Common Word letter sparks new season of Christian-Muslim dialogue

A recent dialogue held in late July at Yale University that brought together Muslim and Christian scholars, intellectuals, academics and religious leaders is one in a host of new inter-faith dialogues set in motion by the "A Common Word" letter.

The event was one of a series of dialogues organised in response to the October 2007 open letter "A Common Word" sent by 138 Muslim scholars to Christians around the world. The letter invited them to dialogue about what they viewed as the common parts of their respective faiths.

Rima Barsoum, programme executive for Christian-Muslim relations at the World Council of Churches (WCC), participated on behalf of the international ecumenical Christian body. The National Council of Churches in the USA (NCCUSA), the Roman Catholic Church and the World Evangelical Alliance were also represented.

"The participation of the WCC and the NCCCUSA highlights the ecumenical dimension of interfaith dialogue," Barsoum said. "The Yale conference and other events provide an opportunity for Christians to share their perspectives and theological resources for engaging in interfaith dialogue."

Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, the architect of the "Common Word" initiative said: "The intention in sending out the 'A Common Word' missive was simply to try to make peace between Muslims and Christians globally.

"It was and is an extended global handshake of religious goodwill, friendship and fellowship and consequently of inter-religious peace."

As a handshake the letter has found willing outstretched hands across the Christian world from the Vatican to the WCC and the World Evangelical Alliance.

Since the letter was released, churches, councils of churches and Christian leadership from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Evangelical traditions have been working with Muslims to organize a series of dialogue events and consultations which are scheduled through 2010.

Next steps in dialogue

The WCC together with the Christian World Communions, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church, is initiating an intra-Christian consultation in October 2008 to explore questions related to Christian self-understanding in relation to Islam motivated by the invitation of "A Common Word".

"The consultation plans to explore how churches and Christian communions can best respond in an ecumenical way to a new era in Christian-Muslim dialogue and new opportunities for cooperation brought about by the Muslim letter," said Barsoum.

This consultation emerged from an ecumenical process of response to "A Common Word" which the WCC started a month after the Muslim letter was received last year. This process includes the release of a document last spring called "Learning to Explore Love Together". This document encourages WCC member churches to be in dialogue with Muslims in their local communities.

Another event to be held at Cambridge University hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury will bring together the top leadership in the churches and the Muslim world to discuss "A Common Word" focusing on its scriptural and hermeneutical aspects.

Similar Christian-Muslim consultations are planned at the Vatican in November and at Georgetown University next year.

At the Yale conference, which was called "Loving God and Neighbour in Word and Deed," the 140 Muslim and Christian scholars and religious leaders gathered focused on fundamental issues bringing Christians and Muslims together: the love and unity of God and the love of neighbour. The group also discussed how Christians and Muslims practice the love of God and love of neighbour in facing the challenge of world poverty.

"This dialogue has been a positive and helpful start but the process must continue and deepen," said Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance.

"Many Christians from all corners of the world have responded favourably" to "A Common Word", acknowledged Prof Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, and the co-organizer of the conference.

The goal of the present conference, he said, "is to contribute to the historic task of reconciliation between Muslims and Christians world-wide, to help us transition from clashes to mutually beneficial co-existence."

In a statement released after the Yale conference, the group called on Muslims and Christians to affirm the unity and absoluteness of God. They also recognised common beliefs that God's merciful love is infinite, eternal and embraces all things.

The document recognised the rights of all to the preservation of life, religion, property and dignity and that neither group should misrepresent the other.

"An agreement on the love of God and neighbour does not erase differences," Volf said. "It enables people to accept others in their differences, leads them to get to know each other in their differences, and helps them live together harmoniously notwithstanding their differences."

Among the practical outcomes of the Yale conference was a plan for setting aside one week every year where Muslim and Christian religious figures are urged to emphasise the good in the others tradition.