From God's Son to a Good-News Announcer (Mobasher): Imam Reza's Arguments against the Claim of Jesus's Divinity in Marv Debate

The claim of "Jesus divinity" is the central point of the debate which was held between Imam Reza (AS) and Christian and Jewish scholars. Imam Reza (AS) introduced three proofs against this claim: a direct proof which refutes of Jesus’s Divinity, a proof which confirms Jesus’s prophecy and the prophecy of the Prophet of Islam (pbuh). Each of these three arguments contributes to reject the conventional thesis of the debate. Catholicos supports the claim of the divinity of Jesus. Imam recognized the conventional thesis and after some questions and answers, he, in addition to dismissing this idea, intelligently changed the conventional thesis to prove that Jesus (AS) and Mohammad (pbuh) are prophets. Using a content analysis method, this research is centered on the evidence presented by the Imam concerning these topics. Considering the condition of the debate and responding to the opponent’s request, Imam based his view on "reason" and "the Bible" to support his arguments. He offers two analogical proofs to refute the claim of Jesus’s Divinity. Then, he cites four phrases from the Bible and one logical proof to establish the other three ideas. Referring to the various versions of the Bible, the paper investigates Imam’s citations and, specifying the positions of quotations it elaborates on the probable differences.