Triune Relationality (New Explorations in Theology), Sherene Nicholas Khouri, foreword by Gary R. Habermas. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008843) 2024.
Summary: Argues that relationality is among the perfections of God that only a Triune God meets.
Any substantive Christian-Muslim dialogue inevitably confronts the question of the nature of God. Is God absolutely One or is God one being (or substance) subsisting in the relations of three persons? The author of this book, an Arabic scholar who has ministered in Syria proposes the following argument:
P1: One aspect of divine perfection is relationality–the greatest conceived being should be relational in order to be perfect (the greatest).
P2: The Trinity shows God as a relational divine being (intrarelational and interrelational).
C: The Trinity is noncontradictory. (p. 20)
However, Khouri believes our discussions, as well as her argument, need to be grounded in the history of the conversation. And so she begins with the early history of Islam in the eighth to tenth centuries as Christian apologists were confronted by many Christians converting to Islam. She explores how the Qur’anic objections first arose. Contrary to the traditional answer of aberrant beliefs of a weak church, she contends that Muslim ideas of the Trinity are traceable to the theotokos icons. This led to thinking of the Trinity as the Father, the mother Mary, and their offspring, Jesus.
Khouri also introduces us to three Christian apologists from this period. John of Damascus argues from the eternality of word and spirit for the Trinity. Theodore Abu Qurrah. He argues from the nature of Adam for one God in three persons: one who begets, another who is begotten, and one who proceeds. Yahya Ibn Adi takes a more philosophical approach showing that Allah may be one in one sense while multiple in another. Throughout, Khouri shows how they engaged with Muslim scholars of their time.
Then Khouri turns to our contemporary setting. First, she surveys contemporary theologies of the Trinity, considering Social Trinitarian, Latin Trinitarian, and relative identity theories. Finally, she elaborates her own argument, summarized above. She shows how explanations for God as absolutely One yet relational introduce an imperfection, dependence upon the creation, whereas the Trinity is relational within the oneness of God’s being, self sufficient and not dependent on creation.
This work is valuable on several levels. First, Khouri sets the conversation in a historical context. We equally disavow the Trinity of the Qur’an. Second, she introduces us to Arabic Christian theologians who met this challenge in the early centuries, whose arguments still have value. Third, she helps us consider why the Trinity can help us make sense of the relational character of human life. And finally, she offers a logic built on wahid, God as the greatest conceivable being. She argues that God cannot be perfect without being relational. Only the Trinity of Christianity meets that criteria.
_____________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Hey Bob, thanks for that review. In my recent public dialogues with Muslim leaders, the issue of the Trinity often comes up. One response to the question of relationality from their side is to simply invoke God’s omnipotence. Being all-powerful, Allah can relate to the creation if he so desires — without it being construed as dependence on creation. I don’t think this argument holds but it’s an example of the “apologetic of absolute” that I often hear from our Muslim friends. That is, God can do absolutely anything that is logically possible, God is absolutely one, the Koran is absolutely the word of God untainted by human influence, and Islam is the absolute truth. This series of absolutes can feel simple, fresh, and compelling to students in the university world where everything seems overly nuanced and complex.
The way I’ve framed it is how can our relationality be accounted for in a Creator who does not exist in relationship? Yes, I suppose that if God can conceive something, including relationship, God can create it. But relationality between persons seems far more consistent with a God who has eternally existed in relationship.