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Guest
By Jennifer E. Reed
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of 2/22/07)
Islam emphasizes law and the revelation of God’s will, and is a territorial enterprise, while Christian reflection and study produces theology on the mysteries of God, said Christendom College theology professor Dr. William Marshner. His Feb. 17 talk on Islam attracted a crowd of over 100 people at St. John the Beloved Church in McLean.
Marshner, who designed a unit on Islam for Christendom’s required apologetics course on arguments in defense of the credibility of the Catholic faith, said that while there are “apparent structural parallels” between Islam and Christianity, the distinction about what each generates brings to light a huge difference between them.
Christian reflection focuses on mysteries such as the Incarnation or the Holy Trinity. Islam on the other hand, is concerned with following the Shariah (Islamic law) which covers how to pray, make loans, marry or treat one’s wife, Marshner said. Islam does not inquire about who God is “because there is simply no inquiry about it – he is so transcendent,” he said. In addition, the Shariah is believed to be so perfect that it does not need to be supplemented by any outside source.
“There is no room for natural law, an outside-of-Islam moral law that people would know thanks to their common human experience,” Marshner noted, nor is there any room “for accumulated political wisdom.”
He explained that Mohammed, Islam’s founder, had a dual role as both a king and a prophet – he was, in effect, “both the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope.” He added, “It is misleading to call Islam a religion. You may as well call it a polity with a religion. … [Islam] is a territorial enterprise,’’ added Marshner.
| ARTICLE |
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of 2/22/07)
Islam emphasizes law and the revelation of God’s will, and is a territorial enterprise, while Christian reflection and study produces theology on the mysteries of God, said Christendom College theology professor Dr. William Marshner. His Feb. 17 talk on Islam attracted a crowd of over 100 people at St. John the Beloved Church in McLean.
Marshner, who designed a unit on Islam for Christendom’s required apologetics course on arguments in defense of the credibility of the Catholic faith, said that while there are “apparent structural parallels” between Islam and Christianity, the distinction about what each generates brings to light a huge difference between them.
Christian reflection focuses on mysteries such as the Incarnation or the Holy Trinity. Islam on the other hand, is concerned with following the Shariah (Islamic law) which covers how to pray, make loans, marry or treat one’s wife, Marshner said. Islam does not inquire about who God is “because there is simply no inquiry about it – he is so transcendent,” he said. In addition, the Shariah is believed to be so perfect that it does not need to be supplemented by any outside source.
“There is no room for natural law, an outside-of-Islam moral law that people would know thanks to their common human experience,” Marshner noted, nor is there any room “for accumulated political wisdom.”
He explained that Mohammed, Islam’s founder, had a dual role as both a king and a prophet – he was, in effect, “both the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope.” He added, “It is misleading to call Islam a religion. You may as well call it a polity with a religion. … [Islam] is a territorial enterprise,’’ added Marshner.
| ARTICLE |