InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network
Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward, Nabeel Qureshi. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016.
Summary: Contends that there is a basis in the foundations of Islam for violent, and not merely defensive, jihad, which neither can be ignored, nor assumed of all Muslims, but calls for a proactive response, particularly of Christians, of love and friendship with the hope of breaking the cycle of violence.
[Read more…] about Book Review: Answering Jihad by Nabeel Qureshi
ESN continues its series of interviews with authors of Faithful Is Successful, with Oliver Marjot interviewing David Vishanoff. You can read Oliver’s previous post on David’s chapter in Faithful Is Successful here. David Vishanoff is an associate professor in the Religious Studies program at the University of Oklahoma, where he strives to put his theory of sacrificial listening into practice in both teaching and scholarship.His research is principally concerned with how religious people interpret and conceptualize sacred texts—both their own, and those of other religious traditions. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife, their two teenagers, his parents, and his mother-in-law, in a large home that often welcomes students and friends from church.
1. Oli: What was it that drew you to studying non-Christian religions in the first place? Â And why Islam especially?
David: At my Christian college there was no course on world religions. But it seems to me that studying Christianity without studying other religions is not a complete Christian education: a vital part of following Jesus is understanding our neighbours, so that’s what I chose to do. In my experience, the Church is not very good at listening to others – it has enough people to be its mouth, but it needs to grow bigger ears. I wanted to be the Church’s ears. [Read more…] about Listening to our colleagues: Muslim, secular, Christian. Interview with David Vishanoff
While scholars and pundits debate whether in fact we are facing a “Clash of Civilizations” (in Samuel Huntington’s words) between the West and Islam, there is a different kind of encounter that is possible in universities in many parts of the world. Christians and Muslims attend classes together, form friendships, compete on intramural teams, and stay up late together sometimes, talking about the deepest questions. While such conversations can’t resolve the violent clashes occurring elsewhere, no one knows what might happen where conversations of respect and mutual understanding across religious differences occur.
Barbara Hampton has given us a wonderful resource to foster such conversations in her study guide, Reading Scripture Together: A Comparative Bible and Qur’an Study Guide. . . . — From Review: Reading Scripture Together: A Comparative Bible and Qur’an Study Guide by Bob Trube (Bob on Books, 2/18/2014).
Inspired by Bob’s review I contacted Barbara J. Hampton to learn more about the story behind and the content in her new publication. What a privilege to share this interview with the Emerging Scholars Network.
Tom: Why did you write Reading Scripture Together: A Comparative Qur’an and Bible Study Guide? What is the story behind its publication?
Barbara: In 2000, as an adjunct at the College of Wooster (Ohio) where my husband was in the math department and we were faculty advisors to Wooster Christian Fellowship, I was teaching a First Year Seminar (FYS) with the theme of “Voices of Conscience in the 20th Century.†One of the speakers at our public lecture series connected to FYS was the president of Planned Parenthood. I couldn’t teach that topic without voicing my own conscience and so planned a silent prayer vigil of protest. This generated a lot of anxiety and discussion on campus (a story in its own right), but an unexpected outcome of that was a Pakistani alumna reading about it in the student newspaper. She emailed me and suggested that I would make a good Muslim since I was pro-life and would I like to convert! I answered that I would be delighted to learn about Islam if I could share about Christianity. And so began our email “dialogue.†From there, with much study along the way, I designed a set of lessons for my church’s adult Sunday school focusing in on several primary doctrines of Christianity and Islam. [Read more…] about Interview: Barbara J. Hampton on “Reading Scripture Together: A Comparative Qur’an and Bible Study Guide”
A number of years ago a student asked me, “Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?” That is a question that has lingered with me over the years and so I turned with interest to this book in which Miroslav Volf explores the same question and the implications of how we answer it.
An important thing to understand about this book is that it is not written in the vein of the “all religions are pointing to the same truth” or that Christianity and Islam are different paths leading to salvation. What Volf, who would answer the question by saying “yes, with different understandings of the God we worship” is interested in are the implications of our answer to this question for Muslim-Christian relations in this world. Volf points to the fact that figures as diverse as Nicolas of Cusa, Martin Luther, and Pope John Paul II have all taken this position. He points to our common belief that God is One, Creator, Sovereign, a God of love and justice, to whom we owe our absolute allegiance, that he commands love of neighbor, and that given that all of us will face a reckoning, we ought live in the fear of the Lord. He also observes that the objections to the idea of the Trinity in Muslim teaching are in fact things Christians themselves would disavow concerning the Trinity — these are not three gods, Jesus is not God’s associate, etc. [Read more…] about Book Review: Allah: A Christian Response