The Christian experience and interpretation of the early Muslim conquest and rule

The Christian experience of the Muslim conquest and early rule is described in the writings of contemporary historians, church leaders and other writers. These writings provide a range of perspectives and interpretations of that era, determined to some extent by the political situation and the sectarian affiliation of the writer. A survey of these interpretations demonstrates a general lack of awareness of the religious nature of Islam in the early Umayyad period in the seventh century CE. The Arabs are initially seen as looting and plundering invaders and then as a political force demanding taxes but also dispensing justice and protection. While they are seen to have religious links to the Jews, their major religious significance lies in the Christian interpretation of their invasion as a divine punishment for the sins of the Christian communities. Christian writings reflect a growing awareness of Islam as a religion towards the end of this period during the first half of the eighth century, with specific references to the Qur'an and Muslim beliefs.     

Christian‐Muslim relations in the African context

Abstract

The course of Islam and Christianity in Africa as well as statistical figures suggest a wide variety within, as well as considerable divergence between, both religions in the many African contexts. Though the majority of African Muslims still stick to a ‘traditional African Islam’, we observe a resurgence of Islam reflecting a growing religious awareness, on the one hand, and tendencies towards an ideological re‐interpretation (Islamism), on the other. Trends in resurgent Islam are highlighted by the examples of Islamic internationalism and da'wa, the modernisation of Islamic education, and the proliferation of Islamic political groups all over the continent. Various dimensions of Christian—Muslim relations in Africa today show areas of conflict as well as of cooperation and exchange. Against the background of the economic and social disintegration of many African societies, there is no alternative to inter‐religious dialogue which must be based on an authentic African theological foundation, being rooted in the African heritage shared by Muslim and Christian communities alike.     

Ecumenical and Inter‐religious Contributions to Asian Liberation Theologies

This essay surveys the varieties of liberation theologies that have emerged in different religious communities across Asia. It explores how Asian liberation theologians from across the major religious traditions of Asia have sought answers from within their own religious traditions and social locations to the endemic persistence of mass poverty, exploitative socio‐economic structures, and oppressive political systems that often deny basic human and democratic rights to the poor and marginalized masses in Asia. The article's basic premise is that liberation and social justice are not monopolies of Christianity, but are found across the great religious traditions of Asia, and it highlights examples such as Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Hinduism, B. R. Ambedkar in Indian Buddhism, and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in Thai Buddhism. Christian examples include Aloysius Pieris (Sri Lanka), Dalit and indigenous tribal theologies from India, and Minjung theology from Korea.     

The Calls of Kairos and Islam

The greatest challenge to Christianity during the second half of the twentieth century emerged from liberation theologies and specifically from the point of view of pitting the Christian faith against the most despicable conditions of inhumanity. Oppressive contexts and conditions gave rise to deep reflection on what it means to be a Christian in situations where Christians oppress fellow Christians. The negative goal of Muslim-Christian relations requires looking into both religious traditions to see how the messages of Islam and Christianity have been misappropriated and distorted to serve the interests of the powerful. The positive goal will be to rediscover the emancipatory functions of Islam and Christianity in the midst of history and culture, and direct the resultant awareness to serve present and future objectives of Muslim-Muslim, Christian-Christian and Muslim-Christian relations.     

COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY AFTER LIBERALISM

This article first identifies two reasons for the current marginality of the theological sub‐discipline of “comparative theology.” The first is an awareness of the imperialistic character of the universalist (inclusivist and pluralist) theologies of the recent past. The second is the assumption that Christianity's relations with other religious are extrinsic to Christian identity. Drawing on Kathryn Tanner's critique of postliberalism, it argues that interreligious comparison is integral to a theology that recognizes the essentially relational nature of Christian identity. This recognition implies a continuous revision of Christian identity that checks the tendency to essentialize and thereby exclude religious “others.”     

Governing Islam in French cities: defining ‘acceptable’ public religiosity through municipal consultative bodies

ABSTRACT

In recent years, European states have institutionalised relations with Islamic groups in the form of national Islam councils. Similarly, municipalities have set up more or less comparable bodies to address issues related to urban religious diversity. However, rather than being restricted to Muslim representatives, municipal consultative bodies usually incorporate a variety of religious actors. This contribution analyses three such bodies in the French cities of Rennes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse. Adopting a governance perspective and drawing on qualitative fieldwork, I argue that by providing concrete advice on how to address religious issues, these bodies define what are considered ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ public religious expressions, ultimately influencing normative ideas about laïcité. Moreover, I argue that the history of relationships between religious and municipal authorities and the political culture of the cities, among other factors, shape these local processes, thereby emphasising the distinct role of cities and urban actors in governing religion.     

