Saturday, April 25, 2015

Colleagues List, April 26th, 2015

Vol. X.  No. 37

*****

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net

Colleagues List Web Site:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com

"Quicklinks" are included with many items
at the beginning of this issue. To get a more
complete picture, however, scroll down to
find your special selection in the body of
the blog.


*****

Colleague Philip Jenkins has written an
insightful study of how World War 1
was a religious crusade with major
implications for subsequent history.

That book comes out in paperback this
week and I am pleased to provide you
with some background to reading it.

My Special Item is a book notice entitled:

"The Great and Holy War - How World War One
  Became a Religious Crusade"

http://tinyurl.com/mtwhotl
http://tinyurl.com/cs4tjg

Please scroll down to read the background info
and my thoughts
 
-

Colleague Contributions -

Harry Winter (St. Paul MN) reports
"Cardinal Francis George OMI, Dies"
  http://tinyurl.com/puhztmy

Harry's Bio of the cardinal can
be found in "Oblate Missiologists"
Scroll down in online book to page 65
http://tinyurl.com/knqp5et

--

Lorna Dueck (Toronto ON) shares her
Globe and Mail column on a Supreme
Court public prayer ruling this week:

"No-Prayer Rule? a Godsend"
  http://tinyurl.com/nosu8zb

--

An Ontario Friend (Niagara Falls) 
sends two pieces on abortion and
pro life issues:

http://tinyurl.com/kdeu52q
http://tinyurl.com/ndop9fy

--

Martin Marty (Chicago IL)
Lutheran columnist Marty assesses why
Rome has stopped beating upon American
Catholic nuns:

"Vatican and Sisters"
  http://tinyurl.com/mjoskn6

--

Jim Taylor (Okanagan BC) writes on
how systems stifle progress:

"Systems Develop Their Own Inertia"
  http://tinyurl.com/qb3lsyk

--

Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio TX) comments
on Pope Francis' famous comment:

"Who Am I to Judge?" 
  http://tinyurl.com/lpg6opp

For their letters to me, and more information
please scroll down to part of the blog, below.

*****

Net Notes -

This week 12 themes caught my attention
and I am pleased to share them with you:

"Books for the Dark Night" - popular authors
share their suggestions for difficult times
(The Christian Century)
http://tinyurl.com/qa9phnw

"Shifting Canadian Culture" - how is the
church responding to rapidly changing
Canada today - here are 40 examples
(Christian Week online)
http://tinyurl.com/lehhc4p

"Francis and the Power of Humility" - the
pope has a special, symbolic way of dealing
with people and situations. Here is an
article and book review on the subject
(Aleteia and America Magazine)
http://tinyurl.com/paw5yu7
http://tinyurl.com/nklse4w

"China Cracks Down on Funeral Strippers" -
periodically, we discover interesting cultural
practices and share some for human interest
(UCA News) http://tinyurl.com/nr4z5mb
 

"Should We Have the Right to Blaspheme?" -
a major thorn in the side for many Muslims
is the western cultural practice to allow
blasphemy of the Divine. Here is an interesting
report on the topic (Sightings)
http://tinyurl.com/ozoqfy2

"Unification of Koreas Will Require Patience" -
a report on how South Koreans are preparing
for a future reconciliation with the North
(Radio Free Asia) http://tinyurl.com/kddpryb

"Horrendous Loss of Life in the Mediterranean" -
an important story this week was the tragic loss
of life of would-be escapees from North Africa to
Europe and mutual unpreparedness for this
(America Magazine, The Tablet, UK)
http://tinyurl.com/qj7k2y3
http://tinyurl.com/pkz7ra3

"Young American Muslims Building Community" -
an intriguing account of how young western
Muslims are moving outside the mosque to
build religious community (Good Magazine)
http://tinyurl.com/kunxwod

"Armenian Church Canonizes 1.5 Million Martyrs" -
to commemorate the tragedy that occurred for
Christian Armenians one hundred years ago at
the hands of Turks, this event took place this week
(The Tablet, UK) http://tinyurl.com/oe7hcqa

"More Martyrs - ISIS Executes Ethiopians in Libya" -
another sad story - this time involving Christians
from Ethiopia, particularly targeted because of their
faith; with Muslim scholars protesting the action
 (Christianity Today, The Christian Post)
http://tinyurl.com/myhp8fm
http://tinyurl.com/noo2bpy

