Another Step Toward the One World Global Religion? Scholars Try To Reconcile 'Problematic' Religious Texts
Pastor Dale Morgan
Another Step Toward the One World Global Religion? Scholars Try To
Reconcile 'Problematic' Religious Texts*
Scholars try to reconcile 'problematic' religious texts
Christian, Jewish and Muslim experts met this week to add context to
passages that have been perceived as hostile toward other faiths.
By K. Connie Kang, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2007
Speaking with mutual respect and sensitivity, prominent Christian,
Jewish and Muslim scholars and clergy from around the country met in Los
Angeles this week to "wrestle" with what one rabbi described as the
"dark side" of the three faith traditions.
Experts cited "problematic" passages from the Hebrew Scripture, the New
Testament and the Koran that assert the superiority of one belief system
over others.
As an example, the Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, ecumenical and interreligous
official of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, quoted from
the Gospel of Mark: "Go into the world and preach the gospel to the
whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he
who does not believe will be condemned."
Rabbi Reuven Firestone, director of the Institute for the Study of
Jewish-Muslim Interrelations at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles,
mentioned a series of texts, including a verse from Deuteronomy: "For
you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: of all the peoples of
the earth the Lord your God chose you to be His treasured people."
And Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh (Islamic Law) Council of
North America, quoted from the Koran:
"You who believe, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies: they
are allies only to each other. Anyone who takes them as an ally becomes
one of them -- God does not guide such wrongdoers."
In explaining the passage from the Gospel of Mark, Smith said that the
troubling portion was appended a century after it was written -- when
the four Gospels were compiled.
He said the longer ending, which added 12 verses, was written at a time
when Christians either were questioning their faith in the resurrection
of Jesus or defending it against skeptics and nonbelievers.
Siddiqi took up the quote from the Koran, found in Chapter 5, verse 51,
explaining that the problem lies not in the text, but in its interpretation.
"Some extremists among Muslims use this text to say that Muslims should
not trust non-Muslims," he said. "Some Islam bashers use this text to
claim that Islam is an unfriendly religion," said Siddiqi, who is also
chairman of the Shura Council of Southern California.
He said the verse was revealed to the prophet Muhammad after the Battle
of Hadh, when Muslims of Medina were overwhelmed by a larger number of
nonbelievers from Mecca. "After that, Muslims were very frightened," he
said. "Some, who were weak in their faith, said, 'We are going to make
alliance with Jewish people, in order to find protection there.' Some
said, 'We are going to make alliance with Christians, so we'll have
protection there.' "
The idea behind the verse is not that Muslims should shun Jews and
Christians, but that they should stand up on their own feet and do their
best, he said.
Firestone addressed the references to the Israelites as God's elect in
the books of Deuteronomy, Exodus and Amos.
"Why did God favor Israel?" he asked. "Why did God make the oath to the
Israelite ancestors? The answer to these questions is not provided
clearly in the text."
He believes the origin of "chosen-ness" stems from the structure of
tribal religion in the ancient Middle East. "Each of Israel's
neighboring communities seems to have had its own ethnic or national
God," he said.
Firestone said that all monotheistic traditions are confronted with the
problem of chosen-ness and that "we all need to work through this
absolutely basic notion in each of our religious systems."
Keynote speaker Mary C. Boys, a professor of practical theology at Union
Theological Seminary in New York, said that though writers of the
Gospels differ in their accounts of Jesus' passion and crucifixion, all
cite Jews as primarily responsible for his death.
She finds two texts especially troublesome -- one in which Pontius
Pilate, the Roman procurator, says, "I am innocent of this man's blood,"
and the crowd answers, "His blood be on us and our children!"
"This is troubling because Imperial Rome had far more to do with the
death of Jesus than the Gospels reflect," she said. "Even more troubling
is the way in which early Christian teachers built upon this charge as
the rivalry with Judaism widened and deepened."
Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis
of Southern California, which co-sponsored the event with Sacred Heart
University in Fairfield, Conn., said all people of faith need to "take
ownership of their most difficult texts, wrestle with them -- not run
away from them -- but confront them, where appropriate, set them in
their proper historical context.
"After wrestling, I hope people can understand these texts in the
appropriate contexts and realize that not all of them, but many of them,
are bound by conditions of social milieu, of culture, of historical
context."
In some instances, he continued, people of faith need to say to
themselves, "This is part of my sacred tradition, but I reject it. I
find this text offensive. It goes against my own morality, and it goes
against what I believe God expects of me in the world today."
That calls for a great deal of theological introspection, education and
courage, he said.
Called "Troubling Tradition: Wrestling With Problem Passages," the
program at the Luxe Hotel in Bel-Air on Monday and Tuesday was the
second in a series of four international conferences initiated by the
Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University.
"We want to foster serious theological and moral thinking about those
aspects of our traditions . . . that are intolerant and delegitimizes
the other and have been used by extremists to foster violence and
hatred," said Rabbi Eugene Korn, executive director of the Center for
Christian-Jewish Understanding. "It's absolutely critical now because of
the increase in religious violence and extreme hostility."
The first conference was held last year in Connecticut. There will be
conferences in Germany in 2008 and Jerusalem in 2009. The papers
presented at the conferences will be published as a book and posted on
the Internet.
Speakers at the Los Angeles conference also included Rabbi Elliott
Dorff, rector and professor of philosophy at American Jewish University,
and Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Conservative Christian Ann Coulter's recent comment about Jews needing
to be "perfected" by converting to Christianity was mentioned only in
passing.
"Panelists and presenters chose not to dignify her remarks with a
response," Diamond said.
Jerry D. Campbell, president of the Claremont School of Theology, summed
up the event:
"God is challenging us to take the idea of troubling texts to the next
level, to begin a new conversation across faiths and throughout the
world, with the goal of realizing God's own hope that all God's creation
may learn to live harmoniously together."