Toward Respectful Understanding and Witness among Muslims

Description

Fifteen preeminent Christian scholars of Islam present their latest research and reflections. The book is organized around three themes: encouraging friendly conversation, Christian scholarship, and Christian witness. Published in honor of J. Dudley Woodberry, it is more than a collection of essays by friends and colleagues. It offers a seldom-available synopsis of the theories of contemporary leading Christian academicians whose work is currently influencing a wide range of Christian institutions, agencies, churches, and individuals. The authors provide cutting-edge and greatly needed resources for developing a better understanding of Muslims. In an age of increasing challenges facing Muslim-Christian relations, this volume offers Christians a unique opportunity to rethink their assumptions. It also presents practical steps which can inform their daily encounters with Muslims. This book is essential reading for people with research interests in Islam, for Bible school and seminary students, for church leaders, and for all those who want to be informed of the latest empirical research and theoretical perspectives affecting Muslim-Christian relations.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: William Carey Publishing
• Date de parution: 28 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780878086979
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Toward Respectful Understanding and Witness among Muslims: Essays in Honor of J. Dudley Woodberry
Copyright 2012 by School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission of the publisher, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NIrV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER S VERSION . Copyright 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. www.biblica.com All rights reserved.
Scriptures quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com . The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked RSV are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NASB from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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Published by William Carey Library
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Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.missionbooks.org
Brad Koenig, copyeditor
Francesca Gacho, editor
Rose Lee-Norman, indexer
Hugh Pindur, graphic designer
William Carey Library is a ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission
Pasadena, CA | www.uscwm.org
Digital eBook Release BP 2015
ISBN 978-0-87808-870-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toward respectful understanding and witness among Muslims: essays in honor of J. Dudley Woodberry / edited by Evelyne A. Reisacher; associate editors, Joseph L. Cumming, Dean S. Gilliland Charles E. Van Engen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87808-018-2 (alk. paper)
1. Missions to Muslims. 2. Christianity and other religions-Islam. 3. Islam-Relations-Christianity. I. Woodberry, John Dudley, 1934- II. Reisacher, Evelyne A.
BV2625.T69 2011
261.2 7-dc23
2011039488
DEDICATION