"Canada Ranked Fifth Happiest Country on Planet" -
one of the reasons I am proud to be a Canadian
is reflected in this article. With blessing comes
responsibility, I hasten to add (CTV News)
http://tinyurl.com/lcfb2sl

"Holocaust Survivors Who Rebuilt in Canada Lauded"
- this is a not-unusual story, but their numbers are
decreasing through aging and death (Toronto Sun)
http://tinyurl.com/m9pjy7r

*****

Wisdom of the Week -

William James, Aung San Suu Kyi, Frederick Buechner,
Common Prayer, Thomas Merton and Nelson Mandela

- share their insights courtesy of Sojourners and
   the Bruderhof online services

Please scroll down to read them.

*****

On This Day -

- from the archives of the New York Times:

"American Author Mark Twain Dies"
  http://tinyurl.com/2g8eqa

*****

Closing Thought -  is by one of our favourite
colleague writers, Richard Rohr

Scroll to the end of the blog to read him.

(end)

Interested in keeping up with our
programs for autumn? Scroll to the
end of the blog.

Our Fall Program Planning Begins -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's United
and at the University of Calgary


*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

THE GREAT AND HOLY WAR
How World War I Became
a Religious Crusade
by Philip Jenkins

HarperOne, Toronto.
Paperback Edition, April 28/15
438 pages. $20.00 CAD.
ISBN #978-0-06-210514-1

Publisher's Promo:

The Great and Holy War offers the first look
at how religion created and prolonged the
First World War. At the one-hundredth
anniversary of the outbreak of the war,
historian Philip Jenkins reveals the powerful
religious dimensions of this modern-day
crusade, a period that marked a traumatic
crisis for Western civilization, with effects
that echoed throughout the rest of the
twentieth century.

The war was fought by the world's leading
Christian nations, who presented the conflict
as a holy war. Thanks to the emergence of
modern media, a steady stream of patriotic
and militaristic rhetoric was given to an
unprecedented audience, using language
that spoke of holy war and crusade, of
apocalypse and Armageddon. But this
rhetoric was not mere state propaganda.

Jenkins reveals how the widespread belief
in angels and apparitions, visions and the
supernatural was a driving force throughout
the war and shaped all three of the major
religions-Christianity, Judaism and Islam -
paving the way for modern views of religion
and violence. The disappointed hopes and
moral compromises that followed the war
also shaped the political climate of the rest
of the century, giving rise to such phenomena
as Nazism, totalitarianism, and communism.
Connecting numerous remarkable incidents
and characters-from Karl Barth to Carl Jung,
the Christmas Truce to the Armenian Genocide -
Jenkins creates a powerful and persuasive
narrative that brings together global politics,
history, and spiritual crisis as never before and
shows how religion informed and motivated
circumstances on all sides of the war.

--

Author's Words:

The First World War was a thoroughly religious
event, in the sense that overwhelmingly Christian
nations fought each other in what many viewed as
a holy war, a spiritual conflict. Religion is essential
to understanding the war...

However thoroughly Eurocentric the conflict might
appear, in the long term, it transformed not just
the Christianity of the main combatant nations,
but also other great faiths, especially Judaism and
Islam... The Great War redrew the world's religious
map as we know it today...

Advancing the nation's cause and interests is
indistinguishable from promoting God's cause...
the holy war framework defines attitudes to the
role of the armed forces and the conduct of combat
operations. That nation should broadly accept the
idea that military action has a sanctified character,
equal or superior to any of the other works approved
by that religion... we can confidently speak of a
powerful and consistent strain of holy war ideology
during the Great War years... all the main participant
nations placed Christ himself on the battle lines...
The war began as a clash of messianic visions...
(involving Muslims and Jews as well as Christians.)
For both sides, the Great War was a day and night
conflict against cosmic evil...

The German approach to the war still stands out
for its widespread willingness to identify the
nation's cause with God's will... However tempted
we may be to consider such militaristic pastors
to the demagogic fringe, we find near-identical
sentiments from some of Germany's greatest
thinkers and theologians, and this at a time when
the country could plausibly claim cultural and
spiritual leadership in the Christian world... holy
war views were advocated by some of the most
respected mainline clergy...

