In theological seminaries situated across the Middle East—where Islam represents both the majority religion and the foundational cultural framework—a persistent question emerges: Why should Christian seminarians, many of whom have been immersed in Islamic contexts from birth, devote themselves to the academic study of Islam? The prevailing assumption is that prolonged exposure to Islamic culture, festivals, language, and neighbors has already equipped these students with sufficient understanding. This familiarity, however, is largely experiential and often lacks the theological and historical depth required for meaningful engagement.

This essay argues that theological education in the context of the Middle East¹ must prioritize structured, critical Islamic studies—grounded in Islamic sources and interpreted through a framework of cross-cultural religious literacy (CCRL)—to ensure more informed, respectful, and productive Christian-Muslim engagement.

Anecdotal Experience vs. Academic Rigor

Many Christian seminarians in countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq live in close interaction with Muslims. They attend the same universities, work in mixed environments, and share neighborhoods. While this cultural proximity enables them to observe Islamic rituals—such as fasting during Ramadan or the five daily prayers—it does not necessarily provide access to the theological underpinnings of these practices. Without formal study, their understanding of concepts like Tawḥīd (the oneness of God), Sharīʿah (Islamic law), or ʿAqīdah (Islamic creed) remains shallow.

Moreover, students often adopt polemical or apologetic stances, framing Islam as a theological adversary rather than engaging with it as a subject worthy of serious scholarly study (as Patriarch Timothy did in 781 A.D., when he engaged the Caliph about these very issues). This tendency is understandable, given that in many contexts, Islamist polemicists dominate media and educational systems, where Christianity is frequently criticized and portrayed as a false or corrupted religion. For example, in many Middle Eastern and North African countries, Christian doctrines such as the Trinity or the Incarnation are often described in polemical discourse as illogical or heretical. Similarly, popular preachers like Zakir Naik and Ahmed Deedat² have gained large audiences throughout the region by debating Christian figures and emphasizing the perceived superiority of Islamic theology. In Egypt during the 1990s, many of Deedat’s works were widely translated into Arabic and sold at very low prices, making them highly accessible and popular across the country. Shaykh Muḥammad Mutawallī al-Shaʿrāwī was a well-known figure who regularly criticized Christianity and hosted a widely viewed weekly Friday program.

In many Middle Eastern seminary programs, courses labeled “Comparative Religion” often focus on defending Christian beliefs against Muslim critiques. While apologetics can serve a purpose, relying too heavily on this approach encourages a defensive mindset that treats Islam merely as a set of arguments to be countered. This results in a partial and narrow understanding of Islam, reinforcing a one-sided perspective. Such an approach doesn’t contribute positively to societal dialogue and confines Islam to an apologetic framework. Furthermore, it overlooks the diversity within Islam, which is not a monolithic belief system but one just as rich and varied in competing theological views, legal interpretations, and spiritual traditions as Christianity. Christian students who are trained primarily through this comparative or polemical lens are ill-prepared to engage with the complexity of Islamic thought—and the diversity of lived religion among Muslim peoples—in a meaningful way.

CCRL and the Need for Rigorous Engagement

CCRL addresses these limitations by emphasizing more than just learning about another religion; it involves fostering interpretive humility, empathetic listening, and the intellectual discipline necessary to understand a religion in its own context.³ In theological education, CCRL encourages students to engage with Islam not as a system to be critiqued or refuted but as a living, evolving tradition with its own deep theological and ethical teachings.

For Christian educators and seminarians, this means directly interacting with foundational Islamic texts: the Qur’an, Ḥadīth collections, classical theological works by scholars like al-Ghazālī or Ibn Taymiyyah, and legal texts from various Islamic jurisprudential schools (e.g., Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, and Ḥanbalī). Such an approach also requires a solid understanding of Islamic history and the evolution of its theological ideas. For example, early Islamic debates between the Muʿtazilites and Ashʿarites on issues like divine justice and human free will echo similar Christian debates on divine sovereignty and human agency. Exploring these topics comparatively can lead to deeper theological insights and foster more nuanced interfaith discussions.

