Islamic Philosophy and Theology

Works by
Joseph Kenny, O.P.

Philosophy

• Christian-Islamic Preambles of Faith   an exercise in Philosophy of Religion or Kalām, modeled after the Summa Contra Gentiles, Books I-III, of Thomas Aquinas.
• خلاصة الكلام لجميع الآنام   The same in Arabic.
• Philosophy of the Muslim World   A history and thematic study of the ideas of the major philosophers of the medieval Muslim world, making use of new Arabic editions of their works published in the last decades of the 20^th century. Published Washington D.C.: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2003. The edition on my site has some minor corrections.
• La philosophie du monde musulmane: Auteurs et thèmes principaux   The same book in French.
• فلسفة العالم الإسلامي الفلاسفة وأهم مواضيع كتبتهم   The same book, much expanded, in Arabic.
• Bibliography of the works of the philosophers of the Muslim world   A comprehensive list of all the known works of 16 philosophers, together with publications in the original language and in translation.
• The chronology of the works of Ibn-Rushd   An update of al-`Alawī's pioneering work, taking into account the works surviving only in Latin or Hebrew.
• توقيت مؤلفات ابن رشد   Arabic version of the same.
• The human intellect: The journey of an idea from Aristotle to Ibn-Rushd   First published in Orita 30 (1998), 65-84, this is a further study of what was presented in chapter 4 of Philosophy of the Muslim World.
• Qur'ān 113 & 114: commented by Ibn-Sīnā,   To be published in Orita, 35 (2003), 1-16, this shows how Ibn-Sīnā enveloped religion within his philosophy.
• Ibn-Masarra: His Risāla al-i`tibār   Published in Orita, 34 (2002), 1-26, this is a study of the teachings of Ibn-Masarra's only two surviving works, with the text and translation of one of them.
• Ibn-Sīnā on the human soul, in Notes and observations on natural science, Book II, Section 5   Published in Orita, 29 (1997), 68-98, this develops a theme contained in chapter 4 of my Philosophy of the Muslim World
• Al-Fārābī and the contingency argument for God's existence: a study of Risāla Zaynūn al-kabīr al-yūnānī   Published in Orita 28 (1996), 50-69.
• Sūra 112, الإخلاص, commented by Ibn-Sīnā   text, translation and annotations.
• A philosophical prayer: رسالة في الدعاء by Ibn-Sīnā   text, translation and annotations. Published in Orita, 37 (2005), 1-10
• Ibn-Sina and the origin of human life   a chapter published in Islam, cultural transformation, and the re-emergense of falsafah. Studies honoring Professor George Francis McLean on his eightieth birthday, ed. Karim Douglas Crow. Tehran: Iranian Institute of Philosophy, pp. 1-15.
• Ibn-Sīnā on the inner senses, a contribution to Psychology,   presented at the International Conference on Islamic Philosophy and the Challenges of the Present-Day World, Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Tehran 10-11 Nov. 2009, and Bu-Sina University, Hamadan, 12-13 Nov. 2009.

Theology

• Qur'ān and Hadīth studies: Scholarship in early Islam.
• Muslim theology as presented by Muḥammad ibn-Yūsuf as-Sanūsī   My Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1970, done under Prof. W. Montgomery Watt. A study of his life, time and works, with a critical edition and translation of his متن العقيدة الوسطى and a presentation of the theology contained in his accompanying commentary.
• Islamic monotheism: Principles and consequences   A study of the way a particular way of understanding analogy led Ash`arite theologians to a position of strict occasionalism. First published by Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa, in Christianity and Islam in dialogue (Cape Coast, 1987), 139-149.
• Common themes of Islamic and Christian theology   A side by side study of five themes that have agitated Muslim and Christian thought over the centuries. Lagos: Dominican Publications, 1997 & 2000.
• Jesus and Mary in Islam — a Christian look   What the Qur’ān and Hadīth (tradition) say, what Muslim apologetics makes of him, negatively or positively, how Christians variously react to Muslim Christology, and what principles underlie the differences between Islam and Christianity regarding what Jesus is. Lagos: Dominican Publications, 2000, reprinting publications elsewhere of the two parts.
• Sacrifice: Philosophical, theological and comparative probes   Published in ORITA, 20:2, 1988, pp. 127-137.
• The relevance of theology to the ordinary life of Nigerians in Nigeria   Published in ORITA, 14:2 (1982), 154-159.
• The sources of radical movements in Islam   The theological origin of contemporary Islamicist thinking. Published in Skepticos, n. 1 (1990), 19-22.
• Aux sources des mouvements radicaux dans l'Islam   The French original of the above article, published in Cahiers des Religions Africaines: Kinshasa, Centre d'Etudes des Religions Africaines, 23, n. 45-46 (1989), 135-140.
• Medicine in Islam   A historical and theological analysis of Muslim attitudes to medicine, together with a study of the concrete forms of religious medical practice among Muslims in Nigeria.
• Rhetorical structure in the Qur'ān   With Michel Cuypers, on chiastic structure found in the Psalms and in the Qur'ān. Published in Orita 32 (2000).
• The Sources of Religion: كتاب أصول الدين , translation   The short catechism, Usūl ad-dīn, by Usman dan Fodiye, the founder of the Sokoto caliphate (Nigeria) in the beginning of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.
• The Muqaddima: متن المقدمة, translation   A critical edition and translation of the text of the “Introduction” to theology by Muḥammad ibn-Yūsuf as-Sanūsī (d. 1490). Published in Hamdard Islamicus 23:2 (April-June 2000), 31-40.
• شرح المقدمات   Excerpt (في مسألة تكفير المقلد) from as-Sanūsī's Commentary on the Muqaddima, on the question of takfīr of the muqallid and others.
• The Shorter Catechism: صغرة الصغرى   A critical edition of the text by Muḥammad ibn-Yūsuf as-Sanūsī.
• The Small Catechism: متن العقيدة الصغرى, translation   The text and translation of the short catechism, Al-`Aqīda as-sughrā, by Muḥammad ibn-Yūsuf as-Sanūsī, a work which has been very widespread in North and West Africa for several centuries. Published in Hamdard Islamicus 13:4 (1990), 49-64.
• The Shorter Catechism: صغرة الصغرى   A critical edition of the text by Muḥammad ibn-Yūsuf as-Sanūsī.
• Balanced Islamic education: al-Ghazālī's unfinished legacy.   For Conference "Higher Education and Peace Culture: Whither Africa?" The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, University of Lagos, in collaboration with CRVP, Washington D.C., 19 April 2010.