Journal Article

فلسفة الإلهيات بين علم الكلام وعلم اللاهوت

كيشانه، محمود أحمد عبدالرحمن علي

2022

Overview

This paper is a reading of the final product that father Anawati's dialogue philosophy attempts to reach, for he was trying to follow found philosophical approaches in the aim of founding a philosophy of peaceful coexistence. As such, this study tackled several issues that mainly caused father Anawati to opt for dialogue, such issues relate to the stages of intellectual development that accompanied his life that was full of intellectual developments. Father Anawatihad the aspiration to embody the spirit of a generation past of Arab thinkers, who undoubtedly contributed in founding the Arab civilization along its history. Hence, one can value his efforts in formulating an elevated dialogue language in the light of a philosophical approach to Ilm Al-Kalam and Christian theology. Accordingly, this study aims to touch upon the method father Anawati followed to deal with the subject of Ilm Al-Kalam and Christian theology, in addition to the main pillars upon which his philosophical treatment of both were based. As such, I analyzed the main views of Anawait, a task which mounts to be a critical analytical reading of both fields, but this did not preclude launching critique to some of Georges Anawati's opinions on Islamic beliefs not Um Al-Kalam. I assume that comparison between Islamic and Christian thought was a great pleasure to father Anawati, as if he considered it a means of intellectual communication. For he was passionate about scientific research that leads to scientific results, without being led astray by any unscientific purposes, be they doctrinal or confessional. No wonder, father Anawati adopted the principle of dialogue based on mutual respect and understanding for the other, regardless of his faith, because he believed that thought is composed of gradual stages, where every stage is based on the preceding one. This means that there is no thought isolated from what preceded it in time or place, since true civilization is an outgrowth of reason that is influenced by preceding intellectual and civilizational efforts. Therefore, father Anawati opined that Christian thought was influenced by the Islamic setting and influenced it in a journey that reveals an eternal dialogue between Islam and Christianity. Efforts of old thinkers were a living proof of the degree of mutual influence between both civilizations. Studying biographies reveals the extent to which non-Muslim thinkers contributed to the Islamic civilization via their works of research or translations. Hence, a humanistic dialogue language is at hand between Islam and Christianity since the very beginning of the Islamic civilization. Father Anawati never used the civilizational crisis of the Arab and Muslim nation, especially in the intellectual sphere, as a tool to raise doubts about the achievements of this civilization. He was never an instrument to the hegemonic West that condescendingly looked down upon the Other and took religion as a bridge to cross over to its new old colonial interests. Quite the contrary, father Anawati's work has shown that Jewish and Christian thinkers alongside the Muslims contributed to the Islamic civilization. Several forms of cooperation appeared between followers of the three religions in the literary, philosophical, and scientific heritage.

• Publisher: كرسي اليونسكو للفلسفة فرع جامعة الزقازيق
• Subject: العقيدة الدينية / الفلسفة الإسلامية / الفلسفة المسيحية / فلسفة التعايش / قنواتي، جورج شحاتة، ت. 1994 م