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AR 20:36 - Living in religious diversity with knowledge and grace
Apologia Report 20:36 (1,265)
October 28, 2015
In this issue:
ISLAM - Al-Jazeera contributor explains why the godfather of the Taliban was not a Muslim Luther
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM - "an outstanding treatment of how to think about and live in a religiously diverse world"
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ISLAM
Writing for the UK's Guardian newspaper, on "Why Islam doesn't need a reformation," Mehdi Hasan, a presenter on Al-Jazeera English, reviews current thought regarding what such a reformation should be.
While the call for Islam's reformation has not been uncommon over the last decade, Hasan argues that "Islam isn't Christianity. They are are not analogous, and it is deeply ignorant to pretend otherwise." He points out that early reformational efforts were less than righteous. "As the US sociologist and Holocaust scholar Ronald Berger has observed, Luther helped establish antisemitism as 'a key element of German culture and national identity'. Hardly a poster boy for reform and modernity for Muslims in 2015.
"The Protestant Reformation also opened the door to blood-letting on an unprecedented, continent-wide scale. ...
"The truth is that Islam has already had its own reformation of sorts, in the sense of a stripping of cultural accretions and a process of supposed 'purification'. And it didn't produce a tolerant, pluralistic, multifaith utopia.... Instead, it produced ... the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ...
"Some might argue that if anyone deserves the title of a Muslim Luther, it is [Saudi Arabia's] Ibn Abdul Wahhab <www.goo.gl/OOG2lS> who, in the eyes of his critics, combined Luther's puritanism with the German monk's antipathy towards the Jews. Ibn Abdul Wahhab's controversial stance on Muslim theology, writes his biographer Michael Crawford [1], 'made him condemn much of the Islam of his own time' and led to him being dismissed as a heretic by his own family. ...
"What [Muslims] don't need are lazy calls for an Islamic reformation from non-Muslims and ex-Muslims, the repetition of which merely illustrates how shallow and simplistic, how ahistorical and even anti-historical, some of the west's leading commentators are on this issue.
"With apologies to Luther, if anyone wants to do the same to the religion of Islam today, it is Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who claims to rape and pillage in the name of a 'purer form' of Islam - and who isn't, incidentally, a fan of the Jews either. Those who cry so simplistically, and not a little inanely, for an Islamic reformation, should be careful what they wish for." <www.goo.gl/o0W6Hg>
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RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
Christianity and Religious Diversity: Clarifying Christian Commitments in a Globalizing Age, by Harold A. Netland [2] -- summarized by reviewer Paul D. Adams as "a historically informed and decidedly clear analysis of the world's religious traditions" as well as a tool for gleaning "skills for listening confidently, reasoning vigorously, and speaking courageously in a religiously diverse world."
In the first chapter, Netland "astutely ... insists that we cannot draw straight lines between religions, cultures, and worldviews so that, for example, a religion necessarily shares a specific worldview. His keen analysis of the relationship between religion, culture, and worldview is especially helpful. ...
"Chapter 3 zeroes in on the Buddhism of the West showing that what has been embraced is actually flawed. In large part this is due to the work of D.T. Suzuki (albeit sufficient space is devoted to the influence of the Theosophical Society). ... The main point taken up by Netland ... is not a polemic on Suzuki. Instead, he illustrates how the 'portrayal of a particular religion can be influenced by factors external to that tradition itself'; so much so that the very nature of the tradition morphs beyond what members of that tradition might recognize." Netland discusses Suzuki "playing off the East against the West [where] the attraction of Buddhism in the West is due in part to the skillful and effective use of such discourse to promote a profound and esoteric 'Eastern spirituality' as the antidote to 'Western rationalism and materialism.'
"The final chapter in Part 1 traces the theme of 'Jesus in a Global, Post-colonial World' (the chapter's title) utilizing the writings of [non-Christian] religious leaders from the nineteenth- and twentieth-century.... The allure of full-on religious pluralism begins to emerge as each leader embraces some from of the pluralist formula, namely, all the world's religions are historically and culturally conditioned responses to some amorphous Real. Netland shows the inconsistencies and patronizing attempts at constructing a human Jesus who is to be admired among others but fails to capture the uniqueness and centrality of Jesus as truly God and truly Man.
"Chapter 5 begins Part 2 and addresses head-on the question 'Can All Religions Be True?' ... Truth in religious pluralism becomes some kind of existential usefulness, resulting in a functional rather than a propositional view of truth. Netland ably illustrates the problems with proposing mythological meaning behind central beliefs, ineffability, religious ambiguity, religious experience, and moral transformation, all typically found in the pluralist's arsenal, and he rightly concludes that incoherence results.
"Chapter 6 moves into the space of Christianity as the one true religion. He is keen to point out that when speaking of Christianity one must distinguish between its empirical expression laced with 'all of its social and cultural accoutrements' on the one hand, and its gospel message on the other. This chapter is strategic for 'clarifying what is involved and what is not involved' in claiming that Christianity is the true religion.
"Common objections to the claims of absolutism and superiority are given careful responses." Here Netland also notes that "to affirm the central teachings of Christianity is not to affirm everything taught by the institutional Christian church nor does a commitment to the absolute claims of Christendom involve a withdrawal from pursuing the common moral good of all in cooperation with non-Christian religions. ...
"Netland finishes this chapter strongly by identifying what it means for a religion to be 'true.' He rightly shows that propositional truth applies to religious claims rather than to religion traditions. ...
"Chapter 7 is an excellent treatment of why, when faced with the diversity of religions, one may have sufficient reasons for accepting Christianity as true. It's a concise yet thorough introduction to the epistemology of religion. ...
"Also included are sections on religious ambiguity and natural theology. ...
"After surveying a variety of apologetic approaches, he concludes with preferring Basil Mitchell's cumulative case argument coupled with C. Stephen Evans's 'natural signs' that together provide a 'comprehensive cumulative case argument for Christian theism.'
"The final chapter is a courageous attempt at providing principles for discussion around what it means to be disciples of Jesus and good citizens in a religiously diverse and increasingly pluralistic world." Netland includes a section that "calls for renewed interest and commitment to apologetics. ...
"Netland closes the chapter by returning to the theme of being disciples of Jesus and maintaining civic virtue. He gleans three principles from the Williamsburg Charter (drafted in 1988 by Os Guinness) that guide the way forward for believers in a democratic society. 1) Christians must seek to preserve religious liberties of all peoples, especially championing the rights of religious minorities. 2) Engaging in pubic discourse requires cautious and gracious speech to avoid even a hint of vitriol and inflammatory language that is so prevalent in the 'culture wars'. 3) A keen awareness that, although the majority will largely determine policy based upon religious convictions, the rule of reciprocity as found in the Golden Rule must rule the day so as to avoid 'power politics.'
"Christianity and Religious Diversity is a gift to everyone. It is an outstanding treatment of how to think about and live in a religiously diverse world; and to do it with knowledge and with grace." Philosophia Christi, 17:1 - 2015, pp230-35.
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, by Michael Crawford (Oneworld, 2014, hardcover, 160 pages) <www.goo.gl/RYy9yu>
2 - Christianity and Religious Diversity: Clarifying Christian Commitments in a Globalizing Age, by Harold A. Netland (Baker, 2015, paperback, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/K3ZqqW>
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