John of Damascus and other early Christian writers have noted how much certain statements in the Qur'an resemble Arian and Nestorian teachings. The present study looks at these resemblances more in detail to discover what the Qur'an means when it calls Jesus word of God. The Qur'an itself understands word in several senses, but most frequently as God's decree. The Muslim commentators, too, commonly interpret word when used of Christ as the creative...