Review by Choice Review
The study of Islam tends to focus on the Koran, history, beliefs, practices (both ritual and ethical), and political issues, but now the "Oxford Handbooks" series offers a wide-ranging historical presentation of Islam theology. Scholars (kalam) and traditionalists alike drew on the Koran and the prophetic tradition (Sunna) to address questions about Allah and relations between the deity and the world, but rationalists went further to think and write about the world as well as the deity. Thus the rich intellectual history of Islamic theology evidences not only a wide range of themes and topics but also sharp exchanges between competing schools. Schmidtke (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) divides the 41 essays in this volume into five sections. The historical sections cover the formative, middle (11th-19th centuries), and modern periods and examine Mu'tazilite, Ash'arite, Maaturidite, and Sufi theologies along with theology in Ottoman, Asian, and Indian lands. The topical sections deal with relations among Islamic theologians and between Muslim theologians and their non-Muslim environments. Given its scope and the uniformly high quality of the essays, this volume will be an excellent resource/textbook for those interested in Islamic theology and philosophy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. --Larry J. Alderink, Concordia College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
