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Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel's Relation to the Torah

Hoover, Jon

Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel's Relation to the Torah Thumbnail


Authors

JON HOOVER JON.HOOVER@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Islamic Studies



Abstract

Early and medieval Muslim anti-Christian polemicists do not present a uniform account of the Gospel's relation to the Torah, and polemical concerns drive the positions they adopt. This article focuses on how Damascene theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) responds to a provocation originating in the Christian Paul of Antioch. Paul argues that God sent Moses the law of justice and Christ the perfect law of grace, implying that the Qurʾān is not needed, at least not for Christians. Drawing on Islamic legal categories and invoking Sufi theological ideas, Ibn Taymiyya counters that the Torah and the Gospel contain both justice as obligation and grace as recommendation, with obligation more prominent in the Torah and recommendation in the Gospel, as part of a prophetic history leading up to the Qurʾān, which contains both in perfect balance. With this, Ibn Taymiyya provides a more extensive and sophisticated account of the Torah-Gospel relation than his predecessors.

Citation

Hoover, J. (2022). Law, Justice, and Grace: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) on the Gospel's Relation to the Torah. Entangled Religions, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.46586/er.13.2022.9466

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 1, 2022
Online Publication Date Feb 11, 2022
Publication Date Jan 1, 2022
Deposit Date Feb 2, 2022
Publicly Available Date Feb 2, 2022
Journal Entangled Religions
Electronic ISSN 2363-6696
Publisher Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 13
Issue 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.46586/er.13.2022.9466
Keywords Gospel; Ibn Taymiyya; Law; Muslim anti-Christian polemics; Paul of Antioch; Torah
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7373918
Publisher URL https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/9466
Related Public URLs https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER

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