Deep calls to deep APRIL 06

I have just read a paper written by Ben Quash called ‘Deep calls to deep: the practice of Spiritual Reasoning’, which I enjoyed immensely. (the Paper is on the Doha website in pdf form) I read it in the context of having been stimulated by David Ford’s paper at the Fulcrum ‘Gospel in Context’ Day Conference on Friday ( the text is already available online ‘Gospel in Context: Among Many Faiths, by David F Ford www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=101)

He presented a vision of interfaith interaction that had a depth I have not yet encountered. Beyond the normal 'tea, samosas and smiles'. I caught a glimpse (an escatological one !?) of the possibilities of a very different place in interfaith engagement.

This in turn was in the context of the interfaith gathering that I attended in Doha , along with Canon Ben Quash and many others. At one level it was the peak of its field - a gathering of a rich variety of people and experiences, but it a context which, when I reflect on it back home, I experienced as stale and in a strange way very secular. This was to do, I feel, with the environment - a modern, luxurious, 5* star hotel, and a mode of operation, based on the scientific conference paradigm. This positioned me as a passive (and exhausted!) listener, rather than a co-locutioner in an ongoing conversation. Obviously it had its moments of surprises and genuine interaction. There we were a lot of ‘real characters’ there. At times some of the under-the- surface-issues also emerged, which was I felt helpful. (conflict and difference is not something to be avoided but welcomed and embraced) And as always these gathering are an opportunity for rich networking. I gathered a good handful of business cards to add to my collection!

It was after all an event hosted by the Qatar Government and was dialogue or ‘trialogue’ ( a new word I learned at the conference!) on a different level - official, diplomatic, politically correct, - and as Ben put it in his paper ‘justified on the basis of a thin and generalised notion of ‘tolerance’. I long for something not quite so ‘thin’, but much ‘thicker’ or deeper.

Hence, in contrast I really liked the idea in the SR papers of the 'tents of meeting' of ‘peoples of the book’, Jews, Christians and Muslims, from their different traditions or ‘houses’, which moves the conversation from the official discourses generated by the institutional ‘Temples’ into more interrogation and mutual struggle. More ‘wrestling’ with texts. But I think I prefer the word dialogue or conversation to ‘debate’. Maybe the concept of debate conjures up for me, images of oppositional, polarised argument (our Houses of Parliament and Law Courts are a prime examples, where seeking after truth does not seem to be on the agenda)

But the concept of SR resonated with my own experience of sitting and talking together in Pakistan, with Muslims, Christians and Hindus (usually all addicted to Heroin – or in various stages of recovery - and hence somewhat neutralised from their religious Temples!) But these were genuinely interfaith ‘trialogues’ - In particular the way they encountered the scriptural text of the story of the prodigal son was deeply moving. They found their own story reflected in the Scriptural story. This was obviously on a very different level from Scriptural Reasoning where religious leaders encountering their own text. It was much more grass roots - more a Scriptural story telling or Scriptural encounter, but when I read of SR it felt ‘strangely familiar’
I’m not sure how much actual ‘reasoning’ there was in our groups of recovering addicts – certainly a lot of reacting / responding and story telling/sharing. And it was very much ‘hosted’ by one ‘house’ - in this case our Christian drug rehabilitation project - although we tried to make it ‘neutral’ ground it did not achieve the level of ‘mutual’ ground.

My Masters thesis, ‘Faith Conversations’, I felt also resonated with what Ben and David have outlined in the SR approach. Well it resonated for me. I would be interested to know if others discover synergies or not ! It also comes from a different starting place. I wrote it for a course in Systemic Management and Consultancy - which is rooted in a systemic, social-contructionist approach, But the common denominator is the concept of ‘interrogation of texts’. In my case ‘stories as text’ generated through a process of ‘faith conversations’ which we engaged in, over a period of about year in CMS.

