The turn to the Other: Reflections on contemporary Middle Eastern theological contributions to Christian–Muslim dialogue (original) (raw)
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Today, few would disagree that interreligious dialogue is an indispensable tool (or medium) for mutual coexistence, acceptance and peace. In recent times, the importance of such dialogue has been highlighted by the revival and the resurgence of religion (de-secularisaton), relevant in variety of contexts – e.g. in the context of democratic politics, the context of political extremism and terrorism, or that of integration or non-integration of immigrants who are often of different faith and/or culture than that of the host communities. At the same time, we should also ask critically whether interreligious dialogue has indeed been as beneficial and useful as the dialogue activists claim it has and as they want it to be. While dialogue between the religions can be understood as a pressing step in the modern development of intercultural relations, it can only work when it is founded on careful investigation of their foundations. At this conference, we want to reconceptualize the question of the importance of an active and well informed interreligious dialogue. The focus will be on in-depth, philosophical-theological conversation between Christians and Muslims. We will explore new ways in which philosophical theories can foster Christian-Muslim understanding. Examples of the questions to be addressed are: • Can Christian and Muslim theologies as equal partners in conversation, and as comparative theologies, help us foster better intercultural understanding? • What are best philosophical models and theories of dialogue for framing the theological conversation between European Christians on one hand and Iranian and other Middle Eastern Muslims on the other? • Is it the Aristotelian, Platonist, one of the modern philosophical foundations (Continental, Analytical, Witgensteinian, Phenomenological, Deconstructivist, Pragmatist, or other), or a combination of these? • How can the experiences and perspectives of the relevant “in-house” minorities (Muslim minorities in Europe, Christian minorities in the Middle East), as well as those of Christians and Muslims in special social and political circumstances (refugees, migrants, displaced persons), inform contemporary philosophical-theological dialogue between Christianity and Islam? • And, how should philosophical and comparative theologies address the contemporary criticisms of interreligious dialogue, which brand it as a failed tool for better understanding between cultures, or as a Western invention and tool for cultural domination, or as a cover-up for power-relations between groups in power, as opposed to empowering those who are ofen voiceless and excluded from interreligious dialogue (“heretical” sects, secularists, women, sexual and other minorities, migrants)? At the conference, we will address these and related questions in carefully prepared lectures, delivered in pairs during thematically ordered 1,5 hour sessions of two speakers, with ample time for responses and discussions. Lecture Titles: Mohsen Javadi: The Primacy of Justice in Islamic Social Ethics: a Solution for Religious and Cultural Conflicts Janez Juhant: Religion, Society and Mystics: The Spiritual Ground(s) of Societal Life Carool Kersten: Of Double Genealogies and West-East Investigations: Resetting The Christian-Muslim Encounter Elmar Kuhn: Is the Clash of Religions the Future of Our World? Saida Mirsadri: Process Islam: Towards a Metaphysical Foundation for Interreligious Dialogue Jafar Morvarid: Language-Games Philosophy as a Philosophical Foundation for Interreligious Dialogue Joshua Ralston: Comparative Political Theology: a Framework for Christian-Muslim Dialogue Rasoul Rasoulipour: Philosophy of Religion: An Existential Approach Mohammad Saeedimehr: Islamic Mysticism and Muslim-Christian Dialogue Klaus von Stosch: Comparative Theology and Christian-Muslim Dialogue: A Relationship of Mutual Foundation Lenart Škof: A New Temporality of Religion: On Political Theology and its Ethical Core Javad Taheri: Possibility of a Comparative Theology According to Allamah Sayyed Muhammad Hossein Tabataba’i’s Philosophy Bojan Žalec: Religious Exclusivism, Dialogue and Coexistence
Chapter 2 The Contemporary Context of Muslim-Christian Dialogue
Explores the development and situation of contemporary encounter's between Muslims and Christians. It looks at social, contextual, historical, and theological aspects of the debate in relation to Judaism and Secularism. The concept of 'the Shifting Third' is introduced as a theoretical paradigm to explore the relationship of two interlocutors to a differently defined third (or more) partner. (Uncorrected draft version).