Attitudes toward religious diversity among American exemplars of Christian virtue

An important concern within contemporary Western societies is how religious adherents view and engage religious diversity. This study attempts to further understandings regarding religious diversity in contemporary society through the accounts of American Christian religious exemplars whose religious identification spans the conservative evangelical, liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions. Ninety‐six in‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals recognized by their congregational leadership as exemplifying Christian virtues and thereby Christian commitment. Weak denominational allegiances, accompanied by salient identification with broad Christian religious traditions were found. Mainline/liberal Christians tended to identify conservative/evangelical Christians as ‘others’, while conservative/evangelical Christians identified Mormons as ‘others.’ Also, a shift in attitudes toward Catholics was found among Protestants, and attitudes toward non‐Christian religions were respectfully civil across a range of theological understanding of these religions. The implications of these findings for religious identity in contemporary society are explored with particular attention to religious diversity.     

Some contemporary protestant theological reflections on pluralism: Implications for Christian‐Muslim understanding

Theological writings about the relationship of Christianity to other religions are often cast into one of three general categories: exclusivist, inclusivist and pluralist. This essay reviews six twentieth‐century Protestant Christian theologians and academics who have reflected on ways in which Christians can understand their faith in the light of the religion of Islam. Some have spent their lives relating to Muslims and deal specifically with its implications for Christian understanding, while others treat Islam more generally as part of the larger issue of Christianity in the light of contemporary religious pluralism. As a whole they are representative of the range of theological responses suggested in the above categories.     

Two ways of being a Christian in the Muslim context of the Middle East

This article identifies two fundamental outlooks and basic orientations of Christians living among Muslims in the context of the Middle East that result in two ways of being a Christian in that region. The origin of the two types, labelled the ‘Arab Christian’ and the ‘Eastern Christian’, is traced back to early Christian contacts with Islam, and the content of those two ways is explicated in their political, cultural and religious implications by briefly elaborating two contemporary Lebanese Christian conceptualizations of the two ways. It is argued that these two types provide a hermeneutical key not only for understanding the behaviour, actions and thought of Christians of the Middle East, but also for understanding and evaluating the perceptions of non-Middle Eastern writers and historians about the topic of Christians in that region.     

Pastor,are You a Religious Illiterate?

Abstract : The growing religious diversity of the United States forces pastors into the role of spokesperson for the Christian faith along with becoming chief educator about other religious traditions for the congregation. Pastors, now more than ever, have the responsibility to become educated about the world's religions and to share this knowledge with their parishioners. To prepare clergy for these new responsibilities, three Lutheran pastors speak from their own experiences of deliberately engaging and studying diverse religious communities. With special focus on Islam and Hinduism, the pastors provide resources for further reading and study. This collaborative effort aims to encourage and empower pastors to embrace these new components of their calling by openly and regularly interacting with their religious neighbors.     

Multiculturalism in Britain and the Political Identity of Europe

The United Kingdom has traditionally been united by culture not ethnicity. Immigration has started to threaten this identity because of racism, lack of forethought and ill-conceived multiculturalism. The storm over Archbishop Rowan Williams' Sharia speech revealed how Islam in particular poses a problem. Williams is right to advocate more political pluralism in the face of variegated religious identities which exercise strong social influence but this needs to be an ‘organicist’ rather than ‘liberal’ pluralism, if Britain's political and religious inheritance is not to be threatened. The Christian character of Britain actually protects a certain pluralist variety and the role of other faiths, because of the peculiar character of Christianity.     

The Mosaic of Muslim Religiosity and Social‐Political Attitudes in Kyrgyzstan: A Gender‐Based Exploration

This research explores the diversity of Islam in post‐Soviet Kyrgyzstan and the implications of that diversity for social‐political attitudes. Our hypotheses are (1) Kyrgyzstani Muslims can be categorized into gender‐based religious groupings defined by various religious indicators and (2) membership in these groupings influences social‐political attitudes. Using a 2011 nationwide survey in Kyrgyzstan and applying statistical clustering, we identify three groups of religiosity within each gender. Looking at four issues such as preferences for Islam in politics and for religious versus civil law, we find significant differences among the religious groups even after region, urbanity, and ethnicity are controlled. These findings suggest that narratives treating Muslims as a single, unified community or simply contrasting Muslims and non‐Muslims need to be expanded to capture meaningful variations. Our findings are consistent with the theoretical notion that more devout Muslims form a subculture that seeks to extend Islamic values into secular realms.     

