Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:2 (Jun 2020)
Article: Do Christians And Muslims Worship The Same God? Use Of Predicates And "Homoousios" As Foundational To The Answer
Author: Steven Tsoukalas

JETS 63:2 (June 2020) p. 307

Do Christians And Muslims Worship The Same God?
Use Of Predicates And Homoousios As Foundational To The Answer

Steven Tsoukalas

Steven Tsoukalas is Professor of Christian Theology and World Religions and Chair of Theological Studies at Emmaus University, Cercaville, Acul du Nord, Haiti. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The question of whether or not Christians and Muslims worship the same God has received much attention of late, from laity to biblical scholars, theologians, missiologists, and philosophers. Answering yes to the question stems from three widespread errors in Christian thought: failure to add proper predicates to “God”; failure to see as foundational the doctrine of homoousios as it relates to the three persons of the Trinity, especially the Father-Son, Son-Father relation; and doing theology partitively by severing theological categories from their ontological and theological mooring, which is the triune God. Conversely, when predicates and homoousios are given proper place in the undivided Trinity, two theologically proper questions arise, to which the answer is “no.”

Key words: Trinity, homoousios, theological predicates, “God”, homoousios tō patri, perichōrēsis

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? This question occupied the minds of few in the past.1 But not until recently2 has it become commonplace to address the question in both academic and casual contexts.3

JETS 63:2 (June 2020) p. 308

In this essay I argue that use of predicates, application of the homoousios4 doctrine, and the practice of non-partitive theology lead to phrasing the question in two different (but proper) ways that diverge significantly from the popular way of phrasing it, and answer “no” to these questions.

Alongside treatment of biblical passages, this essay features teachings from the writings of Athanasius (Against the Arians, On Luke 10:22, and On the Incarnation5) and insights from Thomas F. Torrance’s interactions with Athanasius, found especially in Torrance’s The Trinitarian Faith,6 The Ground and Grammar of Theology,7 and Theology in Recon...