In modern times, radical Muslim clergy and
activists have often sighted religious justifications
for violence, to the extent that many Jews and
Christians even doubt that Islam is a religion,
rather than a militaristic doomsday cult. Yet,
Christian leaders in 1914 to 1918 likewise gave
an absolute religious underpinning to warfare
conducted by the states that were seen as
executing the will of God and they used well-known
religious terms to contextualize acts of violence...
both (Christians and Islamists) have shared a
common symbolism of sword and shield... such
ideas gave an overwhelming spiritual dimension
to worldly conflict and aroused expectations of
gigantic cosmic changes lying on the horizon...

(Apocalyptic ideas exercised a special power and
the common people were profoundly influenced
by these end times images. Images of Armageddon
messianic and millenarian developments underlay
the great revolutions that swept the world in the
immediate aftermath of the war to the extent that
often bypassed the mainline churches... for
example, totalitarianisms such as Nazism and
Communism, and this forced the Catholic and
Protestant churches to come to terms with a
new political world as the ancient church-state
alliance was widely replaced by new forms of
separation and independence.)

(This had a widespread impact as European religion
became a global phenomenon. Christianity, Judaism
and Islam had to adapt to a changing world brought
about by developments that emerged in the wake
of the Great War.)

--

Without appreciating its religious and spiritual
aspects, we cannot understand the First World
War. More important though, modern religious
history makes no sense except in the context of
that terrible conflict.

The war created our reality.

- from the Introduction

--

Author's Bio:

Philip Jenkins is in 2013 the Distinguished
Professor of History at Baylor University and
Co-Director for Baylor's Program on Historical
Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies
of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle Sparks
Professor of Humanities Emeritus at
Pennsylvania State University. He was
Professor and a Distinguished Professor
of History and Religious studies at the same
institution; and also assistant, associate and
then full professor of Criminal Justice and
American Studies at PSU, 1980–93.

Wikipedia Bio: http://tinyurl.com/cs4tjg

--


My Thoughts:

During the years 2014-18 many videos, books
and articles are appearing on the First World War
(WWI). These presentations take various themes,
but not many of them deal with the profound
subject of faith associated with that great conflict.

Jenkins' book "The Great and Holy War" elucidates
the religious and spiritual dimension of WWI in a
special way and is uniquely worthy of our attention
amid all the other available material.

Of considerable import is the way common Christian
and holy war themes were utilized by both sides
in the conflict. Because of significant questions
arising from that development in the early twentieth
century, a growing religious and secular peace
movement began to emerge. This movement
countered religious and secular justification for
war and violence to an extent that has grown,
not abated, into our own times.

The new atheist critique of religious involvement
in war and violence has prompted a serious
re-thinking of how religion engaged politics,
economics, etc. since WWI. Karen Armstrong's
book "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History
of Violence" - is one response. The current book
by Jenkins is another. From the reading of both
studies, it is not difficult to see how closely religion
and warfare have been integrated and implicated
into our modern experience.

Three of the world's great religions - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam - were drawn into serious
conflict as a result of that war. That led to larger
abuses in World War Two and the era following.
When Christians are quick to judge the Israelis
in the Palestinian conflict and so-called Muslim
terrorism today, we need not look back that far
into history to see very scary skeletons in our
own closet.

Another important discovery for me has been the
way the great religions have been forced to
rethink their role in the world as a result of what
WWI prompted. Finding a common, constructive
religious response to the past evils we supported, 
is a redemptive way to engage the future.

Lessons learned from WWI and its interpreters
like Philip Jenkins can set faith-based people
from many traditions and around the world
on a new and constructive course in the service
of humanity.

Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/mtwhotl

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Harry Winter
St. Paul, MN

OMI  News US Province
April 21st, 2017

"Cardinal Francis George Dies"
  http://tinyurl.com/puhztmy

April 21st, 2015

Dear Wayne:

I suspect that as vicar general of the Oblates
from 1974-86, Francis spent a lot of time in
Canada.  To get those dates, you probably have
to go to your Canadian Oblate sources. And of
course he did most of his seminary studies at
Ottawa, where he probably became fluent in
French.

Harry

Harry's Bio of the cardinal can
be found in "Oblate Missiologists"

Scroll down in online book to page 65
http://tinyurl.com/knqp5et

--

Lorna Dueck
Toronto, ON.

