Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Miroslav Volf is director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School. His other books include Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation.

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A Common Word

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Contents

Foreword, by Tony Blair.........................................................................................................................................................................ixPreface.........................................................................................................................................................................................xiiOn "A Common Word Between Us and You" H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan...............................................................................................................3A Common Word for a Common Future Miroslav Volf................................................................................................................................................18A Common Word Between Us and You................................................................................................................................................................28Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to "A Common Word Between Us and You" with added commentary by Miroslav Volf, Joseph Cumming, and Melissa Yarrington.....................51Loving God and Loving Neighbor Habib Ali al-Jifri..............................................................................................................................................79God, "The Loving" Reza Shah-Kazemi.............................................................................................................................................................88The Word of God: The Bridge between Him, You, and Us Seyyed Hossein Nasr.......................................................................................................................110The Concept of Loving Neighbor in the Qur}an and Hadith His Excellency Judge Bola Abdul Jabbar Ajibola.........................................................................................118God Is Love: Biblical and Theological Reflections on a Foundational Christian Claim Miroslav Volf..............................................................................................125Understanding the Meaning of Love: Eternal or Temporal? Self-Giving or Gift-Giving? Joseph L. Cumming..........................................................................................143Transforming Love David Burrell, C.S.C.........................................................................................................................................................153Loving Neighbor in Word and Deed: What Jesus Meant David Burrell, C.S.C........................................................................................................................157Love and Speech: With Remarks on Seduction and Sorcery Harvey Cox..............................................................................................................................162Frequently Asked Questions That Muslims Have Been Asked about "A Common Word" Ghazi bin Muhammad and Aref Nayed................................................................................171Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Yale Response to "A Common Word Between Us and You" Andrew Saperstein, Rick Love, and Joseph Cumming.......................................178Common Word, Dialogue, and the Future of the World Senator John F. Kerry.......................................................................................................................193Appendix 1: The Addressees and Signatories of "A Common Word Between Us and You"................................................................................................................201Appendix 2: The Signatories of the Yale Response, "Loving God and Neighbor Together"............................................................................................................214Contributors....................................................................................................................................................................................238

Chapter One

On "A Common Word Between Us and You"

H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan

"A Common Word Between Us and You" was launched on October 13th 2007 initially as an open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars and intellectuals (including such figures as the Grand Muftis of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Bosnia, Russia, and Istanbul) to the leaders of the Christian churches and denominations of the entire world, including His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. In essence it proposed, based on verses from the Holy Qur}an and the Holy Bible, that Islam and Christianity share, at their core, the twin "golden" commandments of the paramount importance of loving God and loving one's neighbor. Based on this joint common ground, it called for peace and harmony between Christians and Muslims worldwide.

Introduction: The Birth of "A Common Word"

In the middle of the eastern Jordanian desert, in a place called Safawi, miles away from anything, from any landmark or any human traces, there stands a unique, solitary tree. This tree is around 1500 years old and there are no other trees to be seen for dozens of miles in any direction. Despite its age and breadth, it is only about 6-8 meters tall. It is a butum tree, a kind of pistachio tree found in Jordan and surrounding countries, and it was under this particular butum tree that "A Common Word" was born. For in September 2007, one month before the launch of "A Common Word," I had the privilege of visiting this tree twice—once in the company of a number of the scholars behind the "Common Word" initiative—and it was under this tree that we prayed to God (or at least I did) to grant "A Common Word" success.

In what follows, we will endeavor to outline the reasons why the Common Word initiative was so necessary at this time in history by describing the current state of Muslim-Christian relations, the causes for tension between these two religious communities, and the subsequent concerns for the future. After this background, we will describe the goals and motives for launching "A Common Word"; explain what we did not intend by this initiative; discuss the reasons for primarily engaging religious leadership; and, finally, summarize the initial results.

Background: The Current State of Muslim-Christian Relations

In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there surfaced various influential political theories regarding the future of the world, including Samuel Huntington's 1993 thesis of a Clash of Civilizations, Francis Fukayama's The End of History and the Last Man, written in 1992, and Robert Kaplan's seminal article The Coming Anarchy of February 1994. In this article, Kaplan uses the image of a luxury car driving one way on a highway and a stream of destitute refugees walking the other way to suggest that while one part of the world is moving comfortably and prosperously forward, much of the rest of the world is suffering horribly and disintegrating due to poverty, disease, crime, conflict, tribalism, overpopulation, and pollution. Assessing each of these theories can help us better understand...