I always had in mind for these conversations to be fundamentally interfaith, but the starting point was very much intra-faith’, drawing on our own wide network of CMS contacts. This has lead to an ‘in-house’ (ie within the Christian ‘house’) online discussion group called simply ‘faith conversations’, which currently has 75 very interesting and varied members, all of whom are academics and/or practitioners who seek to engage with the ‘house of Islam.’

I myself, am interested in going deeper (‘deep calls to deep’) and would be interested in exploring a SR group in London some time. Apparently one such group meets at St Ethelbergas. It maybe something we could eventually duplicate in Woking to take our own interfaith encounters to a new, deeper level.

London   29 April 06

Conversations and connections April 06

I received 2 comments after what I wrote the other day about the '4th Doha Conference on Religious Dialogue' - one hoping that is 'not just a talk shop' (Bassi) and the other describing the event as 'the red carpet inter-faith scene' (David M)

TALK SHOP

In each of the 2-hour session, there are 6 speakers, all at least 10 minutes each, chaired by a timekeeper who then opens it up for comments (c 2 mins each) from the participants and final summing up from speakers. The speakers are evenly balanced between Muslims, Christians, and Jews - the’3 heavenly religions’ as they are frequently referred to as here.  Timekeeping is an issue. How to cram so much into so little, with a tendency to talk faster, to get it all in. The sessions are conducted in Arabic and English, with occasionally some French. Of course we are hearing it mainly through translation (headphones) and interpreters have such a difficult task.
But so do listeners. It is very tiring hearing such a bombardment of thoughts - with little opportunity to process it all. Note talking is one answer, a way of processing.

The open discussion and questions from the floor, rather than real dialogue, is more an opportunity for others to add their comments. Mini speeches, which add to the density of thought. All in all, 8 hours of solid listening in one day! I have discovered that passive listening is exhausting.

MEETING PLACE

There is a great deal of variety here. A wide array of dress - The uniform Arabic Alb (like Priests wear) complete with turban and prayer beads. Women in Hijab, or scarf covering heads. Various ecclesiastical dress (like a Wimple’s catalogue) - men in black or purple or white. The almost universal western suit. Some wearing the Jewish skullcap.    The people I have met are as varied as the dress. A rabbi from Tel Aviv; a Belgium Muslim Professor Yahya based at the Islamic Centre in Oxford; a Pakistani from Blackburn, chair of the Lancashire Council of Mosques; Takayasu Ogura a Japanese Journalist, who used to be Bureau chief for Cairo; an Egyptian reporter working in Kuwait for Arabic Newsweek. A Greek Orthodox Priest from the Jerusalem Patriarchate looking after the flock in Doha; the Ambassador of Cyprus; three Algerian Muslims living in Geneva Switzerland. Giovanni, a Journalist from Rome working for ‘30Giorni’ / 30 days a monthly Catholic magazine. An Argentinean, middle-eastern Rabbi working in New York. Salahuddin from Sidon in Lebanon working in Leeds. A lovely, gentle Iranian, Dr Tabarraian of the ‘world forum for proximity of Islamic schools of thought’ (How ironic that he is from the so called ‘Axis of evil’)

CMS CONNECTIONS

There are also a number of people I have met before in CMS circles an dfor me conferences are all about meeting people:
Bishop Munir of Egypt - a key CMS partner - with a deep commitment to dialogue with Al Azhar University in Cairo..
Sheik Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain, who came to Partnership House for the launch of the CMS Dialogue pack
Serhiy Hovorun from Russia (I met him with our regional manager for Eastern Europe - in a restaurant in Moscow. He works with Metropolitan Kiril at the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate.
Metropolitan George Saliba, the Archbishop of Mount Lebanon who I met in Saidanayya, Syria at the feast of the Holy cross on the occasion of he Patriarch’s birthday.
Bishop Sarkassian of the Armenians of Iran - he was on a CMS scholarship at Selly Oak - met in Isfahan, Iran c. 5 years ago on my one and only visit.
Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi is the chair of the Islamic University in Islamabad which hosted the archbishop on his recent visit to Pakistan - his speech (the archbishop’s) to students on the Trinity is available on Lambeth website (ref)
What is most refreshing is hearing Moderate Muslim voices, which normally are not reported in the Western Press. It is also good to see all three Abrahamic faiths together - in the past the dialogue started as a Christian-Muslim one. Now it is more of a ‘tri-alogue’. A Rabbi made the point that if he punched a Mullah on the nose, it would be reported in the press, but if he talks of tolerance and forgiveness and faith working together then it is not newsworthy ‘ No good news makes the headlines