Globe and Mail
April 20th, 2015

"No Prayer Rule a Godsend"
  http://tinyurl.com/nosu8zb

--

Ontario Friend
Niagara Falls, ON

April 22nd, 2015

Dear Wayne:

I thought this article from Christianity Today
might interest you.  In fact, I even wondered
if you might want to review the book, especially
since Stackhouse is a fellow Canadian.

Editor's Note:

I will  look into it. Thanks for the tip.

Wayne

Review of:

Beyond the Abortion Wars:
A Way Forward for a New Generation

Christianity Today
April 22nd, 2015

"Why the Time is Ripe
  for Pro-Life Reform"

Written by Colleague
John G. Stackhouse, Jr.
Vancouver

Article Intro Only
http://tinyurl.com/ndop9fy

--

Martin Marty
Chicago. IL

Sightings
April 20th, 2015

"Vatican and Sisters"
  http://tinyurl.com/mjoskn6

--

Jim Taylor
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Site
April 20th, 2015

"Systems Develop Their Own Inertia"
  http://tinyurl.com/qb3lsyk

__

Ron Rolheiser
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Log
April 20th, 2015

"Who Am I to Judge?" 
  http://tinyurl.com/lpg6opp


*****

NET NOTES

BOOKS FOR THE DARK NIGHT
Suggestions from Authors

The Christian Century
April 20th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/qa9phnw

--

SHIFTING CANADIAN CULTURE
How is the Church Responding?
World Vision Study Published

Christian Week Online
April 23rd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/lehhc4p

--

FRANCIS AND THE POWER OF HUMILITY
He Offers Us All a Model of Behaviour

Aleteia
April 23rd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/paw5yu7

"A Church that Can Change"
  Review of New Book by Gary Wills

America Magazine
April 27th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/nklse4w

--

CHINA CRACKS DOWN
ON FUNERAL STRIPPERS
A Custom in Rural Areas

UCA News
April 24th, 2014

http://tinyurl.com/nr4z5mb

--

SHOULD WE HAVE
THE RIGHT TO BLASPHEME?
Charlie Hebdo's Haunting Question

Sightings,
April 23rd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/ozoqfy2

--

UNIFICATION OF KOREAS
WILL REQUIRE PATIENCE
South Korea Will Need to
Demonstrate Magnanimity

Radio Free Asia
April 21st, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/kddpryb

--

HORRIFIC LOSS OF LIFE
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
Appeal to the EU

America Magazine
April 22nd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/qj7k2y3

Italy Calls On Europe for Help -
"They are Men and Women Like Us"

The Tablet, UK
http://tinyurl.com/pkz7ra3

--

YOUNG AMERICAN MUSLIMS
BUILDING COMMUNITY
"Don't Call it a Mosque"

Good Magazine
April 16th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/kunxwod

--

ARMENIAN CHURCH CANONIZES
1.5 MILLION MARTYRS
Turkish Genocide Remembered

The Tablet, UK
April 24th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/oe7hcqa

--

MORE MARTYRS - ISIS EXECUTES
ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANS IN LIBYA

Christianity Today
April 20th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/myhp8fm

"Muslim Scholars Decry Slaughter"
 Acts Go 'Beyond All Religion'

The Christian Post
April 22nd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/noo2bpy

--

CANADA RANKED FIFTH HAPPIEST
COUNTRY ON THE PLANET

CTV News
April 23rd, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/lcfb2sl

--

HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS WHO
REBUILT IN CANADA, LAUDED
They Turned Tragedy into Success

Toronto Sun
April 19th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/m9pjy7r

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

Provided by Sojourners
and Bruderhof online:

The art of being wise
is knowing what to overlook.

- William James


--

A revolution which aims merely at changing
official policies and institutions with a view to
an improvement in material conditions has little
chance of genuine success. Without a revolution
of the spirit, the forces which produced the
iniquities of the old order would continue to
be operative, posing a constant threat to the
process of reform and regeneration.

- Aung San Suu Kyi

--

In honesty you have to admit to a wise man that
prayer is not for the wise, not for the prudent, not
for the sophisticated. Instead it is for those who
recognize that in face of their deepest needs, all
their wisdom is quite helpless. It is for those who
are willing to persist in doing something that is
both childish and crucial.
 
