The People of the Book, ahl al-kitāb

Dr. Richard Lawrence Kimball is a founding member of the Galway Interfaith Alliance. His interest in Muslim Christian relations began while serving as a U. S. Peace Corps volunteer in Gabes, Tunisia in the 1980s. Here he came into contact with the Christian community of southern Tunisia and in particularly Père Dominique Tommy-Martin of the White Fathers of Africa who has inspired Richard. Père Dominique taught Richard, as well as many others throughout his more than 60 years of ministry, that it is indeed possible to be Christian and to love and respect Islam. He recently received his PhD in Philosophy from the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Dublin. Richard is currently working on an English translation of Al-Tabari’s Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān with Dr. Ali Selim.

CONTENTS: Ahl al-Kitāb: The Qur’ānic People of the Book – Beyond Al-jāhiliyya: The Social and Historical Context of the People of the Book in Pre-Islamic Arabia – Resisting the Construct: Post-Conquest Christian Theological Responses to Islam – Contemporary Islamic Use of the Term «People of the Book» – Contemporary Muslim-Christian Engagement with the People of the Book – Conclusions: Challenges and Opportunities.