This CCRL pedagogical shift from apologetics to scholarly engagement enables Christian students to recognize the theological sophistication of Islam. For example, Islamic conceptions of divine attributes (Ṣifāt Allāh) resonate with, yet also diverge from, Christian teachings on divine omniscience, mercy, and justice. Likewise, debates within Islam over divine transcendence (tanzīh) versus immanence (tashbīh) reflect similar tensions found in Christian theology.

This level of theological engagement requires patience, critical thinking, and a willingness to be challenged. It also fosters humility—a virtue essential for any interfaith dialogue. Through CCRL, Christian students come to see not only how Muslims view their own doctrines, but also how Christianity is perceived from within Islamic theology (the personal and comparative competencies of CCRL). Recognizing Muslim objections to doctrines such as the Trinity or the Incarnation does not necessitate theological compromise, but it does demand that Christian seminarians understand these objections contextually and respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.

Historical Precedents for Rational Religious Discourse

The Middle East has a long and rich history of interreligious exchange. Medieval Islamic societies, particularly during the Abbasid Dynasty (750–1258), often fostered intellectual environments in which religious scholars from different traditions engaged in rational debate and philosophical inquiry. A well-known testimony to this comes from a 10th-century account by Abū ʿUmār Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Sajdī, who describes interreligious discussions involving Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and even atheists:

At the first session I attended I witnessed a meeting which included every kind of group: Sunnī Muslims and heretics, and all kinds of infidels: Majūs, materialists, atheists, Jews, and Christians… One of the infidels said, “You have all agreed to the debate, so the Muslims should not argue against us on the basis of their scripture… Let us dispute only on the basis of arguments from reason, and what observation and deduction will support.” Then they would all say, “Agreed.”⁴

Historical examples such as these fundamentally challenge the modern assumption that interfaith engagement is merely a recent development rooted in contemporary liberalism. In reality, they highlight a rich and longstanding tradition of rational discourse, intellectual exchange, and mutual inquiry—rooted in their respective theologies—in which Muslims and Christians have actively participated for centuries. This evidence clearly shows that deep theological conversations are not foreign or new to the Middle Eastern context; rather, they have been an integral part of the region’s cultural and intellectual heritage. Such sustained theological engagement once made the entire Middle East a vibrant center of cultural richness and diversity, creating a fertile environment for flourishing scholarship and mutual understanding. This legacy reached its pinnacle with the establishment in early 9th-century Baghdād of Bayt al-Ḥikma—the renowned House of Wisdom—an institution dedicated to the translation, preservation, and advancement of knowledge.⁵ At Bayt al-Hikma, the pursuit of science, philosophy, and learning was embraced as a collective goal for the entire caliphate, demonstrating how faith and reason coexisted to inspire innovation and cultural prosperity across the Arab/Islamic world.

If this was our history, then we can certainly do it once again—beginning with the teaching of Islamic Studies in Christian seminaries, fostering renewed dialogue, understanding, and collaboration between faith traditions today. But the real question remains: how can we make this happen?

Islam as Theological Context, Not Merely a Course

In many seminaries throughout the region—including most Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox institutions in the Arab world—Islam is frequently marginalized in the curriculum. It is typically confined to a single course within departments like “World Religions” or “Comparative Religion,” and often approached primarily through the lens of apologetics. This narrow and compartmentalized treatment reduces Islam’s significance as a faith tradition and overlooks its deep and pervasive influence on the theological, social, and cultural environments in which Christian witness and ministry take place. Islam is not merely one religion among many; in many parts of the world, especially in the Arab context, it forms the dominant worldview, shaping language, law, public ethics, and metaphysical assumptions. For theological education to be contextually faithful, Islam must be engaged not simply as an external object of study, but as a living theological and cultural context that actively informs Christian ministry and theological reflection.