- Frederick Buechner

--

Though you are worthy of trumpets and the song
of angels, you graciously receive our daily prayers
of whispered words and mundane habits. Enable us,
Lord, to love you with all that we are and in all that
we do. Teach us how we might truly pray without
ceasing. Amen.

- Common Prayer

--

The duty of the Christian as a peacemaker is not
to be confused with a kind of quietistic inertia
that is indifferent to injustice, accepts any kind
of disorder, compromises with error and with evil,
and gives in to every pressure in order to maintain
“peace at any price.” The Christian knows well, or
should know well, that peace is not possible on
such terms. Peace demands the most heroic labor
and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater
heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to
the truth and a much more perfect purity of
conscience.

- Thomas Merton

--

It always seems impossible until it's done.

- Nelson Mandela

*****

ON THIS DAY

From the archives of the Ne York Times

"American Author Mark Twain Dies"
  http://tinyurl.com/2g8eqa

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Richard Rohr

Every time God forgives us, God is saying that
God's own rules do not matter as much as the
relationship that God wants to create with us.


(end)

*****

Our Fall Program Planning Begins -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's United
and at the University of Calgary:


ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS'
SPECIAL 2015 SIXTEEN DAY TOUR


"Jerusalem and the Land of Three Great Faiths"
  October 16th - 31st, 2015


http://tinyurl.com/plg4sgo

Hardcopy tour details brochure
is available at the church


Tour Company: Rostad Tours Calgary
Tour Hosts: Wayne and Marlene Holst
Sponsored by: St. David's ACTS Ministry
Endorsed by: St. David's Church Council


Talk with or write to Marlene and Wayne
(403-286-7416)waholst@telus.net
marleneaholst@gmail.com

This tour is filled up with 30 registrants.
Waiting List is open.


*****


Saturday, April 18, 2015

Colleagues List, April 19th, 2015

Vol. X.  No. 36

*****

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net

Colleagues List Web Site:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com

"Quicklinks" are included with many items
at the beginning of this issue. To get a more
complete picture, however, scroll down to
find your special selection in the body of
the blog.


*****

Dear Colleagues:

I continue a Special Item theme begun
last week and provide a book notice for:

"Islam's Jesus" by Zeki Saritoprak

Zeki visited our church in early December
and now his book has appeared in a much
more economic paperback edition.
http://tinyurl.com/pjfrkaq
http://tinyurl.com/kuc5wjo

I hope you will consider this one because
it should help to expand two and three-way
dialogue among the religions of Jerusalem.

Please scroll down to read my notice.

--

Colleague Contributions - this week are:

Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio TX) who writes:
"Principles for Interfaith
  Dialogue and Attitudes"
  http://tinyurl.com/onf8ztp

Martin Marty (Chicago, IL) introduces the book:
"Billy Graham - America's Pastor"
  http://tinyurl.com/od9m2ua

John G. Stackhouse Jr. (Vancouver, BC)
attempts to explain a major shift in thinking:
"Evangelicals, LGTBQ+ and the Bible -
  What's Been Going On?"
  http://tinyurl.com/mvfhczr

Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC) challenges us with:
"Do You Hear What I Think?"
  http://tinyurl.com/o6zmhup

--

Net Notes - 10 themes this week include:

"U of C Tragedy - One Year Later" -
  this past Wednesday, the campus celebrated
  the end of classes, and remembered in a
  very positive way what happened in 2014
  (UToday) http://tinyurl.com/ogo6h5z

"Second Tibetan Sets Self Ablaze" - for the
  second time within weeks, a Tibetan set
  himself afire to protest Chinese domination
  (Radio Free Asia) http://tinyurl.com/mxajn6u

"Life and Spirituality of Ste. Kateri" - this
  is a good time to remember and reflect on
  the life of a First Nation woman who has
  been canonized in Rome (Canadian Council
  of Catholic Bishops)  http://tinyurl.com/n6fevsp

"Global Decline of Atheism, Agnosticism" -  
  the Pew world religion survey has turned 
  up interesting information on unbelief
  (Christian Week Online)
   http://tinyurl.com/l8y4bej

