Journeys of the Muslim Nation and the Christian Church

Exploring the Mission of Two Communities

David W. Shenk, David Shenk

• Publisher: Herald Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780836192520
• eBook ISBN: 9780836197198
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Islam and Christianity seem to be at opposite and unbridgeable poles, both committed to world mission. Given the political tension and violent acts that sometimes surround these two major world religions, it is essential for both sides to understand the other—its history, beliefs, traditions, and vision for the future.This invaluable resource from David W. Shenk, an expert in comparative religious studies, examines Islam and Christianity at their deepest spiritual, cultural, and communal levels. It explores the similarities, and yet unavoidable differences found in Isaac and Ishmael, Jesus and Muhammad, the Bible and the Qur’an, Jerusalem and Medina, the Eucharist and the Hajj, the Church and the Ummah. Reflecting years of conversations and dialogue with Muslim friends, this is narrative theology, full of anecdote and personal experience that bridges the poles and builds understanding.

Part of the Christians Meeting Muslims series

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Different Journeys

“THE twin towers!” we heard our hostess gasp into her cell phone.

My wife, Grace, and I were in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The evening of September 11, 2001, we had just joined friends for a quiet dinner in a downtown restaurant when the news of the catastrophe in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania invaded our tranquillity.

Grief overwhelmed us. “This is about Jerusalem,” we surmised. It seemed to us that the faiths, histories, traditions, and ethnicities that meet and collide in Jerusalem were intertwined in this disaster.

Paradoxically, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, as is true of no other city, is the place of meeting for the shalom of Israel, the salaam of Islam, and the peace of the Gospel. Each of these three peace movements, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, trace their origins to Abraham, who was called by God to bless “all peoples on earth” (Gen. 12:3). The Zionist hope, the Christian church, and the Muslim nation all are inspired by a vision: peace to the nations. There are gracious touches of peace among Muslims, Christians, and Jews living as neighbors in Jerusalem. Yet there are also persistent, dangerous, and powerful theological, ethnic, and cultural undercurrents that are incipiently destructive. What has gone wrong?

Peacemaking

The way of peace is what we talked about in a seminar in Tashkent the day after the September 11 calamity. Friends took us to a basement room in a ramshackle tin and concrete labyrinth that was the first stages of a construction that would someday be a church facility. Seventy Uzbek or Russian pastors and church leaders were present in that basement. Probably all of them were only recently Christian; their backgrounds had been secular atheist or Muslim. It became a holy morning as we considered the different understandings and commitments to mission revealed in the peace of the Messiah and the peace of Islam within our world of conflict. We invested much of our day exploring what it means to be ambassadors of the Prince of Peace, whose peace is created through the cross. We remembered that two thousand years ago, the Messiah had sat on a colt overlooking Jerusalem and wept because that which brings peace “is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42).

In that Tashkent seminar we discerned that our approaches to peacemaking were grounded in our theologies. For example, twenty-three years earlier (1978), United States president Jimmy Carter (a Christian) had hosted Egyptian president Anwar Sadat (a Muslim) and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin (of the Jewish faith). They met at Camp David in Maryland for thirteen days to focus on peacemaking. Their first act of business was to call on the faith communities they represented to pray for peace. Carter had his Bible nearby during the negotiations, and he and Begin looked into portions of scriptures that they mutually accepted. Sadat persisted with the hope that someday Jews, Muslims, and Christians would meet at Mount Sinai as a commitment to an enduring peace. All three leaders recognized that the respective faith journeys of the peoples they represented profoundly informed the peace process.¹

The journey and mission for peace is treacherous. Anwar Sadat was assassinated just three years later, and another advocate for peace, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, was slain in 1995. Is such suffering a necessary dimension of peacemaking? This book explores a Muslim and Christian response to that question and the core theological foundations of the Muslim and Christian journeys and mission.

