Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology.

• Author: Kessler, Edward
• Position: Book review

Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology

By Davied B. Burrell

Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 204 pages, ISBN 9780470657553.

DAVID BURRELL'S Towards a JewishChristian-Muslim Theology explores key theological topics of the three Abrahamic faiths, insightfully depicting the way in which thinkers have struggled with similar issues over the centuries. Burrell is Professor Emeritus at Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame, Indiana, and has also taught for many years in Kampala, Uganda. He has written numerous books on philosophy and theology, as well as Christian-Muslim relations, and this book is probably his most important since a collection of his writings was published in 2004 (Faith and Freedom, Wiley and Sons).

Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology is the output of a profound scholar who has devoted much of his life to the study and practice of the inter-religious encounter. As a philosophic theologian, Burrell is at ease among Jewish, Christian and Muslim writings, especially from the medieval period.

This book demonstrates how much leading figures from the three faiths have learnt from, even been dependent upon, one another. Although Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology is challenging to read because philosophical theology is not an easy subject, it is well worth the effort because it provides deep insights into the topic of faith itself.

In this latest work, Burrell uses the technique of 'creative hermeneutics' to show how each faith struggles with similar complex questions, and how comparative inquiry illuminates those issues to the benefit of each. The book, audacious in its breadth, devotes chapters to creation, freedom, grace, providence and the eschaton (Last Day). Unsurprisingly, Burrell feels most at ease when writing about the classical medieval theologians such as Aquinas, al-Ghazali, and Maimonides.

Burrell moves smoothly from writing about one faith to another and shows how each can be mutually enlightening and corrective to the other. He points to ways in which inter-religious conversations can expand and deepen theological understanding. Although much of the book is comparative in nature, in the final two chapters he does not avoid reflecting on the encounter between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, exploring differences between the interpreters. The book would have benefitted from less comparative analysis and greater consideration of the interaction between the three Abrahamic faiths. Burrell challenges Christians...