Vlady Fresh

Last night I had a chance to listen to Joseph L. Cumming (Director, Reconciliation Program, Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University) give a talk titled Is Reconciliation Between Muslims and Christians Possible? Those who know me well know that I’m not a fan of “religious dialogue” because I often get the impression that those who participate in such discussions have no real core beliefs in their respective faiths. Listening to this talk was a tremendous encouragement to me that there is a place, and even an imperative, for Christian – Muslim dialogue with an eye toward reconciliation. I highly encourage you to download this lecture if you have the time.

Here’s a transcript of a portion where he discusses common Muslim concerns regarding Christianity. Note that I am not posting them here so someone can develop an apologetic but rather to encourage us to engage in meaningful conversation with our Muslim neighbors if the situation should present itself.

“If you’re a Christian and you talk with Muslims, there is a standard set of theological concerns that they have in their minds. Just as if you talked to the average secular American and you’re a religious person, you know they say “how can a good God allow all the suffering in the world?” “What about all the violence that has been committed in the name of religion through the centuries?” You’ve heard these things before, right? Similarly, Muslims have a standard set, but a different set, of standard concerns. And I’ll just list them quickly. There are six:

1. The Trinity. So you worship three gods, right?
2. The deity of Christ. Look we respect Jesus as a prophet, we believe in him, but why do you take a human being and worship him as a God? Isn’t that idol worship?
3. Son of God. So, you believe God had sex with Mary and they gave birth to a child? Isn’t that disgusting?
4. The cross. The Koran says that Jesus did not die on the cross but that God caused someone who looked like him to be crucified in his place. And God took Jesus up to heaven alive.
5. The Bible was God’s Word when it was first revealed but Christians and Jews have corrupted the text and so the book you have is no longer God’s Word.
6. Christian intolerance. Yes, you heard me right. Because you reject our prophet. We believe in your prophets. We believe in Jesus, in Moses, and in David, etc. etc. But you, as a cardinal tenet of your belief reject belief in Mohammed so you’re intolerant.

Now, obviously, … if I say Trinity, person of Christ, Cross, Bible, intolerance, these are pretty important beliefs for Christians. You sweep that under the carpet and you’ve got no Christianity left. But I believe on every one of these points … there is a tremendous amount of common ground to be found. And, on most of these points, not just common ground theologically but common ground which can contribute to peace making among nations.”