The Legacy of Abraham

Muslims, Christians, and Jews gather weekly in their mosques, churches, and synagogues to worship the God of Abraham. Each of these communities believes itself to be an expression of the faith and people of Abraham. The personal Creator God is the focus of worship and loyalty within each of these communities, but God is understood and revealed differently. All three faiths believe that God reveals truth. The believers in each community seek to live in faithfulness to the truth that is at the center of their understanding of God and his will: Torah for the Jews, the Gospel for the Christians, Qur’an for the Muslims. Each of these respective centers creates and nurtures different communities of faith: Israel, church, and ummah. We will comment on ummah and church.

The Muslim Nation (Ummah)

Ummah means a people or nation. Islam means submission; the Arabic root s-l-m, is also the root of salaam, peace. The Muslim nation is the worldwide community (ummah) of believers who submit to Islam. “Submission-peace”: this is the Muslim understanding of the meaning of the word Islam. Commitment to the nation of Islam transcends all other national loyalties. A core function of the community is to preserve Islam and protect the Muslim believer from ever going astray. Islam forms the community, and the community preserves Islam.

Humanity is divided. All people who have submitted to the rule of Islam are within the Muslim nation; those who have not submitted to Islam are outside. The ummah gives witness: La Ilaha Illa’llah Muhammadan Rasulu’llah (There is no God except Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah). Humanity is divided into two groups: those who make this confession and are, therefore, within the ummah, and those who have not yet made this confession and are, therefore, not within the ummah.

In Medina the Muslims under Muhammad’s leadership developed a constitution. The constitution clarifies that the Muslims “are a single community distinct from other people.”²

The Muslim ummah is not complete until it possesses all dimensions of power and authority. That authority is extended over territory. Many Muslims who live in areas that are not under Muslim authority yearn for the completion of their community that is only possible when the Muslim nation has established political control over the territory where they reside. That yearning is the reason for the Muslim insurgencies in regions such as Kashmir, Mindanao, Macedonia, and Chechnya. Nevertheless, there are, of course, some Muslims who are not committed to this kind of political agenda, and are quite content to be an island of faith within a non-Muslim society.

Muslims believe that the ummah is the “middle nation.” It is the nation that emerged from Arabia, a region in the middle of other nations. It is perfectly balanced, not given to the extremes of asceticism or the debauchery of hedonism. Muslims perceive that Judaism focuses on this world, and the church on the hereafter. The Muslim middle nation combines both this world and the next. The ummah is “assembly” of the “party of God.”³ It is the best nation and has a mission to be a witness over the nations.

The Qur’an proclaims,

Thus We have appointed you a middle nation,

That ye may be witnesses against mankind

(Baqara [The Cow] 2:143).

The Christian Church

Church means “gathering.” The New Testament Greek term for church is ecclesia, the group who gather for a purpose and then scatter. The Christian church is the gathering of those who confess, as Peter, one of the first disciples of Jesus, did two thousand years ago, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). That confession is the foundation of the church. The church around the world gives witness: Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.

The apostolic writings refer to the church as a “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9). Within the New Testament this concept does not entail the political and territorial authority that is significant in the Muslim understanding of the Muslim nation, however. The church as a holy nation is a redeemed people called out from among the peoples. The boundary of the church is all believers in Jesus as Savior and Lord, the sign of inclusion is repentance from sin and baptism, and the evidence of membership is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is to say that territoriality and political control were contrary to the nature of the New Testament church.

Jesus commissioned the church to be a witness among the nations. In his last command before his departure from earth, he said:

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19–20).

Christians refer to this command as the “great commission.” It has inspired the church in its global mission for two thousand years.

Witnesses do not possess political or territorial control. A witness does not control the outcome—the outcome depends upon the response of those who hear the witness. The New Testament church was a fellowship of people who heard the Christian witness and believed that witness and therefore chose to believe in the Messiah.

The Nation State

Nation states are not universal communities. They might or might not recognize the authority of God.

