Methodology and Efficiency of Theology of Thomas Aquinas and the Theology of Khāja Naṣīruddīn Ṭūsī

The use of the philosophical method and its effectiveness in theology has always been the subject of debate among Muslim and Christian theologians. Thomas Aquinas and Khājah Ṭūsī are contemporary theologians who, influenced by Avicenna’s philosophy, have found a similar doctrine and method by using proof in the explanation and theological defenses of religion, which can be called rational-narrative theology. This comparative research refers to their didactic methodology. Thomas Aquinas, believing in two knowledge systems based on revelation and reason, proposed two types of theology called revealed theology and natural theology. In his Summa Theologica, unlike the books of his predecessors, which only had a monastic and intra-textual aspect, in addition to referring to the Holy Texts and the works of the Church Fathers, he devoted himself to philosophical analysis in theological topics. Khājah Ṭūsī also discussed the integration of intellectual and narrative methods in his book Tajrīd al-I‘tiqād. This essay, while referring to the theological method of these two thinkers, with a descriptive-analytical view, shows the similarities and differences in the method of Thomas and Khājah. Adopting a moderate method is one of their common features. Aquinas is somewhere in between the Tertullian’s negligent opinion and that of the extremist Latin advocates of Averroes; and Khājah, by passing beyond such textualists as Shaykh Ṣadūq, is far away from the extreme harms of some Mu’tazila and exaggerated impressions of the like of Shaykhiyya sect. The result of the moderate method of both is the maximum use of rational arguments and passing through “sufficing texts” to “favoring texts”. The method of theology knowledge is basically not exclusive; but the author, through this comparison and paying attention to the criteria of method similarities, believes that the moderate method of the two of them is more efficient, useful and responsive than the textualist methods.