Challenging but not Necessarily Contradictory: Christian Learning from Christian-Muslim Dialogue

The 2019 ELCA Declaration of Inter-religious Commitments, like its predecessor the 1991 Declaration of Ecumenical Commitments, set forth broad based consideration for the engagement of ELCA Lutherans with other religious communities. Whereas the 1991 declaration centered on the unity of the Church based on a “sufficient” (satis est) understanding of the Gospel, the 2019 declaration provides little practical theological reflection on the implications for “sharing the good news” of the Gospel by “using words and deeds” with persons from different religious traditions. While this might be surprising or even alarming to some (as it was on the floor of the 2019 assembly), the document does not pre-judge the starting point of engagement with specific religious systems or traditions. Rather, the starting point rests on the Lutheran concept of vocation and the Christian’s calling to serve the neighbor in the world for the common good – physically, economically, and spiritually. The declaration indicates that Christian witness to other religious communities takes different forms at various times. However, the declaration asserts that Lutherans live with the tension between the dual calling of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, to make disciples and to serve the neighbor. What ties these two callings together is a vision that Lutheran theology must arise out of specific contexts and must be relational, that it has the well-being of the neighbor in mind. How does such a commitment look in the context of Christian-Muslim relations?

We must highlight that Christians do not engage with Muslims as representatives of systems – of Christianity and Islam. Rather, Christians engage with other human beings, individuals, and perhaps particular communities of Muslims. The 2010 Talking Points: Topics in Christian Muslim Relations prepared for the ELCA by the Consultative Panel on Lutheran–Muslim Relations remind us that there is no one simple theological formula to respond to all religions, or even to all Muslims. These Talking Points invite us into conversations amongst ourselves and with our Muslim neighbors, friends, and family members. There are, however, several basic considerations that can be highlighted in response to the framework of these inter-religious commitments as they relate to Lutheran-Muslim relations.

First, we are all creatures of the creator. We are all bound by the same finite created material tied together on this planet. We are stewards and viceregents within God’s creation. Second, we are bound together as citizens and visitors within the religious, cultural, and political realities of pluralist American society who seek a just society. Third, we each rely upon guidance of particular inspired or revealed “books” – the Bible and the Qur’an – along with their respective traditions, commentary, and received communal interpretations.

In this paper, I will briefly outline how Christians and Muslims stand on important common ground when it comes to the foundations of our calling to love and care for our world and our neighbors for the common good in the face of contemporary social and political realities of anti-Muslim bigotry and white Christian nationalism. However, the Qur’an also asks very fundamental questions about several classical Christian beliefs: the Trinity, the incarnation, and the crucifixion of Jesus. The Qur’anic claims and Christian responses are not theologically neutral. They are challenging but not necessarily contradictory. In addition, these theological challenges do not invalidate our common commitments to serve one another as humans and our current social, political, economic, or religious contexts. I will address the three contested Christian claims of God’s work in this world as I understand them from the message of the Qur’an, using the categories of Willem Bijlefeld from his important unpublished paper “Christian Witness in an Islamic Context.” This document was presented in 1986 as part of initial American Lutheran Theological Reflections on Christian-Muslim Dialog, the document that served as the genesis of the ELCA’s thinking about Christian-Muslim relations.