This brings us to what I believe to be the strongest argument in favor of St. John’s erudite understanding of both Islam and the Qur’an: his treatise against Islam, Against the Heresy of the Ishmaelites. Although the text is quite short, it is still valuable in assessing Damascene’s understanding of Islam and the Qur’an. Its length is not an indication of a lack of knowledge, but fits in with the theme of his larger work Against Heresies, which consists of brief overviews of various heresies. In fact, the section on Islam is actually the longest in comparison to the other 102[1] heresies addressed in the text. The rest of this paper will be spent analyzing the treatise against Islam and attempting to demonstrate from the text that Damascene did in fact have a proper understanding of the Qur’an and Islamic faith.
St. John of Damascus on Islam (Pt. 1): Life Among the Muslims
Throughout the history of Christian-Muslim dialogue the importance of the role and work of St. John of Damascus cannot be overstated. His work The Heresy of the Ishmaelites is the earliest written Christian treatise against Islam and, while quite short, it has still dramatically influenced Christian thought concerning Islam and polemics against it. However, some would argue that this emphasis on St. John is unfounded, and that his knowledge concerning Islam and the Qur’an was, in fact, quite limited. Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian John Meyendorff in his essay Byzantine Views on Islam argues that St. John’s “contribution to the history of Byzantine polemics against Islam is slight”[1] and that he was “neither original nor better informed than other Greeks in this matter.”[2] J.R. Merrill, a scholar Meyendorff references, in his work Of the Tractate of John of Damascus on Islam argues that Damascene’s works themselves prove he knew very little concerning the Qur’an and Islam. On the other hand some scholars, such as Daniel J. Sahas, find St. John to be a crucial voice in the study of early Christian-Muslim dialogue. In his work John of Damascus on Islam: The “Heresy of the Ishmaelites” he attempts to shed some light on St. John’s life, his interactions with Muslims, and his polemical writings against Islam. Using St. John’s writings on Islam, the focus of this paper will be to address the arguments of both Meyendorff and Sahas and to demonstrate that his knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam was, in fact, much deeper and richer than some have argued.
Iranian Shi’a Muslim Iconography
Warning: If you are offended by icons of Muhammad, you may not want to click “Read more”.
I’ve talked about iconoclasm in Islam briefly a few months ago and recently stumbled upon an icon of Muhammad that most modern day Iranian Shi’as have in their homes. I found the similarities between this and an Orthodox icon of Christ Pantocrator striking. The photo to the left is an icon from St. Catherine’s monastery in Sinai from the 6th-7th century.
What Makes Christianity So Compelling Anyway?
Guest post written by Seraphim Hamilton:
In Response to a Question. Why be a Christian? What persuades me of Christianity?
This is a big question, and you definitely have my prayers…but let me give you a few “big picture” reasons for my belief in Christianity.
1. I find the narrative presented by Christianity to be extremely compelling. Remember that the Christian faith is not first and foremost a set of dogmas. It is a way of viewing the world, of telling the human story. And in the Christian account, we talk about humanity spiraling deep into sin, after which God chooses one, small family through which he blesses the whole world. So look at the history of the Near East. You’ve got kingdoms and empires rising and falling. And in the midst of this, you’ve got one little kingdom, Israel. Not particularly powerful. Spends a lot of time as a vassal state. Ends up getting kicked out of their land and then coming back in subjugation to a series of other empires. But the whole way through, Israel is saying “one day, all nations will worship our God.” No other nation is saying this. Tiglath-Pileser is not saying this about the gods of Assyria. Nebuchadnezzar is not saying this about the gods of Babylon. Cyrus is not saying this about the gods of Persia. But the Israelites are saying it about their God.
Scientific Miracles in the Qur’an
Many Muslims claim that the Qur’an contains scientific information that could not have been known during the time that it was written and, as a result of this, believe that the Qur’an must be divine revelation. Here I will address some of the more common “scientific miracle” verses of the Qur’an that are presented in this leaflet. I will attempt to demonstrate that these verses are often either drawn from the Bible or misinterpreted to seem as though they contain some sort of miraculous scientific knowledge.
Islam Meets Orthodoxy 