A common word
A friend emailed me a link yesterday to a full-page ad in Sunday’s New York Times where over 300 leading Christian scholars from various traditions have publically responded to a call from 138 Muslim clerics and scholars which called for Christians and Muslims alike to make loving God and neighbour their primordial concern. The list of signatories and the document can be found at the “A Common Word” website.
I agree with this humble strategy of coming to a common understanding on points that unite, rather than continuing to manipulate religion to divide and pit us against each other.
Excerpts from Yale Divinity School’s press release are found below:
Historic unanimity of major Christian leaders, liberal and evangelical alike, marks response to unprecedented overture by influential Muslims to Christians worldwide
NEW HAVEN, CT—Nearly 300 prominent Christians representing a broad spectrum of theological perspectives have endorsed Loving God and Neighbor Together—a document calling for Christian and Muslim leaders “at every level” to carry forward “the earnest work of determining how God would have us fulfill the requirement that we love God and one another.”
The statement, published in its entirety as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Nov. 18, was initially released by four Yale Divinity School scholars in mid-October in response to the widely publicized open letter to the Christian community from 138 Muslim leaders, A Common Word Between Us and You. In that letter, Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals pointed to love of God and love of neighbor as shared principles that can serve as a solid foundation for peace and understanding….
Loving God and Neighbor says, “A Common Word Between Us and You identifies some core common ground between Christianity and Islam which lies at the heart of our respective faiths as well as at the heart of the most ancient Abrahamic faith, Judaism. Jesus Christ’s call to love God and neighbor was rooted in the divine revelation to the people of Israel embodied in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). We receive the open letter as a Muslim hand of conviviality and cooperation extended to Christians worldwide. In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors.”…
Joining the Yale Divinity School scholars are Christians at various points on the theological spectrum, including, for example: Rick Warren, evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA and author of The Purpose Driven Life, and Harold Masback III of The Congregational Church of New Canaan in Connecticut; William Graham, dean of Harvard Divinity School, and Richard Mouw, president of evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary; John M. Buchanan of The Christian Century, a mainline Protestant publication, and David Neff of the evangelical flagship publication Christianity Today; Diana Eck of Harvard Divinity School and Marguerite Shuster of Fuller Theological Seminary.
The Yale Center for Faith & Culture’s Volf, author of The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World and described by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as “one of the most celebrated theologians of our day,” said, “The extent of agreement of major Christian leaders—representing a broad diversity of positions——in responding to the Muslim initiative is truly extraordinary, and may represent a sea-change in relations of Christians to Muslims.
“Evangelicals and liberals can now join in common effort, not just around the pressing problems of poverty and environmental degradation but around the issue of Muslim Christian relations—a defining issue of the 21st century. This has the potential of being one of the most hopeful developments in inter-faith relations in recent decades.”…
Now my question: where are the Canadians? On the list of endorsers I see John Stackhouse Jr (Regent College, Vancouver), David A. Reed (Wycliffe College, University of Toronto), James Beverley (Tyndale Seminary, Toronto), and Geoff Tunnicliffe (World Evangelical Alliance, Vancouver). But that’s it…
I’m not an expert on Islam, but from what I’ve read and watched, Muslims really don’t like Christians very much. In fact, it doesn’t take much online research to read about the number of people worldwide being killed for converting to Christianity. I must admit I’m skeptical that peace is really what they have in mind with this document. I just happened to read an article from a site called Frontpage magazine today. I’m not familiar with who created it or really who they represent, but I read a fairly disturbing article about some of the viewpoints of many Muslims. I happened to read your blog soon after and am having a hard time understanding how this “NY Times ad” will play out in reality. I am all for seeing Muslims and Christians live in peace, but question the profitability of this effort by “nearly 300 prominent Christians representing a broad spectrum of theological perspectives”.
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/articles/read.aspx?GUID=16027ED9-FFFE-4E3C-B9B6-30E0F0D980FC
In reality, where might this common ground lead? Maybe I’m just a little cynical, especially after also watching the movie “Obsession” not too long ago. You can check that out at: http://www.obsessionthemovie.com.
(You did ask for people to respond to your blogs. . . )
Hey Janice! Thanks for adding your thoughts and contributing to the discussion. I’m glad you decided to stop being a lurker!! (Now I have to convince others…!)
I had a look at those websites, and they are truly scary. And I suspect crafted by their producers to instill fear in the viewer.
I just don’t buy it. Ahhh, the power of the media.
Yes, there are lots of Muslims who are radicalizing. But I believe the vast majority are moderates and people who want a good life for their kids.
In my recent trip to Afghanistan and the UAE, I met dozens of Muslims in whom I sensed a desire for conciliation and demonstrated hospitality to me as a Westerner. The picture that is painted by much media is generated to increase ratings not communicate the broad-based truth of what is happening in the Middle East.
Moderate Muslims who view websites such as the ones cited must cringe and not recognize themselves. I feel the same way when I see fundamentalist stereotypes being characterized as representing my faith. I cringe, and it makes me angry. For example view the trailer for Jesus Camp here:
http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/
What we all should be against is not the Muslim faith, but fundamentalism of all stripes be it Muslim or Christian. Thus, my joy over seeing moderates coming together in the Common Word project.
Along with the question of where the Canadians are …. is why didn’t Christians initiate this. Hats off to the Muslims who did … but I can’t help but wish this step forward had been taken by followers of Jesus.
Maybe I should just stay a “lurker”. I’ve never been called that before! It sounds mysterious! I also think maybe my comments portrayed too much of an attempt to play the devil’s advocate.
I’m actually quite a strong advocate for welcoming internationals into my home and life. In fact, my sister and her husband work with International Student Ministries and seek to build friendships with students and immigrants to Canada. I think Jesus would have done something like that!!
My husband teaches high school at a school that is 80% Sikh and Muslim, so my kids have grown up with a lot of those cultural influences!! We hope to one day take our kids overseas too!!
Janice- yes lurker is a wierd-sounding word!
Thanks for giving more of your background. The most you post, the more we know where you are coming from and can understand your comments in light of who you are… In you and your husband’s day-to-day interactions with Muslims it is unlikely you have encountered the kind of radicalism we hear about.
So my contention: is their religion being hijacked by extremists? Is ours?
Regarding Mark’s question about the rest of the Canadians (!), for the record, I found out about this initiative only because my friend Miroslav Volf personally contacted me to tell me about it and to invite me to sign it.
So my guess is that the list of signatories is a kind of cumulative network of Yale Divinity School people who asked their friends, or others whom they knew about, to sign. And not that many of us up here in Canada are on the YDS radar, I’m guessing.
It is not as if, just in case you’re wondering, every theological scholar in Canada was invited and only four of us decided to sign!
Lukewarm. Not a good thing to be.