RED CARPET

This is indeed the red carpet of the interfaith scene - a dialogue that is polite, official, tolerant, and diplomatic and politically correct. Tea and smiles, which create an official academic governmental narrative. But real questions are lurking under the surface - proclamation and proselytism, religious persecution, ‘Religious freedom’ conversion, the apostasy issue.
Unfortunately the only opportunities to connect with others are during tea breaks and during meals. Some photos and card sharing. And not enough time to really connect and hear each other’s stories.
There is a lot of agreement on what we have in common - But we need to explore the differences as well. To be challenged by ‘proximate others’ who are like us – people of faith - but also different from us - people of different faiths - For it is in the exploration of the difficult differences that we are able to be the deepest challenge each other. It helps us explore our own blind spots.

I am reminded of one of my favourite Nasruddin Stories:

Asked why it is that in the morning people go off in all different directions. After thinking for a moment Nasruddin replied: ‘if everyone went in the same direction the Earth would lose its balance! ’

from your own corresponent
Doha 26 April 06

Jerusalem - the divided city Oct 1999 and Feb 2001

‘Jerusalem the Golden’


It was over 20 years since I first visited Israel. Then as a student, I was full of Leon Uris’s ‘Exodus’ and the Kibbutz dream. My views have changed over the years. Everything seems a lot more complicated.

Jerusalem is a divided city, with the Jewish ‘New Jerusalem’ next to the old walled city of Jerusalem. And the old city itself divided into quarters: Muslim (Arabs), Jewish (Israelis), Christian (Palestinian) and Armenian. All three major religions of the book, consider it theirs. Jerusalem the Golden, the City of Peace.

For me the Old city starts at the Damascus Gate, entrance to the Arab quarter, and on through the maze of streets, into the heart of Jerusalem along the ‘Via Dolorosa’: the Way of the Cross which leads to the Church of Holy Sepulchre, ‘the centre of the earth’ as it has been called. Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, found the ‘rightful site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection’, as well as relics such as wood from the True Cross, ‘with miraculous aid seldom now vouchsafed to archaeologists!’  

In many ways it is a shabby centre of Christianity. I was appalled when I saw it the first time. In those days, like all good evangelicals, I preferred the simplicity of General Gordon’s Calvary: ‘The Garden Tomb’.

Bettina Selby in ‘Riding to Jerusalem’ calls the Church of the Holy Sepulchre a

‘thoroughly unsatisfactory building’

This was at the end of a long and arduous bike ride across Europe, Turkey, Syria following the route of the Crusades It was obviously an anti-climax

‘chopped up as it is into so many chapels, with a different branch of the Christian Church jealously guarding each portion. As for peace - that was in sort supply – with flash bulbs going off in constant burst…… even in the Holy Tomb itself!’

It seemed to hold a lot more charm for me now. An Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Priest inviting me to touch the sacred stone, a Catholic Priest preaching the love of God, a Korean Anglican Communion: ‘Do this in remembrance of me’. Now such diversity speaks to me much more of the church universal.

I had promised to light some candles and pray for some Pakistani brothers, recovering addicts, in the Sepulchre itself. Something they could never contemplate doing for themselves, since Pakistan does not recognise the State of Israel. So I found a moment of quiet and lit three candles and prayed that they would be ‘lights shining in the darkness.’

I must also admit to taking some photos ‘in the Holy Tomb itself’, flash an’ all!

CMS at the Wailing Wall

From Your own correspondent

October 1999
& February 2001