The Grace in Catholic Theology and the Principle of Luṭf in Shī’a Theology: A Comparative Study

Subject Areas : Christianity

Raouf Nosratian ¹ (PhD Student, Department of Comparative Study of Religion and Mysticism, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
Mahdi Qasemi ² (PhD Student, Department of Christian Theology, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom)

Received: 2014-06-11 Accepted : 2014-07-05 Published : 2014-07-23

Keywords: Grace, the Principle of Luṭf, Human Freewill, Human&#x0D, &#x0D, nature, Salvation, Prophethood, Imamate, Divine guidance,

Abstract :

Grace in Catholic theology is the free favour of God as manifested inthe salvation of men. This teaching is related to important conceptssuch as faith, church, salvation, knowledge acquisition, and sacraments.On the other hand, the Principle of Lutf in Shī’a theology has a similarfunction, i.e. it is the Divine guidance realized by sending prophets andimams. The Omniscience God knows man's needs and by His wisdomdirects whole creation, including man's life, from the beginning to theend. The Principle of Luṭf is particularly mentioned in arguing aboutthe prophethood, imamate and ijmaʿ (consensus between jurists). So thefinal goal of Grace and Luṭf is similar: "guiding human beings" whichleads to salvation. Both try to explain the relation of men and God froman epistemological point of view, therefore the comparative study ofthese teachings could be useful in the inter-religious dialogue betweenIslam and Christianity.