 
"Pope Remembers Armenian 'Genocide'" -
  Francis provoked controversy in Turkey and
  a rebuff from the country's leadership
  (America Magazine, Catholic News Agency)
  http://tinyurl.com/ouw996x
  http://tinyurl.com/mwc4chb
 

"Palestinian Christians' Nine Year Battle" -
  the resentment fostered by the wall
  erected by the Israelis has not deminished
  (The Tablet, UK) http://tinyurl.com/m6vjyvw
 

"China Fears Losing Tibetan Propaganda War" -
  for the first time, China is giving evidence
  that global support for Tibet and the Dalai
  Lama is having an affect (UCA News)
  http://tinyurl.com/lyehobm
 

"First Nations' University Pow Wow Attracts
  Thousands" - there is growing general
   popularity for Native celebrations in
   cities like Regina (CTV Regina)
   http://tinyurl.com/pnuel3q
 

"How Christians Turned Against
  Gay Conversion Therapy" - a revealing story
  about a major shift in conservative Christian
  attitudes to gay people (The Atlantic Online)
  http://tinyurl.com/kn8z96q
 

"Francis Envisions Non-Judging,
  Non-Condemning Church" - the pope is
  putting his stamp on a major image-change
  for the Roman Catholic Church in our time
  (National Catholic Reporter)
   http://tinyurl.com/ndy4ebc


*****

Wisdom of the Week - thanks to Sojourners and
the Bruderhof online we learn from:

Anne Sexton, Swami Sivananda, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Betty Williams, Søren Kierkegaard, Simone Weil and
Dorothy Day

To read them, please scroll down.

--

On This Day - comes to us from the archives of
The New York Times:

"Titanic Sinks off Newfoundland"
  http://tinyurl.com/m7sh67b


"Lincoln Assassinated in Washington"
  http://tinyurl.com/dfzm5s


"Disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba"
  http://tinyurl.com/lcsx8ja

 
--

Closing Thought - Noam Chomsky

To read him, please scroll to the end of the blog.

(end)

As we start to build our new program,
please follow us by reading to the end
of the blog.

Our Fall Program Planning Begins -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's United
and at the University of Calgary


*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

ISLAM'S JESUS
by Zeki Saritoprak
University Press of Florida
Paperback edition, April 2015
222 pages. $28.95 CAD
ISBN #978-0-8130-6178-8

Publisher's Promo:

Accessible and readable. Spotlights an
important theological theme in a way that
both illuminates its internal development
in Islamic thought and presents it as a
helpful basis for interreligious discussion.

The topic is very much in need of teaching
and discussion and is a fine example of
'common ground. "--John Renard, author
of Islam and Christianity "Contains valuable
and fascinating material about how classical
Muslim theologians treated various aspects
of Jesus and, in particular, the role of Jesus
in Islamic eschatology. 

"Saritoprak brings new insights from
contemporary Turkish thinkers to bear
on the issues raised by the Jesus figure in
Islamic narratives about the Last Days."

--Marcia Hermansen, author of Shah Wali
Allah's Treatises on Islamic Law. 

"A refreshingly easy read that makes a
complex world of theology and interfaith
relations accessible and enjoyable for
readers of all backgrounds."

--Jonathan Brown, author of Hadith: Muhammad's
Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World.

Few people realize that Jesus was a prominent
messenger of God in Islam and that Muslims
believe in the return of Jesus. Even among
Muslims, it is not well known that there are
diverse interpretations of references to Jesus
in the Qur'an and the Hadith. Aiming to remedy
this, Islam's Jesus takes a bold yet candid look
at the highly charged topic of Jesus's place in
Islam, exploring some of the religion's least
understood aspects.

Examining multiple intellectual traditions,
Zeki Saritoprak makes clear the reality of
pluralism in the history of Islamic religious
scholarship. Actively engaged in efforts to
promote interfaith dialogue and harmony,
Saritoprak thoughtfully argues that the
shared belief in Jesus presents an excellent
opportunity for understanding between
Muslims and Christians. Together, they
constitute more than half of the world's
population, and such understanding may
be a foundation for peace.

--

Author's Words:

This book explores one of the most important
themes of Islamic Theology: Jesus and his
role in this tradition. Not many people in the
West comprehend how Jesus is understood
by Muslims generally, nor do they understand
the role of Jesus in the Qur'an.

