Update on Evangelical/Muslim Dialogue
April 20, 2009 – 1:59 pmAs reported Friday by MM, the 3rd Evangelical Christian-Muslim Consultation was held this past weekend at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. This year’s conference theme was “A Common Word Between Us and You.”
Tim Morgan, writer for Christianity Today, covered the conference and summed up the results:
1. Muslims and Evangelicals who are committed to the work of dialogue spend a lot of time explaining to each other why extremists do what they do in the name of their own faith.
2. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have been, are now, and will be in a deep encounter for generations to come. While there was little discussion of Jews and Judaism, the reality of this encounter was for me inescapable. Dialogue that does not lead to tri-a-logue will not survive the test of time.
3. Muslims and Evangelicals once and for all must settle, resolve, mutually understand, and respect their divergent doctrines of God. The end value of such a heroic effort of understanding must not be underestimated.
See complete list of Tim’s conclusions.
Stephen Sizer delivered a paper at the four day conference entitled “Christian Minorities Living Under Muslim Rule.”. He is the senior pastor of Christ Church, Virginia Water, UK, and scholar on the relationship between Evangelicalism and the Middle East. Dr. Sizer’s coverage of the term dhimmi as it applies to Christian/Jewish relations with the Muslim world is particularly helpful, though the overall tenor of Sizer’s arguments are left of Missions Mandate’s philosophy.
Here is a summary of his paper’s main argument:
Clearly the status of Christians living under Muslim rule is a controversial subject. Some might even call it a ‘minefield’. It has evoked strong opinions on both sides. There are some within the Islamic community who seem to be in denial as to the contemporary difficulties faced by Christian minorities. And there are some within the Christian (and Jewish) community* who exaggerate and exacerbate these tensions for their own purposes.
I will begin with a brief history of the development of dhimmi status for Christian minorities; I will present two contrasting interpretations, give an assessment of the status of Christian minorities today, and then offer a (middle) way forward that neither ignores the anxieties of Christian minorities nor demonises Muslim majorities for the tensions that still exist between our two faith communities. Among friends, it is important that we can be open, honest and vulnerable with each other and I ask for your forgiveness in advance, not least for my pronunciation of Arabic words.
*Dr. Sizer has extensively spoken and written against “Christian Zionism,” a theme which emerges in this paper.
Watch, read or download Dr. Sizer’s paper - “Christian Minorities Living Under Muslim Rule.”
