The Christian Faith in a Pluralistic World
July 31, 2005 – Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church
Romans 9: 1 – 5
I.
As I begin, I must admit that today’s sermon will be a little more “academic” than I usually like to preach. That is not to say that my preaching is usually uniformed or anti-academic – at least I think it is informed! It is just to say that today’s sermon addresses the head much more than the heart. So for the next 45 minutes or so, I want to elucidate the 5 primary responses that we have as Christians to interfaith conversations and their soteriological realities…. Just seeing if you are paying attention! In all honesty, what is happening today is that following the lectionary is difficult because the Holy Spirit has directed us to this text in Romans 9 – a text about the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. A text that is probably much more suited for the serious days of October than the lighter days of July.
So then while I promise this won’t be 45 minutes, it remains nonetheless an important topic. Indeed, we might say the most important topic that can confront us as we engage a rapidly changing and religiously diverse world. It is also a topic that is worthy of more than one sermon – perhaps a series – so some of you may be left wanting for more. At issue: what are we as Christians to make of those of other faiths; particularly those who are Jewish or Muslim?
II.
It does not take an historical genius with a PhD to make the assessment that the history of inter-religious interaction is a sad and tragic history. From the Holocaust to the Crusades, the long sad history of Islam in Spain and Jews in Russia; to the persecution of Christians that goes on today in sub-Saharan Africa and the self-proclaimed “holy war” against Europe and the United States that is currently waged by radical Islamic groups and terror cells. To be sure this history has been and continues to be tragic and disappointing.
One of the mistakes, the modern mistakes that we make is that we are the first people to live in a plurality – a religiously diverse world. The truth is that the world was as diverse in 1805 as it is in 2005. The difference is that media, internet, and global awareness have made the diversity of the world – varying peoples, races, and religions seem so much closer – closer than they ever have before.
What we often fail to realize is that the world was, for all practical purposes, just as diverse in the life and times of Jesus and the first disciples, in the Mediterranean world of Paul, the writer of Romans, as it is today. In first century Palestine and Jerusalem there were Jews, Romans, Greeks, Europeans, Africans, Syrians, Arabians, Cretans, and most assuredly from time to time, Indians and Asians on trading expeditions.
Into that world, and into a Mediterranean world even more diverse, the apostle Paul, born a Jew and converted to Christianity, took his commission to bring the gospel to all nations. He, himself, let us not ever forget, was a religious pluralist – a defender of two faiths in his lifetime. And from that world and from that perspective, we have these words from Romans.
III.
Paul, first a Jew then a Christian was someone who needed, for his own sanity and for the clarity and credibility that his ministry depended upon, to understand what he believed about God and why he believed it. It might strike you as odd, but the truth is that the current global environment demands that we understand what we believe as Presbyterian Christians and that we understand to the best of our ability what that means as we are exposed to Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and the host of other world religions and practices.
I once attended a meeting with
several pastors where we heard a Muslim woman speak. She had grown up Lutheran in
IV.
So what do we make of the vastness of the world, of the plurality in our midst?
Well to begin with, I think we take a page from Paul, here
from Romans 9 and we start with the grace of God.[1] Paul’s cogent and powerful argument is that
God has elected
This points to a larger and often forgotten point in the black and white, in and out, us and them world that we too often find ourselves toiling within: God’s grace is working in many places and in many ways. And while it is true that Jesus says, “No one comes to the father but by me,” the reciprocal is never said once in the New Testament– “The father comes to no one but by me.”[2]
V.
As reformed (Presbyterian) Christians we believe that there are two types of revelation – general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is the revelation of creation, the law, the prophets – the ways that we know about God and the nature of God outside of the life and resurrection of Jesus. General revelation would hold that God has revealed himself in specific times and places and amongst specific peoples. Special revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ – the Word made flesh dwelling among us. All other parts of life, all other bits of knowledge, we believe must be judged in light of this special revelation of God – this Good News of Jesus Christ.
Of note is that this knowledge, this revelation, of Jesus Christ does not eliminate the knowledge of God found say in the accounts of Genesis – rather it informs them and changes the way we read them. But as sources of knowledge about God, they are reliable and we ought to greet them graciously on their own merits before we cast the pall of judgment upon them.
VI.
When we focus particularly upon Judaism we find that we are no doubt like first cousins at a family reunion. Judaism is as close to Christianity as anything in our world, and as such is it worthy of our study, our respect, and whatever understanding we can offer. God has revealed himself to the Jews in various ways and there is much to learn from them – this is the point that Paul was making in the 1st century and it remains true today.
In a somewhat similar, yet different light, we also are related to Islam even as we are confronted by Islam. In my opinion, and in the opinion of some scholars[3] we are unfortunately living in what is the “middle age” of Islam.
