Iskandar ibn Ahmad's epistle in refutation of Christians (2012)
Abstract
http://dx.doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2012.31.50
This paper introduces the short epistle written by Iskandar ibn Aḥmad as an anti-Christian polemic. Iskandar identifies himself as "a philosopher from Trabzon," a city in the north-east of modern Turkey. No information about him is available other than this detail. The author of the polemic attempts to confute the basic Christian idea that Jesus Christ is God using biblical verses. As he refers to biblical verses accurately and in Greek (transliterated into the Arabic alphabet), one can be sure that he is very familiar with the New Testament. In addition to the biblical verses, he also uses logical arguments and Qurʾānic verses to show that Jesus Christ is only a human being. This paper starts with a brief history of Muslim anti-Christian apologetics and polemics in the Ottoman Empire and succinct information about Iskandar ibn Aḥmad's epistle. Then, the paper provides the English translation and Arabic text of the epistle. Because the epistle is a unique copy, it is not possible for us to illustrate the differences among copies of the text. However, the footnotes provide biblical and Qurʾānic references, transliteration of the Greek biblical verses, and the author's mistakes in the usage of Arabic languages.
This paper introduces the short epistle written by Iskandar ibn Aḥmad as an anti-Christian polemic. Iskandar identifies himself as "a philosopher from Trabzon," a city in the north-east of modern Turkey. No information about him is available other than this detail. The author of the polemic attempts to confute the basic Christian idea that Jesus Christ is God using biblical verses. As he refers to biblical verses accurately and in Greek (transliterated into the Arabic alphabet), one can be sure that he is very familiar with the New Testament. In addition to the biblical verses, he also uses logical arguments and Qurʾānic verses to show that Jesus Christ is only a human being. This paper starts with a brief history of Muslim anti-Christian apologetics and polemics in the Ottoman Empire and succinct information about Iskandar ibn Aḥmad's epistle. Then, the paper provides the English translation and Arabic text of the epistle. Because the epistle is a unique copy, it is not possible for us to illustrate the differences among copies of the text. However, the footnotes provide biblical and Qurʾānic references, transliteration of the Greek biblical verses, and the author's mistakes in the usage of Arabic languages.
Keywords: Anti-Christian polemics, Muslim apology, Iskandar ibn Aḥmad, divinity of Jesus, humanity of Jesus
Protestanlıkta Sakramentler
İbadetler ve dinî uygulamalar dinlerin pratik boyutunu oluşturur. Hıristiyanlık söz konusu olduğunda, sakramentler en önemli dinî pratikler olarak karşıma çıkmaktadır. Katolikler ve Ortodokslar yedi sakrament kabul ederken, Protestanlar sadece vaftiz ve evharistiyayı sakrament olarak görmektedirler. Bu kitapta vaftiz ve evharistiyanın yanı sıra, Protestanlarca sözde sakramentler şeklinde adlandırılan diğer beş uygulama (konfirmasyon, günah itirafı, yağlama, rahip takdisi ve nikâh) tarafsız bir gözle incelenmektedir. Bahsi geçen her bir uygulamanın anlamı, önemi ve tarihî gelişimi verildikten sonra, Protestanlar ve Katolikler arasındaki görüş farklılıklarına yer verilmektedir. Ayrıca, sakramentler konusunda Protestan yazarların birbirlerine yönelttikleri eleştiriler de konu edinilmektedir. Son olarak, Katoliklerin ve Ortodoksların sakrament kabul ettiği beş uygulamayı Protestanların reddetme gerekçeleri açıklanmaktadır.
Emin Yayınları, Bursa 2012,
296 sayfa,
ISBN: 9786054487059
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