Thursday, April 16, 2020

Hans Küng on the Qur'an and Its (mis)understanding of Trinitarian Theology


Commenting on the Qur’an’s (mis)understanding of the Trinity, Hans Küng wrote:

In seven-century Islam the doctrine of the Trinity was brought into the centre of criticism. This criticism is formulated harshly in the Qur’an: ‘O followers of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God’s Apostle—[the fulflment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary—and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say “[God is] a trinity.” Desist [from this assertion]. God is but one God’ (Surah 4.171; cf. 5.72f). However, in the Quran, we sometimes find as the Christian Trinity not the Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Spirit but the Trinity of God the Father, Mary mother of God and Jesus son of God. (Hans Küng, Islam: Pat, Present and Future [trans. John Bowden; Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2007], 505, emphasis added. Note that the Arabic word, contra  is not “trinity” or “triad” but “three”)

Commenting on Surah 4.171, we read the following in the Study Quran

Christians who call God "Three" are more seriously criticized, but this verse is embedded in a larger discussion that seems to be addressing those Christians who took not only Jesus, but also his mother, Mary, to be divine (see 5:73c). In both the present verse and 5:73, however, the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity as three "persons," or "hypostates, "within" the One God is not explicitly referenced, and the criticism seems directed at those who assert the existence of three distinct "gods," an idea that Christians themselves reject. (The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary [New York: HarperOne], page 447 of 1998, location 14516 of 90397 kindle ed.)

God, who is the supposed author of the Qur’an, is ignorant of the Trinity. Say what you will about the doctrine, regardless of whether it is true, God knows what the doctrine is (and, to be blunt, my arguments against Trinitarianism on this blog are much better than that of the Qur’an—I actually understand the Trinity, to begin with).