Holy Trinity or Asma' Husna'? The Prospects of Comparative Theology

Francis X. Clooney

Klaus von Stosch is a German pioneer of Comparative Theology (CT), associated with the Centre for Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies (ZeKK) at the University of Paderborn. This approach to the study of religion, is not yet very well established in Germany.  Comparative theology was first introduced by the renowned theologian and Indologist Francis X. Clooney.


In close cooperation with Muslim theologians, von Stosch focuses primarily on the Christian-Islamic nexus. In the fall of 2011, he delivered guest lectures in Christian theology to Shiite students in the Iranian city of Qom. Early this year, he was a guest at the Benedictine Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, together with the Islamic religious educationalist Mouhanad Khorchide from the German city of Münster (see also the blog post of 26 November 2011). This month, the Paderborn centre, in cooperation with the Centre for Islamic Theology in Münster and the Mercator Foundation, will convene a week-long workshop discussing eschatalogical concepts in Islam and Christianity, including perceptions of violence in the Bible and Koran.

German comparative theologian Klaus von Stosch (r.) with
Mohammad Taghi Ansaripour of the University of Religions in Qom (Iran).

Von Stosch has just released Comparative Theology as a Guide to the World of Religions. Essay on Comparative Theology (in German).The purpose of CT is not just to introduce yet another subject in the existing disciplinary curriculum, but rather to define a new universal task for all theological disciplines. 'Only then can Christian theology undergo a complete reorientation', he says. 'It is an approach that emanates from the self, but tries to integrate the view of the self held by others into one's own theology'. Through a methodical and meticulous comparison of individual subjects, it intends to detect inter-religious affinities. To cite one example:

CT takes a more open view of the spiritual world of others. As a Muslim female employee in Stosch's department carried out research into liberation-theology traditions in Christianity and Islam, she encountered something that could represent an Islamic analogy to the Christian Trinity concept: the 99 names of God as mentioned in the Koran and in Islamic tradition. These names are often set out as contrasts, for example "the First" and "the Last", "the Manifest" and "the Hidden". Stosch views this as a "functional equivalent in Islam, a way for Muslims to perceive diversity in unity." But, he emphasises: "That doesn't mean there has to be an argument over who is right.

Comparative Theology aims to establish shared outlooks like these – without making any attempt to reduce them to some common denominator. The aim is to developed 'concrete understanding above and beyond religious boundaries'. 

ZeKK also provides the opportunity for Catholic and Protestant trainee teachers, philosophy students and soon, prospective Muslim religious education teachers to attend seminars in comparative theology. Muslim and Christian theologians serve as lecturers. As part of this approach, "team teaching" by tutors of various religions is the method of choice, because it promotes and conveys an authentic, dialogic religious interaction. In one post-graduate colloquium, Christians, philosophers, and local and Iranian Shiite Muslims discussed the philosophy of Nietzsche. In addition the Centre is also a involved in the nationwide Graduate College for Isamic theology, an initiative that trains academic staff for the newly envisaged Islamic theological institutes in German (see blog post of 26 November 2011).

To read the entire article, click here.

Germany stimulates critical Islamic thinking with new postgraduate programme for Muslim theologians

The Germany-based Qantara website, which covers news from the Muslim world and 'diasporas' in the West, draws attention to a German initiative that seeks to stimulate critical Islamic thinking through a new postgraduate programme intended for Muslim scholars with an ambition to specialize in Islamic theological thought. Published under the adamant title 'Muslim theologians are instigators of change', the article argues that the 'advancement of research from below wll provide new perspectives on Islam and produce new insights so that Islam may establish itself within a German context'.

The nation-wide project will in first instance enable fifteen young researchers from seven universities to meet regularly at workshops and conferences to exchange ideas. The programme is financed with a 3.6 million Euro grant from the Mercator Foundation, which also organized this years Young Islam Conference in Berlin.

Islamic theology is still a very new academic discipline at German universities. It is hoped that a new nationwide post-graduate programme will boost its development, lead to increased representation of Muslims in Germany, and lay the groundwork for the training of state schoolteachers of Islam.

Mouhanad Khorchide

The project is coordinated by the Lebanese-Austrian scholar of religion Mouhanad Khorchide, currently associated with the Wilhelm University in Westphalia in Münster. Says Khorchide.:

The programme is promoting the same aim that the federal government has been pursuing since last year with the creation of four Centres of Islamic Theology. The political expectations are obvious. It's all about an appropriate integration policy and creating the conditions for "the necessary dialogue of cultures", as the Federal Ministry of Education has put it on several occasions.

Another scholar involved in the project is Professor Harry Harun Behr of the Interdisciplinary Center for Islamic Study or Religions (IZIR) at the University of Erlangen, who observes that:

Harry Harun Behr

Muslim theologians move along borders in order to be able to translate between different systems of knowledge management. [...] Muslim theologians should also have an effect within the Muslim community. Cautious provocation is part of the trade. Muslim theologians are instigators of change.

The fifteen academics involved are all young immigrants of the first or second generation addressing subjects such as They include subjects such as feminist Islamic theology, the re-discovery of forgotten early Islamic theologians, the historical-critical study of Koran manuscripts, or the role of language, script and reason in the interpretation of the Koran and the prophet's sayings. All are using critical methods and approaches:

many of the projects question overly simple concepts of a literal understanding of the canonical sources and might well end up angering conservative Muslims.

Just as with controversial subjects, the young academics show little fear of making contact with Christian traditions of theology and religious educational theory.

Also other prominent Muslim scholars of Islam currently based in Germany have weighted in with their support for the initiative:

Ömer Özsoy

The establishment of Islamic theology (in Germany) can no longer be undone (Ömer Özsoy, Professor of Exegesis, University of Frankfurt). 

Katajun Amirpur

There is certainly an underlying expectation that this discipline will make Islam compatible with democracy and help reduce problems with Muslim,s [...]: We're not engaging in contract research here and won't invent some kind of integrated Islam for you. (Katajun Amirpur, Professor of Islamic Theology in Hamburg)

The young researchers involved in the project include Serdar Kurnaz(New philological, theological, and legal phiolsophical approaches to Islamic jurisprudence); Nimet Seker (Gender-equitable approaches to the Qur'an); Tolou Khademalsharieh (Early textual history of the Qur'an); and Fahimah Ulfat (Islamic religious educational theory). Watch this space for more news on their future academic exploits.