Classical Islamic Theology: The Ash`arites

Focuses on the Ash'arites and the classical Ash'arite tradition. This title includes studies on the science of kalam, that present the author's insights on its very nature and essence, followed by a series of detailed analyses of the physics, metaphysics, ethics, and epistemology of the Ash'arite system.

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This is the third of three volumes reprinting the collected papers on Islamic subjects by Richard M. Frank, Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of America, and completes the set. The present volume on the Ash`arites and the classical Ash`arite tradition brings together articles written in the last two decades of Richard Frank's scholarly activity which represent his mature thought on the main philosophical and doctrinal elements of that tradition. The volume opens with two more general studies, one on the science of kalam, presenting Frank's most profound insights on its very nature and essence, followed by a series of detailed and incisive analyses of the physics, metaphysics, ethics, and epistemology of the Ash`arite system. This body of work forms the vanguard of modern studies on the subject and will repay repeated and prolonged study.