Exchange, 2008
Using the method of the new comparative theology, this essay attempts to take the Indonesian context seriously, where the recent and highly divisive religio-political tension has given rise as well to an inclusive public theological discussion of God as the Merciful, and offers an explicit comparative theological analysis of God as Merciful in the Muslim and Christian (Catholic) traditions. On the structural level, these two traditions agree that Mercy has at least three dimensions, namely ontological (mercy belongs to the very being of God), personal (God's mercy is made manifest in paradigmatic human person) and social (mercy has a dynamic of reaching out to others in solidarity). While being formulated and expressed within the confines of each theological system, mercy as God's quality is shown to be at the center of Muslim and Christian naming of God. The two traditions move from philosophical theism to thepersonal and social dimensions of manifesting God's mercy in the world. This comparative theological analysis of God as the Merciful will serve as a responsible public theology in the complex and pluralistic Indonesian society.
Comparative Theology and Scriptural Reasoning: A Muslim's Approach to Interreligious Learning
In this paper, I examine Comparative Theology (CT) and Scriptural Reasoning (SR), two distinctive interreligious learning practices, in relation to each other. I propose that these practices, with respect to their dialogical features and transformative power, represent two of the most noteworthy current modes of interreligious dialogue. They achieve this by their ability to explicitly understand the " other. " This is also because they serve not only as tools in service of understanding in academic circles, but also as existentially/spiritually transformative journeys in the exotic/familiar land of the " other. " In respect to religious particularity and (un)translatability, I argue that both CT and SR have certain liberal and postliberal features, as neither of them yields to such standard taxonomies. Finally, I deal with Muslim engagement with CT and SR and present some initial results of my current comparative questioning/learning project. Consequently, I plan for this descriptive work to stand as a preliminary to, first, an SR session that focuses on some Qur'anic verses and biblical accounts with a probable progressivist view of history and, second, an in-depth study of the Islamic tradition in that light.
Irfan A. Omar (ed.) - A Muslim view of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue by Mahmoud Ayoub
ICR Journal, 2010
A Muslim View of Christianity features key texts on Muslim-Christian relations from the pen of Professor Mahmoud Ayoub, who is currently Faculty Associate in Shi‘ite Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the renowned Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in the United States and who was born into a Shi‘ite family in Southern Lebanon. His authority in both the scholarship and comparative study of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations, as well as interreligious dialogue, is demonstrated by the national and international recognition he has received. Hailing himself from a multireligious kaleidoscopic setting - in Southern Lebanon, Shi‘ite Muslims have for centuries lived side-by-side with Christians of various denominations - Ayoub is perhaps particularly well suited when it comes to discussing Christianity from the perspective of Islam.
Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2008
In this follow-up to his previous effort with Joel Green, Recovering the Scandal of the Cross (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), Mark Baker assembles nineteen vignettes on the cross selected for their ability to assist ministry. Baker explains that while many readers were stimulated by the first book, he received numerous enquiries related to preaching and evangelism. 'This new volume', he declares, 'is my response to those questions' (p. 14). So, whereas his previous work with Green was an argument for the contextualization of atonement theology, this book is the actual exercise, an attempt to match the variety of biblical images for atonement with humanity's numerous needs. Each chapter begins with the editor's introduction of both the contributor and the contribution. Baker's introductory chapter makes it clear that this new work shares one of the key labors of the first book, namely, to supplant penal substitutionary atonement. Indeed, he spends a good bit of space countering the view, reinterpreting key Scriptural passages thought to support it, and answering critics who would disagree with his rejection of it. Adhering to this model has become something of a scandal itself.
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»Contemporary Muslim-Christian Encounters: Landscapes of Theological Thought« issue of Poligrafi brings seven articles on contemporary insights into various modes of inter-faith encounters between Christianity and Islam, discussing the theoretical and practical topics around interreligious dynamics, insights into intersubjective enconuters and religious peace-buidling, and also views on mysticism and spirituality – all as discussed within the broader inter-faith paradigm. Also attached to the main journal topics are two specific analyzes from the Muslim point of view – on the meaning of the Islamic holiday Eid Al-Adha, and, finally, an exploration of the religion of Islam by a Malaysian Muslim philosopher Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.