كلمة سواء - A common Word

by Miroslav Volf, Ghazi bin Muhammad

In late 2007 Muslim leaders from around the world together issued in the pages of The New York Times an open letter to Christian leaders inviting cooperation as a step toward peace. That letter, “A Common Word between Us and You,” acknowledged real differences between the two faiths but nonetheless contended that “righteousness and good works” should be the only areas in which they compete. The 138 signatories included over a dozen grand muftis, an ayatollah, and a Jordanian prince, and the document was widely considered a groundbreaking step toward reconciliation between Islam and Christianity — two major religions with a great deal in common. / That original letter and a collaborative Christian response — “Loving God and Neighbor Together” — both appear in this remarkable volume. Building on those original momentous documents, A Common Word further includes subsequent commentary and dialogue between Muslim and Christian scholars addressing critical and frequently asked questions. All in all, this eventful book encapsulates a brave and encouraging move toward harmony and accord between two world religions so often seen to be at odds.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Philosophy, Islam

39 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and the founding director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. “One of the most celebrated theologians of our time,” (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury), Volf is a leading expert on religion and conflict. His recent books include Against the Tide: Love in a Time of Petty Dreams and Persisting Enmities, and Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation—winner of the 2002 Grawmeyer Award in Religion.

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Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Whenever speech overwhelms and silences, it is not [an] expression of love.” When speech is not an expression of love, the speaker does not “affirm the freedom and dignity of the one spoken to, but uses him or her for extrinsic purposes. Harvard divinity professor, Harvey Cox, makes these comments in an essay in which he draws out a Biblical concept of God in the way he connects speech and love. The Gospel of John begins, “in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God” (1:1). And then verse 14, “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And 1 John 4:16b, “God is love.” So, God is “word” (logos). And God is love. Thus, word is love, or it should be. “Since God’s love/speech is unqualified, we should love all people regardless of whether they qualify.
Cox’s essay appears in ‘A Common Word,’ which was first a letter written by Muslim scholars, addressed to Christians worldwide. The intent was to call Christians and Muslims together around the two commands present in both faiths: love God and love neighbor. The book by the same title is comprised of essays from scholars of both faiths that further develop the concept of love and how it can, as a topic, be the ground on which Muslims and Christians meet in peace.
Cox insists that love cannot be coerced, only chosen. We can’t be made to love God. We choose to because God has overwhelmed us with his freely given love. But it is that, a gift. The counter-speech, or “antiparable” to use Cox’s speech is seduction and sorcery. Seduction does what Cox wrote that it does; it uses people.
He quotes Goethe’s Faust to illustrate his point, but the conversation moves out of the realm of dry academic writing and into the realm of uncomfortable invasion of personal space when we turn the question. Instead of pointing out how Faust uses people with his speech, we have to ask do we? Do you? Have you spoken in ways, whether bullying or deceiving, browbeating or seducing, in order to get someone to do something for your benefit, but not necessarily for theirs? Have I? You better believe I have.
I have used speech to run down a woman who turned back my romantic overtures. I have spoken violently to intimidate my children just to convince myself I was in control. I have manipulated others for my own ends. I have used speech to use people. People are God’s image-bearers and I have sinned by seeing them as tools for my own personal use. In the thought space of Cox’s essay, that’s seduction, not love.
The second way sin turns love aside is sorcery. “Sorcery mocks and reverses God’s loving speech.” Lovespeech communicates “in ways that preserve and nourish the freedom and dignity of people addressed.” Sorcery, robs people of their dignity. Cox sees three forms of sorcery as it exists in modern practice: propaganda, advertising, and complexification.
Of these forms of modern word-sorcery, advertising is especially insidious. Advertising plays on the anxieties that plague people, especially in America. TV watchers and internet users in America are out of shape, isolated, lonely, and sedentary. And they (we Americans) know it. Because we see the emptiness of our own lives, advertisers use beer, shampoo, potato chips, diet plans, dating services, video games, cars, and 1000 other products as ways to rescue us from our anxiety. The anxiety makes us vulnerable and into the space our own insecurity has carved out, advertisers convince us to spend money we don’t have on products we don’t want or need, products that won’t deliver what the advertiser promised. Sorcery is the right word for it.
Christians are to speak and listen to lovespeech. Note the difference. Sorcery deceives and seduction uses. In sorcery, humans – God’s image bearers – are pillaged. In seduction, God’s image bearers are used as tools. In lovespeech, God’s image bearers are given dignity and helped to flourish.
Cox and the other authors in A Common Word urge Muslims and Christians in the world to work for human flourishing by focusing on love of God and love of neighbor. Love is essential in bringing together the billions of adherents to these faiths. Beyond the scope of A Common Word, love softens the hearts of Buddhists and Hindus, Jews and Mormons to one another.
And in the topic that has been my focus in these blog posts – race relations and Christianity - love is the foundation. No attempts at justice or reconciliation will be successful without love.
So, put the question to yourself as you become intention about your own speech. Let this be an exercise in the day ahead. Does your speech promote the dignity of the one to whom you speak? Do your words reveal that you are trying to use that person the way a plumber uses a wrench or other tool? Is your speech lovespeech, speech that helps the other flourish? Or, when you talk, is the other being manipulated, led down paths that will lead to his destruction? Put your own speech to the test. Jesus, the World made Flesh is our guide and our standard. May the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths be acceptable in his holy sight.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A Common Word" arose from a statement put together by a number of Muslim leaders from around the world in late 2007. It was written to Christians to start a dialogue on the basis of a common understanding that we -- Christians and Muslims -- are called to love God and to love our neighbors.
That was followed by the "Yale Response," signed by a diverse group of Christian scholars and leaders acknowledging differences but embracing the shared understanding of our love relationship with God and with our neighbors.
This book contains both statements, along with related essays and FAQs.
In his foreword, Tony Blair writes, "The shared commandments to love God and to love one's neighbour are at the core of both religions."
I was glad to see that the "Commentary on the Yale Response" didn't let that go unchallenged.
"To say that something is 'at the heart' of the Christian faith is not to say that it is the heart of the Christian faith. For the Christian, Jesus Christ is the undisputed heart of faith," the authors point out.
Both sides acknowledge that, although the religions share important things in common, they are very different from each other. But as significant as those differences are, they don't provide any reason for Muslims and Christians not to live in harmony with one another.
Sadly, we've failed to achieve that harmony. I don't know if an assessment has been done more recently to see if "A Common Word" turned out to be merely an academic exercise or if it effected real change in relationships between members of the two religions.
On the surface, it's hard to see that there has been much positive change. The Voice of the Martyrs organization chronicles numerous instances of Christians being persecuted today by Muslims in places such as northern Nigeria (see perseuction.com). Meanwhile, fear of Muslims "taking over" is frequently cited as the reason when people in the United States explain their opposition to allowing immigrants and/or refugees into the country.
I approached "A Common Word" with trepidation, thinking I would be led deep into the theological weeds. There's a little of that in one or two of the essays, but for the most part the writing is straight-forward and would be easily comprehended by anyone with a high school education.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but overly academic and a little disappointing.