To a world-class scholar of Islamic Studies for his groundbreaking research, his dedication to teaching, his seminal contribution to Christian mission in the Muslim world, and his profound role in fostering healthy Muslim-Christian relations.
Contents
Dedication
Foreword
By David W. Shenk
Preface
By C. Doug McConnell
Preface and Acknowledgments
By Evelyne A. Reisacher
Contributing Authors
Biography of J. Dudley Woodberry
By Dean S. Gilliland
SECTION ONE
Encouraging Friendly Conversation
Introduction by Charles E. Van Engen
1 Christian Attitudes toward Islam and Muslims: A Kerygmatic Approach
By Martin Accad
2 The Ishmael Promises and Mission Motivation
By Jonathan E. Culver
3 Squeezing Ethics Out of Law: What Is Shari a Anyway?
By David L. Johnston
4 Portraying Muslim Women
By Evelyne A. Reisacher
5 Current Trends in Islam and Christian Mission
By Warren F. Larson
SECTION 2
Christian Scholarship
Introduction by Joseph L. Cumming
6 The Christian Scholar with Islam: Go, Take, Learn
By Kenneth Cragg
7 if t al-Dh t in al-Ash ar s Doctrine of God and Possible Christian Parallels
By Joseph L. Cumming
8 Who Was Allah before Islam? Evidence that the Term Allah Originated with Jewish and Christian Arabs
By Rick Brown
9 Folk Elements in Muslim Expressions of African Religion
By Dean S. Gilliland
10 The Kaya Shrine and the Mosque: Religious Bifurcation among Miji-Kenda Muslims in Kenya
By Stephen Mutuku Sesi
SECTION 3
Christian Witness
Introduction by Dean S. Gilliland
11 How Is the Gospel Good News for Muslims?
By David H. Greenlee
12 Contextualization
By Phil Parshall
13 Reflections on Jesus Movements among Muslims with Special Reference to Movements within Asian Muslim Communities
By John Jay Travis
14 Afflictions by Jinn among the Swahili and an Appropriate Christian Approach
By Caleb Chul-Soo Kim
15 Peacemaking as a Witness
By Christine Amal Mallouhi
Conclusion
By Joseph L. Cumming
Complete Works of J. Dudley Woodberry
Compiled by Jared Holton
Selected Bibliography
Index
Foreword
BY DAVID W. SHENK
O n the highway approaching Mecca, there is a barrier across the road with a sign stating: No Non Muslim Permitted Beyond this Point.
Dudley Woodberry was preaching at the concluding Communion and commissioning service of the 1976 Consultation on Muslim Evangelization in Glen Eyrie, Colorado. This was my first acquaintance with Dudley.
He continued, In the sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God on the cross, the barriers are brought down. We are forgiven and all are welcome to the table of the Lord!
I learned later that Dudley scrawled the notes for that sermon late at night on the floor of his sleeping abode with the light of a flashlight so as not to disturb his roommate, as he struggled with jet lag from his flight from Arabia. He was an activist who at that time, with his wife, Roberta, was committed to relationship building even within the Arabian heartland; he has modeled an approach and spirit that has helped to form me. In my global travels I meet people who have likewise been influenced by Dudley s Christian engagement with Muslims.
This remarkable book is an appropriate tribute to Dudley s legacy as a scholar, writer, missionary, pastor, traveler, teacher, and friend. There have been enormous transformations in the half-century since he first ventured into a Middle Eastern engagement with Muslims as a short-term agriculturalist with the American Friends Service Committee in Lebanon. This book is forward-looking, identifying these transformations while providing foundational insights into the opportunities and challenges before us as we seek to bear faithful witness to Jesus among Muslims during these opening decades of the twenty-first century. At a time when books abound that nurture un-Christian thinking about Muslims, this book refreshingly encourages a spirit of Christlike engagement with Muslims.
The introductory biography of Dudley s life provides remarkable tone and perspective to the entire book. Apostles to Muslims are men and women formed by providential circumstance and the Spirit of God for ministry. Dudley s childhood in China, separation from parents during the war, preservation of his life on several occasions, providential interventions, academic and ministry opportunities as a young man, marriage to Roberta, the open doors within the heartland of Islam, the academic engagements in North America and around the world; this journey in ministry among Muslims and on behalf of Muslims has been of God!
I like this book! I am writing this foreword during several weeks of engagements in The Gambia and Burkina Faso. I have read the manuscript en route. Much of the book is exceedingly pertinent to the church and Islam in the West African context in which I am immersed for these several weeks. The testimonies in church these past two Sundays have told about the triumph of Christ over the gods, occult, and spirits; that is what Dean Gilliland, Stephen Sesi, and Caleb Kim describe in their essays on popular Islam. As I listened to people s testimonies, I have heard further elaboration of David Greenlee s comments on ways the gospel really is good news for Muslims. In a meeting with church leaders, contextualization issues dominated the discussion, a theme that Phil Parshall so ably discusses in his chapter. Late one evening we discussed people movements with the team in The Gambia; John Travis writes about that. We sought to discern why such movements happen elsewhere but are not happening in The Gambia. This book is relevant!
The book is in three sections: Encouraging Friendly Conversation, Christian Scholarship, and Christian Witness, with five chapters in each section. These well-written chapters probe the key issues with insight and scholarly depth. I will pull this resource from my shelf again and again, for the issues addressed speak directly into my day-by-day engagement with Muslims. For example, Martin Accad s chapter urges a kerygmatic rather than a dialogical or polemical approach in bearing witness among Muslims. I find that exceedingly helpful, especially after taking the Test of Attitudes toward Muslims that Accad has developed. That is what I like about this book. It is scholarship united with practicality.
Each chapter is a trove of insights, as for example the presentation on Ishmael. Several years ago I heard Jonathan Culver teaching a seminar in Indonesia on this theme. The audience was captivated by his presentation. His chapter further elaborates the themes he has so effectively developed within the Indonesian context. Equally significant is the chapter on Allah by Rick Brown. I suppose that in every seminar I present on Islam, someone raises a hand to say, Allah is a demon and not the God of Abraham. The editors rightfully included a chapter addressing this exceedingly significant issue. This is solid scholarship looking at the Christian influences in Arabia at the time of Muhammad, the archaeological finds, and linguistic analysis. These chapters will become foundational for me in seminars on Islam.
Space does not permit me to comment extensively on each chapter. But the key challenges and opportunities for be