Authors:Zeynep YÜCEDOĞRU Abstract: The early Christians compiled lists of selected passages from the Jewish scriptures and preserved them as sacred writings. When the content of these extract collections is analysed, the anti-Jewish apologetic-polemic characteristic stands out. These extract collections were also used in catechist education. Over time, early Christians attributed the status of testimonia to certain passages that became prominent among other proof-texts, so that, compared to other circulating proof-texts, the testimonia passages were regarded as testimonials to the theological truth that did not even require interpretation. The creation and preservation of testimonia collections became not only a technical activity for Christians but also a tradition that shaped early Christian theology around certain central passages. Traces of this tradition can be seen in the works of the early church fathers and among later Christians. Greek, Latin and Syriac testimonia collections were translated into Arabic and used as sources of biblical proof-texts in both oral debates against Muslims and apologetic-polemical works. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the connection between the biblical quotations in the works of Christian Arab writers of different periods and the testimonia tradition. This study focuses on how biblical testimonia, which accompanied theological arguments from the first centuries onwards, were used and interpreted in Christian authors' apologetics and polemics against Muslims together with the strategy of "arguing from the book" and what are the similarities and differences in scriptural argumentation of Arab Christian authors compared to the previous testimonia tradition. PubDate: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Philip C. DORROLL Abstract: Dr. Elif Tokay’s recent book- Gregory of Nazianzus and the Issue of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit- is an important milestone in the study of Christian theology. This book is the first study of Gregory of Nazianzus ever to be written and published in Turkish. It is an insightful, accessible, and thorough examination of Gregory’s profound theological vision, the central argument of which is that the triune nature of God is revealed through God’s plan of salvation for humanity. Because his Trinitarian theology was fundamental to the development of Christian doctrine in general, Gregory’s importance in the history of Christianity cannot be overstated. In addition, his spiritual vision is of particular importance in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Gregory’s spiritual vision argues that humanity is created for the purpose of union with its Creator, and that the ascetic, contemplative, liturgical, and moral labor of the human individual all work in free cooperation with God’s saving plan. This theological anthropology is foundational to Eastern Orthodox spiritual teaching. Gregory’s works have for centuries been among the most widely read in the entire Eastern Orthodox tradition, and his theology of theosis (which Tokay discusses in detail) has played a key role in Eastern Orthodox religious practice and identity. Tokay’s analysis demonstrates that Gregory’s theology is best understood as a synthesis of doctrine and spirituality, where God’s saving role in history is the key to understanding God’s triune nature as disclosed to humanity in revelation. PubDate: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Bilal BAS Abstract: When the Byzantine Emperor Justinian inaugurated the Church of Hagia Sophia in 537 AD, mosaic icons did not exist. Instead, Justinian’s program included non-figurative and abstract decorative motifs and lots of crosses. The first appearance of the mosaic icons was dated to the late ninth century, after the final victory of the Iconodule theology in 843. The Orthodox church doctrine venerates icons as an object of worship in both public and private devotion. This doctrine mainly resulted from the Iconoclastic Controversy (726-843). It was a doctrinal controversy over the legitimacy of the employment of the pictures of Christ, Mary, and other holy people in worship in Christianity. The controversy took place mainly in Constantinople, where Hagia Sophia stood as the largest church of the entire empire. Therefore, the church witnessed the controversy as its outcome found its place on her walls and ceilings. In other words, when the traditional Iconoclastic view was dominant in the church, Hagia Sophia’s decorations included only non-figurative motifs and crosses. In contrast, icons began to appear in the Hagia Sophia after the vindication of Iconodulism as the official doctrine of the church. The purpose of this essay is to shed some light, with the help of modern studies, on the Iconoclastic and Iconodule theologies underlying these two kinds of alternative decorations. In this context, we will refer to Horos of the Iconoclastic Council of Hiereia in 754 for the Iconoclastic theology, and to the theological writings of John of Damascus for the Iconodule theology. By doing this, we will show how these alternative theological standpoints translated into the walls and ceilings of the Hagia Sophia. PubDate: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +030
Authors:Akif GÖÇMEN Abstract: Taḥrīf is one of the most fundamental Islamic arguments against the Jews and Christians for falsifying their Scriptures and one of the most critical issues discussed in the polemical tradi-tion. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) is one of the leading polemicists of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. One of the issues that he examined in his work, Hidāyat al-Ḥayārā fī Ajwibat al-Yahūd wal-Naṣārā, which he wrote as a refutation to Jews and Christians, is the distortion of the Tanah and the New Testa-ment. This article examines and analyzes Ibn Qayyim’s views on taḥrīf and biblical criticism to determine its place and importance in the Islamic refutation tradition. For this purpose, his understanding of taḥrīf and his opinions in his polemic have been analyzed and revealed by descriptive and comparative methods. His views influenced the falsification conception in the Islamic tradition and scholars after him, which was also reflected in tradition. Based on Islamic sources and the Jewish and Christian scrip-tures, Ibn Qayyim concluded that most of the authentic texts of the Jewish and Christian scriptures had been distorted textually (taḥrīf al-lafẓ/al-nass) and interpretively (taḥrīf al-maʿnā). And he revealed his claims with theo-logical and rational proofs in detail. PubDate: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +030
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