Contemporary theological programs—particularly within Protestant settings—often remain firmly grounded in Western modes of thought, relying extensively on European and North American theological sources. Key doctrines such as Christology, soteriology, the Doctrine of God, and ecclesiology are typically taught through the frameworks of the early Church Fathers, medieval theologians, or the Protestant Reformers. Although these voices are central to the Christian heritage, they are commonly presented without meaningful engagement with the intellectual and religious context shaped by Islam. This self-defeating gap is especially evident in Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority regions, where Christianity has coexisted with Islam since the 7th century. In such environments, theological education that fails to incorporate Islam as part of its formative context risks overlooking the complex lived realities and theological interactions that have historically shaped—and continue to influence—Christian thought and practice.

The dominant approach to theological education in the Arab world often overlooks how Christian theology has historically been shaped, developed, and sometimes challenged through dialogue with Islamic thought. As a result, many future pastors and theologians are left unprepared to present the Christian message in ways that resonate meaningfully within Islamic cultural contexts. For instance, key Christian doctrines—such as the Trinity and the incarnation—need to be communicated with both theological clarity and pastoral care, especially considering Islam’s strong emphasis on Tawḥīd (the oneness of God) and Tanzīh (God’s transcendence). Instead of avoiding these doctrines to prevent controversy, theological training should equip students to engage with them thoughtfully, drawing on the rich heritage of Christian reflection found in early Syriac Christianity, Arabic Christian theology, and ongoing interfaith conversations.

Similarly, the teaching of Christian ethics must be shaped by a sustained engagement with Sharīʿah, which informs moral reasoning, legal frameworks, and social norms in Muslim-majority societies. Ethical discussions on topics such as justice, sexuality, hospitality, and stewardship cannot be abstracted from the legal-theological thought that undergirds public discourse in these contexts. Ethical formation must therefore incorporate comparative ethical frameworks—not as arenas for apologetic confrontation, but as shared spaces for moral reflection and theological encounter.

This engagement should address real-life issues such as honor killings, inheritance laws, family structures, and the role of women in society. It must also thoughtfully consider other key areas shaped by Islamic law, including religious freedom and apostasy (raising questions of conscience, conversion, and human dignity); punishment and criminal justice (exploring justice and mercy in the context of corporal and capital penalties); economic ethics (through principles such as zakāt); marriage and divorce (including polygamy, divorce procedures, and gender roles); medical and bioethical concerns (such as abortion, end-of-life care, and fertility treatment); and interfaith relations and the rights of non-Muslims (encompassing coexistence, religious pluralism, and equality).

Re-envisioning theological curricula to reflect this complexity requires an integrative and interdisciplinary approach. Rather than relegating Islamic studies to an elective or peripheral module, seminaries—particularly those located in the Middle East—must embed Islamic cultural thought throughout the curriculum, including areas such as biblical interpretation, doctrinal formation, and practical theology. Courses should intentionally incorporate voices from both Christian and Muslim traditions, fostering a dialogical pedagogy that equips students to navigate the challenges and opportunities of interreligious engagement in the region.

Such a curricular transformation is not merely academic. It is deeply ecclesial. It prepares Christian seminarians not only to coexist but to converse; not only to minister but to model theological humility and conviction. It equips them to bear faithful witness to the gospel in a manner that is intelligible, respectful, and compelling to Muslim neighbors and colleagues. And in doing so, it reflects a deeper commitment: to form ministers who can think theologically within their actual context, rather than importing frameworks that presuppose a context they do not inhabit.

To take Islam seriously as a theological context is to take incarnation seriously—to believe that God meets us in the realities of our world, including its religious diversity, intellectual legacies, and cultural particularities. It is a call not only to learn about Islam but to learn within the world Islam helps to shape.

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About the Author

Dr. Wageeh Mikhail currently serves with Scholar Leaders, where he has guided the ministry in religions since 2019 and actively promotes multi-faith dialogue. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Christianity at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Mikhail holds two master’s degrees in theology (MA and ThM) and earned his Ph.D. in Arab Christian theology from the University of Birmingham, UK. He is a respected voice in the study of medieval Arab Christianity and has published and spoken widely on the subject, particularly on the lessons we can learn from ChristianMuslim interactions during the Abbasid Dynasty.