Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity (original) (raw)
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Maandeeq Publishing, 2023
This book is the result of years of prayers and consultations. As a Christian who comes from a Muslim background and has survived persecution, I have shared my testimony with fellow believers from various countries; they were deeply impacted by my story, seeing it as a modern-day version of the Acts of the Apostles. For them, the idea that someone could be killed or harmed for their faith in the 21st century seemed unreal. However, Christian converts from a Muslim background may struggle with doubts about the authenticity of their faith if they do not face persecution as described in 2 Timothy 3:12. With the knowledge I gained, I gathered the testimonies of twenty Muslim background believers from various countries to amplify the blessings of the Lord. The impact of having twenty testimonies from fellow brothers and sisters who used to be Muslims would be even greater than my own testimony. I collected these accounts starting in 2020 and submitted them to the press for publication by 2023. It was not an easy task, as I faced numerous challenges during the three-year period. It felt like I was in a spiritual war, with Satan trying to conceal the message you are reading now, but He failed.
Religious Studies Review, 2006
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In October 2007, 138 Muslim scholars signed a document entitled "A Common Word between Us and You" (ACW) and addressed it to 28 Christian leaders worldwide. ACW invited Christians to a common ground; the belief in one God to work for peace in the world along with Muslims. ACW makes a case for this common ground with scriptural, Qur'anic as well as Biblical, underpinnings. This structure raises two important theological issues in the context of Christian-Muslim relations: first, the use of the Bible in ACW and secondly the belief in the unity of God. The dissertation analyses and evaluates the contribution of this Muslim initiative to Christian-Muslim relations based on the following question: "What does ACW do to promote a new understanding between Christians and Muslims?" The study focuses on the above two theological issues that are central to ACW. The first I wish to formally acknowledge Dr Chris Hewer and Dr Sigvard von Sicard without whose inspiration and help the task of writing this thesis would have been impossible. I am grateful to the Jesuit Community at Manresa for providing me a caring and joyful home in Birmingham. I am grateful to my Jesuit superiors for their sustained support and encouragement.
Muslim World, 2020
Few, even are the contributions of authors from Middle Eastern Fundamentalist-Evangelical Protestantism that touch upon the relation with other faiths except from a missiological, evangelizing-proselytizing perspective. Recently, a Lebanese theologian from this community changed this habitus and produced a monograph on Christianity and Islam from an evangelical attention to the idea of "dialogue" and interreligious interaction. In 2019, Martin Accad, the Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, published a book titled, Sacred Misinterpretation, on the subject of Christian-Muslim dialogue. While Accad personally reflects a very tolerant, embracive and open-minded appreciation of his growth and life as Christian with Muslims in Lebanon (something the writer of this review has also experienced in a similar way in his birth-land, Syria), Accad concedes fully the, rather, globally realized conviction that religions and their relations are core-components of conflict. Nevertheless, Accad also construes the primary motivation and belief of his book's discourse on Christian-Muslim dialogue are "the idea that religious discourse can also contribute significantly in working toward peaceful relations between populations with rival ideologies" (p. 6). How can religions become part of the remedy prescription instead of one of the conflict ingredients? The transformation of the role of religious interrelations and communication in our living context, Accad suggests, lies in reviewing the Christians' and Muslims' theological reasoning about each other: "Our theologies have been fundamental to our understanding of one another, and our murky relational history seems to indicate that our mutual perceptions have been largely negative" (p. 7). It is this essential role of theologization in the history of interreligious relation between Christianity and Islam that makes theology "a foundation of dialogue", Accad believes, so that the premise of his argument becomes: "Your view of Islam affects your attitude to Muslims; your attitude, in turn, influences your approach to Christian-Muslim interaction, and that approach affects the ultimate outcome of your presence as a witness among Muslims" (p. 7). Accad's discussion and analysis all over the book become, then, pieces assembled together, on the basis of the above-mentioned premise, to create what he calls "the SEKAP spectrum of Christian-Muslim interaction". SEKAP stands for "syncretistic, existential, kerygmatic, apologetic and polemical" (p. 8). From all these trends of interaction between Christians and Muslims, Accad leaves all those who resonate to interrelationality and focuses on the one that centers around theology: He opts for the "kerygamtic interaction" option, deeming it the most fruitful and peaceful position between the two extreme options of syncretism and polemics. According to him, this option more than any other enables the exploration and finding of the most 'Christ-like' symptoms in Islam and the Muslims. For Accad, this
The Muslim World, 2009
A s I look at David Kerr's life and my connection with him during his various phases, I see some large themes. This article attempts to cover my reflections on some of those themes: primarily, a concern for dialogue, mutual understanding and peace, the continuing role of mission and da'wa (especially as it was set up by the WCC and in which David participated enthusiastically), and his role at Hartford Seminary and later at Edinburgh University. It is hard to follow the coherence of one life which runs as a thread through all these diverse issues in this medium. I have, however, tried to thread them as well as I can, so that they hang together in some theological and philosophical way, with an ultimate commitment to faith, peace, justice, ethics and aesthetics. Developing Theology in the Context of Islam Historically, of all the religions of the world, it is Islam that has most thrust itself onto the consciousness of Christianity as "the other." This otherness has broad ecumenical character and support because even when we have disagreed on some of the foundational theological, ecclesiological, sacramental, ministerial and missiological elements of our respective Some Critical Issues for Muslim-Christian Relations and Challenges
Islam and Christianity: Common Misconceptions Reveal Their Stark Differences
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In a recent meeting of evangelical leaders, anti-Islamic comments made by Christians in the Western media were denounced as “dangerous” and “unhelpful.” Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals stated that “Since we are in a global community, no doubt about it, we must temper our speech and we must communicate primarily through actions.”{1} Another prominent president of a Christian relief agency added that “It’s very dangerous to build more barriers when we’re supposed to be following [the] one who pulled the barriers down,” an obvious reference to the sacrificial death of Christ. They also concluded that it was “nave” to merely dialogue “with Muslims in a way that minimized theological and political differences.”{2}