In case you do not know the
history, Islam was founded around 620 AD by the prophet Muhammad somewhere in a
desert cave between
Today, as you are well aware, Islam is in a great struggle with itself between those who believe it is time for Islam to come forward into a modern world and believe God is calling it to do so, and those who believe God is calling Islam back to its historic roots of theocratic statehood, traditional roles for women, and Holy War against all infidels. Needless to say this struggle is a critical one for the future of the world.
VII.
I don’t want to talk about US Government policy in light of this struggle (although that would be a worthy sermon topic). I do, however, want to talk about what I think you and I should feel about Islam and its relationship to Christianity. But first I want to let you know that the fundamentalist Islamic critique of the Western World is not without some merit, and our critique of the Muslim world is one that is not always fair – we both have a lot to learn about each other.
Here’s what
I mean: at Columbia Theological Seminary
one of my Doctoral classes was about the inter-faith conversation between Islam
and Christianity. The highlight of the
class was meeting a man in
They spoke of the ills of American culture – how women and children were objectified in the media; how sexuality was used to sell everything; about the binge drinking on campuses and amongst young adults; about the way that we allowed ghettoes to fall through the cracks and remain ghettoes (assuming the poor should always be poor); about our misunderstanding of the Islamic world.
We spoke of the ills that we saw in Islam – about little girls in some nations being denied the opportunity to read; about freedoms not shared; about oppressive theocracies that allowed no dissent and no free press; about human rights never shared or realized.
It was a tough conversation.
But, everyone in that room believed in God. It is just that some of us believed that Jesus Christ was the full revelation of God, the savior of the world, and some of us believed that the Koran was the means to salvation and its teachings were God’s full revelation. A big difference? Yes. Insurmountable? Well….
Last winter
I read a fascinating article in the Christian century by William Willimon, the
past Dean of the Chapel at
Only in
Willimon writes about how asked the boy how they thought this might work, and his response was that they were the two people on campus who didn’t drink, who prayed many times daily, who believed deeply in God, and who refuses to think that pre-marital sex was OK. That the ills of our culture had brought them together and that in terms of morality, they were the same. The theological differences they could live with.
Islam is, in my opinion, like a 2nd or 3rd cousin in our faith family.[6] A little farther away from Judaism, but part of the family anyway and have a place at the table of reunion. Unfortunately we live in a time when there is a family squabble on their end of the table, and we are caught up in it.
VIII.
In the end, we run a risk when we look at God like the last biscuit on the plate at Sunday dinner and we all fight over it. Its like that old Jerry Clower joke that my Uncle Robert tells of there being one biscuit left at supper, and the lights go out in a clap of thunder, and when they come back on there is one hand holding the biscuit with about 10 forks stuck in it – everyone goes for the biscuit at once. None of us possess God fully. To believe so is folly and when we do we look much more like the Pharisees of Jesus day than we do like faithful followers and willing disciples who follow the instruction and example of Paul and greet others with grace before judgment.
We are Christians because we believe in the life and resurrection and the example of Jesus Christ. And we should never be ashamed of that belief or let it be watered down in any way. It is good and right to believe in Jesus and to follow his teachings and his example. When called to share our faith, we should share it and share it with confidence.
But part of the example of Jesus was offering grace before judgment and despite the great differences between Buddhism and Hinduism and Christianity, and the smaller but problematic difference between Judaism and Islam and Christianity, we ought also to offer grace.
We are given a mandate by Jesus to share His gospel, his good news with any who enter our lives and our community. This is a far cry different that bludgeoning someone with our faith – no matter how stubborn they may be in turning to the way of Christ. Our mandate is to share and love: and thus we should never wield the cross as a weapon or as a divining rod, as though we got to separate the wheat from the chaff, the in from the out. We do not have a mandate from God to label the faithful and to mark the unfaithful.
No, all faiths are not the same. Jesus is beautiful and He is unique, he is our Lord and our Savior just as assuredly as he is the Savior of this whole earth.
If indeed we are to practice Christianity in a pluralistic world, let us do so with humility and respect – enough respect to be faithful to Jesus while having enough respect to listen to those who do not yet or who may never share our faith in Him.
May God give us the grace and power to walk this difficult path and rocky path, and may we live to see a day when the religions of the world would get along in peace – the peace that Jesus has called us to proclaim and uphold.
Amen.
[1] Like most things I know of Romans, I glean this idea from Achtemeier and his Interpretation Commentary – he powerfully makes this case in his introduction to Chapters 9 – 11.
[2] While this is a subtle difference it remains a difference with great implications – what this allows for is the general revelation section in the coming paragraphs – this is written about eloquently in Ernest Campbell’s essay in What’s The Matter with Preaching Today?, Mike Graves ed.., 2004.
[3] Bernard Lewis and Thomas Friedman come to mind.
[4] This is a gross over-simplification.
[5] “Arguing with Muslims- God Talk on Campus,” Willimon, Christian Century – 11/16/04
[6] Another huge simplification.