That is not true of the church or the ummah. Both these communities are committed to the ultimate authority of God. Both are universal communities. During Independence Day celebrations in the United States I heard two teachings about the relationship of the community of faith and the secular nation state. The first was in a Sunni Muslim mosque. The second was in a Mennonite Christian church.

The Muslim imam said, “Patriotism is good, but within boundaries. Our first loyalty is to the Muslim nation, which is a universal community that supersedes all nation states.”

The Christian pastor said, “Patriotism has its place, but be cautious. Our first loyalty is to Christ and his church. The church is a universal community called out from within communities and nations around the world.”

More comment is necessary about the journeys in history of the church and the ummah. This framework is essential for an understanding of the theologies and mission of the Christian and Muslim communities, as well as the present-day meeting of the two communities as neighbors in the global community of humankind.

The Church Among the Nations

First, a brief perusal of the story of the church. The apostolic church flowed within the spirit of the command of Jesus to go and become witnesses of the Gospel to all nations. Within the lifetime of the apostles of Jesus, the church had taken root in communities from Spain to India, from North Africa into Central Europe. That rapid growth happened within the context of suffering.

Occasionally the wrath of the authorities turned with fury against the church, and a number of the apostles were martyred. Why the opposition? The church confessed that Jesus is the ultimate authority. Empires and nations are inclined to claim ultimate authority; the Roman authorities perceived the followers of Jesus the Messiah to be dangerous atheists who would not worship the traditional gods nor bow their knees in veneration of the emperor. Within the Roman Empire, one of the most horrendous persecutions lasted for nine years (303–312).

Constantinization of the Western Church

Then it all ended. The Roman emperor Constantine made peace with the church. In the year 313 the Roman Empire proclaimed the Edict of Toleration. There would be no more persecution of Christians. Constantine went even further: The authority of the empire soon favored the Christians, and he became quite involved in the affairs of the church. In fact, Constantine convened a council of bishops at Nicea in 325 to develop a creed that would clarify who Jesus was.

Persecution on the Margins

That was disturbing to a lot of Christians, especially in the Asian East. That unease is related to the later successes of the Muslim community. So, it is helpful to have some awareness of what all this meant, especially for the churches on the margins of the Roman Empire. After the Council of Nicea, the Roman emperors and the Western bishops developed an unseemly union of empire and church. Before long some bishops were depending on the power of the empire to enforce church doctrine, even violently.

The churches in Egypt, North Africa, and the Asian East were especially vulnerable. For example, in North Africa, Donatism was a popular independent church movement among the Berbers. That indigenous North African church was persecuted and marginalized by the Roman church-empire alliance. The issues were complex. Heretical beliefs were part of the issue. Nevertheless, at the heart of the conflict was the reality that neither the Roman Empire nor the church authorities would tolerate an independent church within the regions under imperial control.⁴ Consequently when Muslim armies marched west across North Africa in the seventh century, they met a weakened church because two centuries earlier, “Christian” Roman imperial power had undermined the widespread indigenous and independent Berber church.

Terrific Persecution in Persia

The union of caesar and pope in the European West also had devastating consequences for the churches of the Asian East. For the first three centuries of the Christian era, it was mostly the churches within the Roman Empire that were persecuted. However, with the conversi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. Different Journeys
• 2. Out of Arabia
• 3. In the Garden
• 4. Sons of Abraham: Ishmael—Isaac
• 5. Leaders: the Seal of the Prophets—the Messiah
• 6. Scriptures: the Qur’an—the Bible
• 7. Revelation: Tanzil—Incarnation
• 8. Power: the Hijrah—the Cross
• 9. Holy Cities: Medina—Jerusalem
• 10. One God: Tawhid—Trinity
• 11. Pilgrimage: the Hajj—the Eucharist
• 12. Two Ways: Shari’a—Holy Spirit
• 13. Prayer: Salat—Fellowship
• 14. Global Mission: the Ummah—the Church
• 15. Concluding Comment
• Notes
• Glossary
• Annotated Bibliography
• Index
• The Author