Pursuing Veritas

John of Damascus’ writings on Islam provide a foundational perspective for understanding early Christian views of Islam as a heresy. His commitment to accurate representation, deep engagement with Islamic texts, fair argumentation, and theological framing offers valuable insights for contemporary Christian-Muslim dialogue. While his approach requires adaptation to address the complexities of modern interfaith engagement, the principles he employed remain relevant for fostering mutual understanding and respectful theological discourse between Christians and Muslims today.

Following John’s lead in engaging heretical views with a balance of love and truth, modern Christians should approach dialogue with Muslims with the same balance of concerns, recognizing the sincerity and integrity in their faith while addressing theological differences honestly and respectfully. John’s overall treatment of Islam in Peri Haereson and the Disputatio accords well with numerous contemporary approaches, such as Alistair McGrath’s thesis that heresies arise from sincere and honest attempts at understanding God’s truths and the world which have gone astray. Christian responses to heresy must balance love with truth, appreciation of sincere faith with honest corrections where faith has gone wrong.

Moving forward, the question is not just one of how to dialogue with another religion, but also how to lovingly dialogue with an accurate understanding of Islam in one hand and the truth of the Gospel of Christ in the other. We need to discern what role religion and theology play in the lives of everyday people, an undoubted complexity of factors that influence human views of reality. It is to the whole human person that our dialogue must attend itself. Right theological understanding must play a formative and central role in this dialogue, but it must be a holistic and praxis-oriented theology of engagement that is rooted in love of neighbor—even neighbors who do not see eye-to-eye on important theological issues.