The book was based off a 2007 letter and response between leading Muslim and Christian leaders. It was an attempt to promote peace and dialogue between the two faiths on how to love one another better.

The problem is that the book is deeply academic. It’s not hard to see why deep progress wasn’t made when the book was written for academics and theologians instead of lay people. I love the idea behind the work, but I was disappointed.

It’s hard to not evaluate the book based on what it has accomplished over 10 years later, but that might be unfair.

[Michelle Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the message, but the book was very repetitive and inaccessible.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Common Word: Muslims and Christians on Loving God and Neighbor is a summary collection of responses, both Muslim and Christian, to the Muslim October 2007 letter, "A Common Word Between Us and You", which called Christians and Muslims back to a common appreciation for the shared understanding of both religions to love God and love our neighbors.

The essays included in this book, responding to the October 2007 letter and a subsequent Christian community response, provide a reflective space for Christian and Muslim leaders to teach from in their respective communities and to help their respective communities reach out in neighborliness to one another.

It is a book for peace builders who recognize real and substantial religious differences, and a model of two-community dialogue on seeking common heart and ground.

It is also an unfinished text. The dialogue needs to broaden and deepen between Muslims and Christians, hopefully with shared projects and practices that help us live as better neighbors. The dialogue needs to broaden and deepen to bring together multiple faith partners from many religions, and especially Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Baha'i.

Christianity is more diverse than the essays included in the text would lead readers unfamiliar with Christianity to believe. Readers both from traditions consistent from what is presented and from other traditions have their own work intrareligiously, and I hope will carry the conversation and work forward, among christian communities and with multifaith community development and growing peace. Striving and working in multifaith understanding and community teaches us valuable ways of relating to one another when christian disagreements are sources of dissension and tension.

Although women religious leaders participated in the Yale Common Word conference, their voices are largely absent. Yet I hope that this Common Word conversation can be picked up and carried by all religious leaders (officially recognized and unofficially, laity and ordained, depending on the tradition) with one another, building lasting communities of peace and care.

I recommend the text for communities wishing to develop and even to begin Muslim-Christian dialogue and community work together. I also recommend the text for "Neighboring Faiths" youth and adult programs. The texts are written for those with some significant religious training, but taken slowly, open-heartedly, and with religious teachers from the represented traditions to reflect with folks, it is accessible.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is indeed an intriguing read and for Muslim and Christian alike, revealing much about each faith--both in terms of similarity and distinctions. I have found the book a great dialogue point with my colleauges as it does not ultimately back down from the differences between the two faiths. Indeed, even in understanding what it means to love God and to love one's neighbour is nuaced differently by Muslim and Christian contributor. And, most significantly, the discussion of whether God's love is a primary or derivative attribute is critical to understanding distinctions between the faiths.

In the end, what I appreciate most about the book is that it is not filled with ecumencial "mumbo jumbo." It is a work of leaders from both religions who are truly committed to their own faith and to foundational orthodox positions within their community (for Christians, it should be duely noted that we are speaking of Protestant theology as opposed to Catholicism). The number and diversity of signators to the Common Word framework from both religions is also impressive--the reader might want to begin there to see signators with whom they are familiar.

[Mitchell26 McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that history looks back upon and sees that if we had only listened there would have been no crisis event. Let's not have that event. Read this book.