A Rereading of Mulla Sadra's View on Relationship between Man and God in View of the Contemporary Western Theology

One of the most important issues discussed in theology, especially in contemporary times, has been the question of the relationship between man and God. The problem is dealt with in the present article analyzed in three groups of smaller issues: Is the relation between human beings and God subjective or objective? Is the relation between man and God based on selfness or otherness of God and man? Do human beings and God have an immediate relationship or they are related to each other via the world of creation? This article attempts to explain, first, the above three problems through expressing the three current approaches in contemporary Western theology to the relationship between man and God, and second, in light of those approaches, to re-read Mulla Sadra's view of the relationship between man and God. In this review we have come to two distinct views or theories of Mulla Sadra. In one theory, Sadra has offered a theology, which is objective-subjective, world based, and relatively based on otherness. And in another theory, he has confirmed a subjective, human based and purely selfness based theology. Despite some partial shared points, these two theories are fundamentally different and inconsistent with each other. Is only one of these two theories the personal and final theory of Mulla Sadra? If so, which of these two theories is the final and personal theory of Mulla Sadra? We do not find a clear-cut answer to these questions in Sadra’s works, but by relying on some of his writings, like that he has said in volume 1 of Asfar, we might be able to see the second theory as his final and personal theory. However, it is clear that the Mohiodinan mystics presented the second theory before Mulla Sadra, so it is not a novel theory of Sadra.