Christian‐Muslim relations: Some current themes

The recent writings dealing with Christianity and Islam, written for very different audiences, point to some common current themes in Christian‐Muslim relations. Taking Bill Musk and Ziauddin Sardar as starting points, the article discusses the importance of secularism, mutual mistrust and the efficacy of religious faith to deal with contemporary problems as major concerns which must be addressed in any meaningful dialogue between Christianity and Islam today.     

Prayer,Self‐Examination,and Christian Catechesis in Augustine and Luther

Augustine and Luther are well known for their self‐examinations of religious experience, especially its trials and temptations. Their theologies of prayer offer a distinctive window into this self‐examination because they traverse the juncture between doctrine and practice, thereby addressing both the theological and pastoral concerns on sin and grace at the heart of their discussions of religious experience. While emanating from their personal spiritual lives, their theologies of prayer also are firmly rooted within the corporate context of the church and Christian catechesis.     

The Fascination of Islam

An Orientalist painting reproduced on the cover of the English translation of Rodinson's La fascination de l'Islam prompts some initial reflections about elements of distortion and projection in European perceptions of the Muslim world. The rest of the article charts the growth of the academic study of Islam and makes some suggestions as to how it might develop in the future. The second section surveys the history of Islamic Studies in Western Europe, dealing in turn with Christian scholarship, text-based Orientalism, and the contribution of the political sciences. It highlights the merits of these approaches but also explains why Muslim students find them problematic. The third section considers a traditional Muslim approach to the subject, as described by Ibn Khaldun. Because of its emphasis on the transmission of information on religious authority, this approach would be inappropriate in a modern Western university. Moreover, as a historian, Ibn Khaldun was already aware of its deficiencies. The fourth section opens by stressing that there is an urgent need to bring Western scholarship and traditional Muslim scholarship into constructive dialogue with each other. Despite the enormity of the task, it would be facilitated if Islamicists of all persuasions were prepared to learn from colleagues in Religious Studies and Theology. With this in mind, a number of suggestions are made as to how Islamic Studies stands to be enriched through contact with these two disciplines. Finally, the author states that Religious Studies and Theology also stand to benefit from the relationship. For example, he suggests that the rise of Islam raises important issues for those who are interested in the formative period of Christian doctrine.     

Muhammad in Contemporary Christian Theological Reflection

After briefly surveying the generally polemical pre-modern Christian views of Muhammad, this essay considers a range of recent Christian approaches. Daniel Madigan explores often unrecognized complexities involved in the question; he considers Muhammad's message a “salutary critique” prompting Christians to a fuller understanding of their faith. Hans Küng insists that Christians should recognize Muhammad as a prophet; Islam is akin to early Jewish forms of Christianity, whose validity should be recognized. Jacques Jomier and Christian Troll are respectful of Muhammad but argue that, if Christians call him a prophet, they effectively deny their own faith. Kenneth Cragg presents a “positive, critical position”, encouraging sympathetic Christian interpretation of Muhammad's achievement in his context, but expressing reservations about the “political equation” in his ministry and contrasting this with Christ's way of redemptive suffering. Cragg's approach is upheld against criticisms as an exemplary model of Christian theological engagement with Islam.     

MOTHERHOOD IN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM: Critiques,Realities, and Possibilities

Common experiences of mothering offer profound critiques of maternal ethical norms found in both Christianity and Islam. The familiar responsibilities of caring for children, assumed by the majority of Christian and Muslim women, provide the basis for reassessing sacrificial and selfless love, protesting unjust religious and political systems, and dismantling romanticized notions of childcare. As a distinctive category of women's experience, motherhood may offer valuable perspectives necessary for remedying injustices that afflict mothers and children in particular, as well as for developing cross‐cultural understandings of justice in general.     

Contrast and complementarity: Two approaches to the thought of Joseph Ratzinger

Abstract

With their emphasis on healing, Zionist churches in southern Africa currently represent by far the largest group among the so-called African Independent or Indigenous Churches (AICs) and, as such, a type of church in their own right. They reflect, in short, an indigenous response to the challenges of modernity, as experienced in their respective socio-political, religious, and cultural settings. After sketching the history of their origin, which is linked to J. A. Dowie as well as to the Keswick movement, and describing the worship and congregational life ‘in Zion' in some detail, the article concludes with a theological reflection about the lived ecclesiology and pneumatology of these churches, which deeply challenge the very perception of established Christian theologies. The aim is to stimulate serious dialogue, which, as the author is convinced, will lead to an authentic re-owning of the Christian tradition by all the Church.