I’m late to the party on this one, but if you haven’t done so already, you need to read the exchange of letters between Muslim and Christian clergy and scholars:
- A Common Word Between Us and You, by the Muslim scholars, emphasized that the three Abrahamic faiths share a common ground in (what Christians call) the Great Commandment and Summary of the Law: Love God above all, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The Muslims take note of Jesus’ remark that “he who is not against us is on our side” (Mark 9.40; Luke 9.50); they ask that Christians consider Muslims to be with them, not against them.
(With reference to Jesus’ apparently-contrary saying in Matthew, the Muslims quote an 11th century Greek Orthodox scholar as arguing that in context, Jesus was referring to Beelzebub and other demons when he said that “He who is not [Greek: The one not being] with me is against me, and he who does not gather [Greek: the one not gathering] with me scatters abroad” (see Matt. 12.26-30).)
- Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You “receive[s] the open letter as a Muslim hand of conviviality and cooperation extended to Christians world-wide. In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors.”
The Episcopal Cafe has more about A Common Word, as well as about A Christian Response and about the positive responses by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the president of the Lutheran World Federation.
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