Jaarboek Thomas Instituut 1997 - Thomas Instituut te Utrecht

anyway.
AQUINAS AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 35
2.4 The application of these rules in 'The Reasons of Faith'
The rules from the Liber de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores
infidelium on how to talk to strangers in theological matters are
applied by Aquinas in an occasional piece of writing entitled De
rationibus fidei (written around 1266)79. It is this piece of writing
that comes closest to any involvement by .Aquinas in the practice of
interreligious dialogue. Some editions mention a cantor of Antioch as
the addressee. This was probably a fellow brother of Thomas Aquinas
in the Dominican convent in Antioch (Syria), who wanted some wellreasoned
answers to a series of objections against the Christian faith
brought forward by some Muslims in the city where he lived. Several
authors have pointed out that De rationibus fidei is, both as to method
and as to contents, closely connected with the Liber de veritate:
Aquinas follows his own rules, mentioned in the previous section, by
defending the Catholic faith against the Muslim objections with
arguments alone. The objection on purgatory, brought forward by
Greek and Armenian Christians, is answered differently in chapter 9,
viz. by using the authority of Scripture as the main argument.
Aquinas begins his answer in the first two chapters with a reflection
on a text that has always been one of the mottos of Christian
apologetics: "Be always ready with your defence whenever you are
called to account for the hope that is in you" (I Peter 3,15). He
shortly mentions the main objections brought forward by Muslims
against the Christian faith: they take offense at our saying 'Christ is
the Son of God', because God has no wife. They call us insane
because we confess three persons in God. They laugh about our belief
that the Son of God was crucified for the salvation of humankind, and
finally they blame us for eating the body of God on the altar. Their
79 This work has been edited as volume XL, part B of Aquinas' Opera
omnia in the Leonine edition, Romae 1968. A recent English translation by J.
Kenny o.p., may be found in a periodical dedicated to the dialogue between
Roman Catholic Christians and Muslims, Islamochristiana 22 (1996) 31-52.