Jaarboek Thomas Instituut 1997 - Thomas Instituut te Utrecht

AQUINAS AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 15
and Islamic philosophy".
It is therefore possible to write about Aquinas and
interreligious dialogue, not because he was personally engaged in
interreligious dialogue, but because he was deeply influenced by some
Muslims and some Jews who wrestled with the same problem of faith
and reason in an analogous manner. Aquinas was aware of the fact
that a theologian is someone who should speak about God, not only to
those with whom one shares the same faith, but also to those who are
strangers to this faith. In accordance with the rules developed by
Aquinas concerning this issue, the communication between Christians
and Muslims (and between Jews and Muslims, for that matter) is
regulated by the requirements of reason. So, following David B.
Burrell or Harry A. Wolfson, one can describe the communication
between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Middle Ages largely as a
communication in terms of a philosophical theology".
Jews and Christians, however, who appeal to the same
authoritative sources of God's revelation, have another means of
communication in common, viz. the interpretation of their Scriptures.
Therefore, Christians sometimes consulted a Jewish rabbi when they
17 For Jewish philosophy, see C. Sirat, A History of Jewish Philosophy
in the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1985, p.5. For Islamic philosophy, see S.H.
Nasr and O. Leaman (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy (Routledge History
of World Philosophies, I), London and New York 1966. In his introduction,
Leaman protests against the tendency to see the dichotomy of religion and
reason as lying at the heart of Islamic philosophy (Vol. I, p.3). But one
should at least say that this tendency has clarified the nature of many philosophical
interactions between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Middle
Ages.
18 See D.B. Burrell, Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn Sina,
Maimonides, Aquinas, Notre Dame IN 1986; Id., Freedom and Creation in
Three Traditions, Notre Dame IN 1993; cp. also P. Valkenberg, "De
onvergelijkbare gave van ons bestaan: David Burrell over schepping en
vrijheid in drie tradities", Jaarboek 1993 Thomas Instituut te Utrecht, Utrecht
1994, 189-215 (summary p. 217). H.A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the
Kalam, Cambridge MA I London 1976.