Despite its importance, Islamic theology has been neglected in recent scholarship, and this book provides a unique, scholarly but accessible introduction.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Historical perspectives
Qur'an and hadith	p. 19
The early creed	p. 33
Islamic philosophy (falsafa)	p. 55
The developed kalam tradition	p. 77
The social construction of orthodoxy	p. 97
Themes
God: essence and attributes	p. 121
Creation	p. 141
Ethics	p. 161
Revelation	p. 180
The existence of God	p. 197
Worship	p. 218
Theological dimensions of Islamic law	p. 237
Theology and Sufism	p. 258
Epistemology and divine discourse	p. 288
Eschatology	p. 308
Index	p. 325
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