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Christian-Muslim Encounter: The Theological Dimension*
Winter/Spring 2013
This course explores the complexity of Christian and Muslim theological interpretation of each other, and of themselves in light of the other, in various times and contexts. Students will examine the themes, genres, and strategies of Christian-Muslim theological engagement from the 7th century CE to the present, with particular attention to the 21st-century dialogue of Christian and Muslim scholars known as the Building Bridges seminars. Thus, this course will facilitate what Francis Clooney means by comparative theology: an endeavor which “combines tradition-rooted theological concerns with actual study of another tradition.” And, following John Renard, it will define theological concerns broadly: including, of course, understandings of God, revelation, and the divine-human economy; but also the “panoply of texts and images and the various modes of interpreting them; ways of reasoning and analysis of human ‘religious’ experience; modes of expression, whether verbal or visual, of that experience; and the host of institutional and cultural developments that have formed the settings and contexts for all such interpretation, processing, and expression.”
Wednesdays, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, February 6, February 20, March 13, April 3 & April 24. (Make-up date: May 1) plus online sessions, in 60 Lorraine Conference Hall
Downloads:
Books:
Required texts:
The main textbook for this course is John Renard’s Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective (University of California Press, 2011). Buy now
Excerpts from the following books will also be assigned:
Building Bridges Seminar Sourcebooks, 2003-2013 (selections). [Available as PDFs at http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/networks/building_bridges.]
Ipgrave, Michael, ed. Bearing the Word: Prophecy in Biblical and Qur’ānic Perspective. Church House Publishing, 2005. (Available in paperback; also available for free download at http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/05IpgraveBearingtheWord.pdf).
Ipgrave, Michael, ed. Justice & Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown University Press, 2009. (Available in paperback; also available for free download at http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/09IpgraveJusticeandRightsCombinedExcerpts.pdf).
Ipgrave, Michael, ed. Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims studying the Bible and the Qur’an together. Church House Publishing, 2004. (Available in paperback; also available for free download at http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/04IpgraveScripturesinDialogue.pdf)
Marshall, David, ed. Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation, and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam. Georgetown University Press, 2011. (Available in paperback; also available for free download at http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/1112MarshallCommunicatingWordRevelationTranslationInterpretationChristianityIslamExcerpts.pdf)
Other short items may be assigned as well, and will be made available on line or on reserve in the library.
Recommended reading:
A Common Word Between Us and You (2007), www.acommondword.com; and, at least one of the official Christian responses to A Common Word
Ayoub, Mahmoud M. A Muslim View of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue, edited by Irfan A. Omar. Orbis, 2007.
Ayoub, Mahmoud M. Islam: Faith and History. Oneworld, 2004 [NB: Required of students with lacking prior knowledge of the basics of the history, beliefs and practices of Islam.]
Goddard, Hugh. A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. New Amsterdam Books, 2000.
Hart, David Bentley. The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 years of the Christian Faith. Quercus, 2011. [NB: Required of students with lacking prior knowledge of the basics of the history, beliefs and practices of Christianity.]
Ipgrave, Michael and David Marshall, eds. Humanity: Texts and Contexts: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown University Press, 2011. (http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/11IpgraveHumanityTextsContextsCombinedExcerpts.pdf).
Ipgrave, Michael, ed. Building a Better Bridge: Muslim, Christians, and the Common Good. Georgetown University Press, 2008. (http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/08IpgraveBuildingaBetterBridge.pdf)
Ipgrave, Michael. The Road Ahead: A Christian-Muslim Dialogue. Church House Publishing, 2002. (http://repository.berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/02IpgraveTheRoadAhead.pdf)
Michel, Thomas F., S. J. A Christian View of Islam: Essays on Dialogue, edited by Irfan. A. Omar. Orbis, 2010.
See also online resources such as the proceedings of the Georgetown-Campion Hall seminars on “Christian Theological Engagement with Islam”: http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/subprojects/georgetown-campion-hall-seminars.