Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God: A Philosophical Approach

Author

Zachary W. CaseyFollow

Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

8-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Frederick D. Aquino

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Bruce D. Marshall

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Jerry L. Walls

Abstract

In this thesis I probe the question of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God primarily through the discipline of philosophy of language. Though a multifaceted question at its core (e.g., theological, historical), the question directly ties into how language operates in relation to God. That is, the ways in which Muslims and Christians make predications of God have a significant role in delineating whether they worship the same God. By working from the perspective of predication, I argue that Muslims and Christians refer to but do not worship the same God. In this sense, Muslims and Christians refer to the same God with the use of generic predicates (e.g., God is good); however, they do not worship same God given that worship entails the use of specific predicates (e.g., God is Triune). Muslims and Christians thus meet the criteria for common reference but cannot be regarded as maintaining the same referent in their worship.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Casey, Zachary W., "Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God: A Philosophical Approach" (2020). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 241.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/241