Only about 10% in my audiences know that
Jesus was a prominent messenger of God in
Islam. Only about 2% know that Muslims
believe in Jesus' eschatological descent or
the return of Jesus (his second coming).

The media coverage of Raza Aslan's book
"Zealot", which equates Aslan's Jesus with
Islam's Jesus, drives home my point further.
His book is about the historical Jesus, and
has nothing to do with Islam's Jesus, who
I hope to show in this book is, in reality, not
at all dissimilar from Christianity's Jesus.

Even among Muslims it is not well known that
there are diverse interpretations of references
to Jesus in the Qur'an and the Hadith.

The present work aims to illuminate Islam's
rich theological engagement with the figure
of Jesus. Work of this nature can lay the
groundwork for Muslim-Christian dialogue.

- from the Introduction

--

Author's Bio:

Zeki Saritoprak is associate professor in the
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
and the Beddiüzaman Said Nursi Chair in Islamic
Studies at John Carroll University, Cleveland OH. 

He is the author of numerous works on Islamic
theology in English, Turkish, and Arabic.

--

My Thoughts:

There is nothing like hearing the author of a
book like this introduce his arguments in
person, and engaging in debate with his
audience. Several months ago I had the
opportunity to do this when Zeki Saritoprak
spoke to a group of about 60 people (many
of whom were Muslim) in the church I serve
and attend in Calgary.

My notes from Zeki's presentation were
shared in last week's Colleagues List:
http://tinyurl.com/kuc5wjo

The author attempts to approach Jesus
theologically, and from a Muslim perspective,
but with the primary intent of encouraging
dialogue with Christians.

In that regard, it does not require a
three-way discussion which would include
Jews, but Jews would certainly be welcome
to participate.

The book is written so that both Christians
and Muslims can understand it. It is not
so much a comparative scripture study,
or a religious studies presentation as it
is an attempt to simplify the process of
gleaning key theological insights about
Jesus, found in the Qur'anic tradition,
so that at least Muslims and Christians
understand Jesus better.

This exchange would differ from a dialogue
between Jews and Christians. We share a
similar biblical canon in the Hebrew Bible,
even though Jews do not accept the New
Testament as their sacred scripture.

When engaging Muslims, Christians will
encounter sacred texts with which they
are not familiar - the Qur'an and Hadith
(Muhammad's commentary on the Qur'an.)
Muslims, on the other hand, accept both
Hebrew and New Testaments as sacred;
only they believe their own scriptures
supersede them, just as Muhammad
supersedes Jesus as a prophet.

Of course, both Jews and Muslims do
not accept, as Christians do, that
Jesus is God. That would require quite
a different dialogue.

But after some of these ground rules
are laid out, there continues to be
much room for discussion and mutual
enlightenment on the subject of Jesus.

We will discover that, after centuries
of mutual isolation - indeed antagonism - 
we are entering an new era of mutual
engagement.

This approach is truly a pathfinder effort
in the potentially rich engagement of Muslims
and Christians. It should contribute greatly to
a rapprochement.

I encourage you to locate, read, and
share a copy of this important work.
__

Buy the book from Amazon.ca
http://tinyurl.com/pjfrkaq

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Ron Rolheiser
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site
April 13th, 2014

"Principles for Interfaith
  Dialogue and Attitudes"
  http://tinyurl.com/onf8ztp

--
 

Martin Marty
Chicago, IL

Sightings
April 13th, 2015

"Billy Graham -
  America's Pastor"
  http://tinyurl.com/od9m2ua

--

John G. Stackhouse Jr.
Vancouver, BC

Sightings
April 16th, 2015

"Evangelicals, LGTBQ+
  and the Bible -
  What's Been Going On?"
  http://tinyurl.com/mvfhczr

--

Jim Taylor
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
April 15th, 2015

"Do You Hear What I Think?"
  http://tinyurl.com/o6zmhup


*****

NET NOTES

U OF C TRAGEDY - ONE YEAR LATER
Students Celebrate, and Remember

UToday,
April 16th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/ogo6h5z

--

SECOND TIBETAN SETS SELF ABLAZE
Woman and Man Protest China Rule

Radio Free Asia
April 17th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/mxajn6u

--

LIFE AND SPIRITUALITY OF STE. KATERI
Mohawk Woman Kateri Tekakwitha
First Canonized Native Canadian 

Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops
April 15th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/n6fevsp

--

GLOBAL DECLINE OF ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM
Pew Religion Study Picks Up Important Trends

Christian Week Online
April 10th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/l8y4bej

--

POPE REMEMBERS 'GENOCIDE' OF ARMENIANS
Turkey Reacts Strongly to Sensitive Issue

America Magazine
April 12th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/ouw996x

"Background to the Armenian Conflict in Turkey"
 
Catholic News Agency
April 15th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/mwc4chb

--

PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS' NINE YEAR BATTLE
Struggling Against the Israeli Wall

The Tablet, UK
April 17th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/m6vjyvw

--

CHINA FEARS LOSING
TIBETAN PROPAGANDA WAR
International Support for
Dalai Lama Growing

UCA News
April 15th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/lyehobm

--

FIRST NATIONS UNIVERSITY
POW WOW ATTRACTS THOUSANDS
Annual Event Growing in Influence

CTV Regina
April 12th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/pnuel3q

--

HOW CHRISTIANS TURNED AGAINST
GAY CONVERSION THERAPY
A Titanic Shift from the Past

The Atlantic Online
April 15th, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/kn8z96q

--

FRANCIS ENVISIONS NON-JUDGING.
NON-CONDEMNING CHURCH
Jubilee Goals are Set High

National Catholic Reporter
April 112th, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/ndy4ebc

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.

- Anne Sexton

--

Work is the worship of the Lord. Do not make any
distinction between menial and respectable work.

- Swami Sivananda

--

There is no way to peace along the way of safety.
For peace must be dared, it is itself the great
venture and can never be safe. Peace is the
opposite of security. To demand guarantees is

to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving
oneself completely to God’s commandment,

wanting no security, but in faith and obedience
laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of
Almighty God, not trying to direct if for selfish
purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons,
but with God. They are won where the way leads
to the cross

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

--

There's no use talking about the problem
unless you talk about the solution.


 - Betty Williams

--

And this is the simple truth: that to live is to
feel oneself lost. He who accepts it has already
begun to find himself, to be on firm ground.

Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look
around for something to which to cling, and that

tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because
it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to
bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the
only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked.

All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce.


- Søren Kierkegaard

--

I cannot help wondering whether in these days
when so large a proportion of humanity is
submerged in materialism, God does not want
there to be some men and women who have given
themselves to him and to Christ and who yet remain
outside the church. What frightens me is the church
as a social structure.

And not only on account of its blemishes. Insofar

as the church is merely a social structure, it belongs
to the prince of this world... I do not want to be
adopted into another circle, another human milieu.
I want nothing else but obedience – even unto the
cross. That is the true haven, as you know: the cross.

- Simone Weil

--

It is when we love the most intensely and most
humanly that we can recognize how tepid is our
love for others. The keenness and intensity of
love brings with it suffering, of course, but joy
too because it is a foretaste of heaven. When
you love people, you see all the good in them,
all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, his son, 
in us. And so we should see Christ in others. 

- Dorothy Day

*****

ON THIS DAY
From the archives
of the New York Times


"Titanic Sinks off Newfoundland"
  http://tinyurl.com/m7sh67b


"Lincoln Assassinated in Washington"
  http://tinyurl.com/dfzm5s


"Disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba"
  http://tinyurl.com/lcsx8ja


*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Noam Chomsky

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.
Because unless you believe that the future can be
better, you are unlikely to step up and take
responsibility for making it so.


(end)

*****

Our Fall Program Planning Begins -
Autumn 2015 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's United
and at the University of Calgary:


ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS'
SPECIAL 2015 SIXTEEN DAY TOUR


"Jerusalem and the Land of Three Great Faiths"
  October 16th - 31st, 2015


http://tinyurl.com/plg4sgo

Hardcopy tour details brochure
is available at the church


Tour Company: Rostad Tours Calgary
Tour Hosts: Wayne and Marlene Holst
Sponsored by: St. David's ACTS Ministry
Endorsed by: St. David's Church Council


Talk with or write to Marlene and Wayne
(403-286-7416)
 
waholst@telus.net
marleneaholst@gmail.com

This tour is filled up with 30 registrants.
Waiting List is open.


*****