Is God One, Three, Both, or Neither?

As I noted last week, when it comes to differing notions of God in Islam and Christianity, I do not think that either tradition is honored, nor the truth served, if we fudge the differences. A book coming out in September (from Brill, which publishes wonderful scholarship in the area at hideous prices, alas) takes us back to the earliest of those Christian-Muslim debates over the nature of God: Sara Leila Husseini, Early Christian-Muslim Debate on the Unity of God: Three Christian Scholars and Their Engagement With Islamic Thought (9th Century C.E.) (Brill, 2014), 

About this book the publisher tells us:

Early Christian-Muslim Debate on the Unity of God examines the writings of three of the earliest known Christian theologians to write comprehensive theological works in Arabic. Theodore Abū Qurra, Abū Rā’iṭa and ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī provide valuable insight into early Christian-Muslim debate shortly after the rise of the Islamic empire.

Through close examination of their writings on the doctrine of the Trinity, Sara Husseini demonstrates the creativity of these theologians, who make use of language, style and argumentation characteristic of Islamic theological thought (kalām), in order to help articulate their long-established religious truths. Husseini offers close analysis of the authors individually and comparatively, exploring their engagement with Islamic theology and their role in this fascinating period.