Today I am thankful for friends who remind me why I am in this place.
specifically, Charlie Merritt, Bethany Tipton, Courtney Pate, and Michael Lodahl. although they may not be aware of it.
Tomorrow I leave for the village for one week.
I will not shower, I will not touch a computer, I will not flush a toilet.
I realize I have many things to catch you up one, but it will have to wait.
I leave you with this for now (re-blogged from miss tipton):
-Dr. Michael Lodahl, Professor of theology and world religions [Professor for Life of Holiness during Urban Term]
Contributor
I am pleased that Florida pastor Terry Jones, who had planned to burn copies of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary, now says his church will “not today, not ever” engage in such an inflammatory act.
But this only prompts the question as to why this pastor — or any Christian — would deem it a good idea to desecrate the sacred texts of any other religious tradition. “Love your neighbor as yourself” comes immediately to mind. (We Christians ought to remember, by the way, that this command is found first of all in the Scriptures of the people who congregate in synagogues on the Sabbath, i.e., Jews.)
On NBC’s “Today” show, Jones stated that his and his congregation’s goal had been “to expose that there is an element in Islam that is very dangerous and very radical.”
I suspect that he has read precious little of the Koran. Yes, there are a few isolated passages that give specific instructions about putting infidels to the sword. But read those passages in context, and it is immediately obvious that they pertain to a particular time in Muhammad’s career as the spiritual and political leader of his Muslim followers, and to the particular geographical area around the city of Mecca.
Taking such exceedingly rare instructions in the Koran out of context to demonstrate the “dangerous” element in Islam would be like taking Psalm 137:8 — “Happy shall the people be who take your little children, O Babylon, and dash them against the rock!” — as evidence for how bloody and violent Christianity is. I assume none of us today would follow “You must destroy them totally … and show them no mercy,” instructions given to the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land, as solid Christian teaching regarding how to deal with those who oppose or persecute us.
Jesus gave a radically different set of instructions to his disciples in Matt. 5:43-48, where he says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Koran has passages that deal beautifully with the inevitable reality of human differences: “O humanity! Truly [God has] created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and types [tribes] so that you may recognize [come to know] one another” (Q49:13).
This text affirms that God has made human beings into a variety of ethnicities and cultures, precisely with the intent that those differences would impel us to try to overcome our fears of “the other” and come to know one another. It reminds me of this surprising command in Leviticus: “Love the stranger as yourself, for you yourselves once were strangers in the land of Egypt” (19:34).
It just seems difficult to conceive of loving strangers, or even enemies, as including the burning of books most dear to them.
– Dr. Michael Lodahl, Professor of theology and world religions
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