Nick Van Winkle Honors Colloquium 15 March 2018 Essay #2 The patriarch Timothy’s exchange with Caliph Mahdi offered a possible framework for Christian Muslim coexistence and dialogue. This apology accentuated how similar the two religions are, however, the differences are irreconcilable. Even though it is impossible to integrate the two into a single functioning religion, this exchange may have sown the seeds of a potential understanding. It is an incredible thing that this debate even took place at all. Patriarch Timothy treated the Caliph with great respect. Addressing him as O King of Kings, and many other decadent titles. The Caliph was a well trained logistician while Patriarch Timothy excelled in Rhetoric. This could be seen throughout …show more content…
He stated that “Muhammad is worthy of all praise, by all reasonable people. He walked in the path of the prophets, and trod in the track of the lovers of god.” He answered in such a way that he satisfied the Caliph without having to betray any of his own personal beliefs. Timothy mentioned how Muhammad brought more people into the grace of god. Unfortunately people misunderstood him and began to worship in the “cult of Muhammad” rather than truly allowing god into their hearts. The divine nature of Christ was among the most horrendous beliefs of Christianity from the perspective of Islam. A central point in both Islam and Christianity is that there is only one God. Islam however found the Christian doctrine of the trinity to be incompatible with strict monotheism. Islam seems to be unconvinced (or uninterested) in the councils of Nicea and Chalcedon, so Timothy had his work cut out for him. Muslims believe that Jesus was a great prophet, however, they do not believe in messianic figures. To equate Jesus Christ, a mortal man, with Allah almighty is heresy in its most extreme …show more content…
Mohammed preached as a means to liberate the Arab population from idolatry and polytheism, and from a muslim perspective, Christianity is a polytheistic religion. Muslims did no care about the outcomes of the arguments of differing the Christian denominations in late antiquity. If, however, the Caliph was able to decode the divinity of Jesus, he would be able to break down the trinity. This unequivocally led an incredibly deep discussion concerning the natures of one and three. Timothy stated that Muhammad actually believed in the trinity, “he only showed it in a somewhat veiled and mysterious way.” This was due to “the weakness of the people who would be listening.” They used to be idoltorors and polytheists, as a direct result of this Muhammad was afraid that the trinity would be similarly interpreted. The Caliph, however, didn’t seem