I have always believed that it’s good to listen to critics,
to give them a fair hearing. The reason is that they just might be onto
something. Since I’m already convinced—and my wife confirms—that I fail to get
everything right, a critic might spot something I should change, or rethink, or
redo, or apologize for. Now, I don’t like the process involved, and usually
feel rather annoyed when they get some criticism of me correct. Even if they in
the process remind me how annoying other people can be. Sorry, I mean even if
also they remind me how easily I can be annoyed.
Anyway. I believe the same thing about my faith. The best
test, it seems to me, is not whether I feel confident in what I believe, but
whether I can face the best challenges of the most thoughtful unbelievers and
not only believe but with sufficiently good reasons.
Sometimes I am surprised by the challenges or questions
issued by the critics of my faith. They hold a position I have not fully
appreciated, or are bothered by something I had not considered all that
important. Listening to the critics of the faith, in other words, has benefits.
I wish I could recommend A
Muslim View of Christianity
to everyone, but it is a scholarly book,
produced by an Islamic academic for fellow scholars who are engaged in
Muslim-Christian dialogue. Although well written and thoughtfully developed,
Mahmoud Ayoub’s collection of essays tends to be academically demanding in the
best sense of the term.
to everyone, but it is a scholarly book,
produced by an Islamic academic for fellow scholars who are engaged in
Muslim-Christian dialogue. Although well written and thoughtfully developed,
Mahmoud Ayoub’s collection of essays tends to be academically demanding in the
best sense of the term.
When I began A Muslim
View of Christianity, I expected to find (among other things) thoughtful
arguments about both the similarities and differences between Islam and
Christianity, serious questions about the veracity of Scripture and the
historicity of Christ’s death and resurrection, and reflections on the
conflicts between the two from the pages of history. Ayoub provided all that
and more.
What I was surprised to find was a plea for pluralism. Not
pluralism in the sense that differing religions live side by side in tolerance,
but pluralism in the philosophical sense, that in a pluralistic world no
ultimate truth claims can be made. Three quotes among many, taken at random:
“We now know that no
religion can claim an exclusive monopoly on salvation and truth. We must accept
the fact that our forebears knew far less about world religions than we know.
Hence, we must see our faith in global perspective as one among many, each
having its own spiritual heritage and civilization. In light of this, no
religious” community or religio-ethnic group can claim a special and exclusive
mission to mankind.” [60]
“The Qur’an, far more
than Muslims have ever done, accepts the pluralism of religions and affirms the
unity of faith. The only common elements it insists on are sincere faith in God
and works of righteousness.” [21]
“True dialogue is
conversation among persons and not a confrontation between ideas. If
Muslim-Christian dialogue is to be at all meaningful, it must go beyond the
letter of scriptures, creed, and tradition. Men and women of faith in both
communities must learn to listen to the divine voice speaking through
revelation and history, and together seek to understand what God is saying to
Muslims through Christianity and to Christians through Islam. In more practical
terms, this means that Christians and Muslims must go beyond the history of a
reified religion and try instead to share in the commonality of faith. Then it
will, we hope, be realized that although Christians and Muslims have followed
different roads toward the goal of human fulfillment in God, the goal is one
and the roads meet at many points.” [229]
One more thing: Although I am not at liberty to name my
sources, I have it on good authority that more and more Islamic clerics are
arguing for religious pluralism, especially among Shi’a scholars in Qum, the
holy city in Iran.
This entry was posted
at Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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Christian faith,
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