Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

ity and in the Incarnation, demonstrating the rationality of these ideas in Arab-Islamic language and thought categories. A number of recent studies have explored this 60 Journal of European Baptist Studies 17:1 (2017) Several issues complicate the reading of al-Ghazali. First, medieval scholarship had different traditions from the contemporary world about reusing ideas, words, or even whole passages from others. 17 Thus, a number of people have written on the issue of authorship of works attributed to al- Ghazali, recognising that some authors used his notoriety to gain a reading for their own ideas. 18 Conversely, al-Ghazali himself draws from a number of sources of classical (Greek) philosophy and Islamic thought. 19 The point is that not all of the ideas, words, or even passages in al-Ghazali's writings are original to him. However, the body of ideas attributed to him does function as the framework many of his interpreters use to conceptualise education. Related to the first issue, the seemingly contradictory ideas found in al-Ghazali's works are often another point of contention in scholarship about him. Some interpreters misunderstand al-Ghazali with reference to the place of philosophy in religious thought. 20 They read in him a complete rejection of philosophy. I take the position of the more recent scholarly conclusion that this is a misreading of al-Ghazali's concept of faith and reason. 21 It is helpful to acknowledge the extensive tradition of interpretation about him that, I suspect, contributes to conflicting ideas about him. 22 Many interpreters of al-Ghazali find confirmation of their ideas in his writings through history. In order to avoid this error, taking into account his whole corpus is critical. early interaction, including: Mark Beaumont, Christology in Dialogue with Muslims: A Critical Analysis of Christian Presentations of Christ for Muslims from the Ninth and Twentieth Centuries (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011); Sara Leila Husseini, ‘Early Christian Explanations of the Trinity in Arabic in the Context of Muslim Theology’ (PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011) <http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/2799/> [accessed 19 February 2015]; Sandra Toenies Keating, Defending the ‘People of Truth’ in the Early Islamic Period: The Christian Apologies of Abu Ra’itah (Leiden: Brill, 2006); Wageeh Y.F. Mikhail, "Ammar Al-BasrT’s Kitab Al-Burhan: A Topical and Theological Analysis of Arabic Christian Theology in the Ninth Century’ (PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, 2013) <http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/4162/> [accessed 2 March 2015]; Thomas W. Ricks, Early Arabic Christian Contributions to Trinitarian Theology’: The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity in an Islamic Milieu (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2013). 17 Griffel offers some helpful discussion on this point in his critical exposition of al-Ghazali's philosophy (Al-GhazdWs Philosophical Theology’, pp. 13-14). 18 See W. Montgomery Wat