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Comments about the interfaith conflict resolution project, featured in the L.A. Times article -- Sat., Dec. 6, 2003

The following comments are intended to provide additional information about the interfaith conflict resolution project. Please let me know if additional clarification would be helpful. Thanks,
Fred Messick
Director of Public Relations
Fuller Theological Seminary

1.) Background:
The events of 9/11 caused great concern, and the attacks touched the hearts and minds of our entire country, changing us--in many ways--forever. Emergency workers increased our level of preparation. Elected leaders and government officials formed a new office to focus on terrorism. Civic and community leaders held town hall meetings to discuss security worries. Print, broadcast and electronic media told and retold the horror that we experienced. Our Fuller community--students, faculty and staff--joined together with Christians throughout the world to pray to God at this time of turmoil.

2.) Fuller's project development:
In light of the post-9/11 tensions and anxieties--and potential for future violence, Fuller Seminary developed a conflict resolution program to encourage Christians and Muslims to work together to develop models of civility, nonviolence, and peaceful understanding that would serve to reduce and prevent the likelihood of crises in our communities and throughout the country.

The significance of this initiative is that we hope to clarify our real commonalities and differences, and discern the resources that we have in both faiths for peaceful relations.

3.) Fuller's faculty resources on the study of Islam:
Many faculty have specific expertise in conflict resolution and also in intercultural ministry and education. Examples include Dr. David Augsburger, professor of pastoral care and counseling and the author of more than 20 books including Conflict Mediation Across Cultures; Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures; Caring Enough to Confront, and others. Dr. Glen Stassen, professor of Christian Ethics, teaches about ethics, Christian peacekeeping and discipleship, and has authored Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War; and Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Dr. J. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies, is a widely respected expert on Islam, and has spent time in at least 35 predominantly Muslim countries. He is the author of numerous publications including: Missiological Education for the 21st Century: The Book, the Circle, and the Sandals, edited with Van Engen and Ellison. In addition, the president of Fuller, Dr. Richard J. Mouw, is the author of many articles and more than a dozen books including: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World.

4.) Evangelizing Muslims:
The goal of this project is not to proselytize. It was felt that the goal of really understanding each other -- Christians and Muslims -- would be hindered if either group had an additional focus. But our work on this two-year project is only one part of our overall Islamic studies efforts, and in no way rules out or lessens our commitment to evangelism in other efforts. Our work in this conflict resolution project does not change our statement of faith, our values, and our commitments, including our key focus on the work of evangelism, including evangelism in Muslim-predominant countries. We continue to teach courses in Muslim evangelism and indeed our Islamic studies area is expanding. We just appointed a new faculty member who will combine her work at Fuller with her continuing leadership in a French ministry that aims at leading Muslim women to Christ. We have also recently brought on an evangelical Islamic scholar who will teach and mentor students as they prepare for ministry. They serve along with Dudley Woodberry, our internationally recognized expert on Islam.

Dr. Woodberry notes that: "The goal of this dialogue is not to proselytize. Actually to the extent that we are guided by our Scriptures (and both Christians and Muslims are), we both are missionary religions with a message for all people (John 3:16; Qur'an 25:1). We both claim the final messenger (Hebrews 1:1-2; Qur'an 33:4). We both are called to be witnesses (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Qur'an 2:143). We both have exclusive claims for our message (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Qur'an 3:85); but we both are also called upon to witness in a gracious way (1 Peter 3:15; Qur'an 16:125; 29:46).

Dr. Mouw notes the following, about our approach to other religious, including Islam: "I believe our approach to other religions must be three-fold. First--and this is absolutely non-negotiable--witnessing to others about the saving merits of Jesus Christ as the only one who has the power to rescue us from our desperate state of sin. Second, also learning from other religions. At the very least we need to be sure that we are not misrepresenting their views, since bearing false witness against our neighbors is a serious violation of God's law. But we also need to learn from others about how we might have sinned against them in other ways. And we must be open to the possibility that the Lord can teach us some positive spiritual and theological lessons in these dialogues. Third, we must cooperate with others in working for the common good, 'seeking,' in Jeremiah's words, 'the welfare of the city' in which we are living out the time of our exile. This is an especially important time for us to be working for the common good with our Muslim neighbors, especially in encouraging those strands of Muslim thought that place a strong emphasis on the peace-making passages in the Koran."

5.) Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God:
Dr. Mouw notes the following: "If you ask me whether Hindus and Buddhists pray to the same God that we do, I would say definitely not. But the fact is that Christianity, Judaism and Islam trace their respective faiths back to Abraham. We need to explore with Muslims where we start to diverge in our understanding of the faith that Abraham nurtured. Muslims' faith in the God of Abraham gives us a common foundation upon which we can then talk with them about the need for the sovereign grace that can only reach into our lives through the shed blood of Calvary."

"We had a group of Muslim scholars on campus a year or so ago. They came, sponsored by the State Department, to learn about American religion. Professor Jim Bradley gave one of the lectures to this group. He emphasized to them that no prophet can ever save us--only a Savior sent from heaven to die in our place for our redemption. I found this very moving and helpful. This is the place to talk about our differences--by pointing them to the Cross where alone they can find the kind of relationship with God that they profess to be seeking."

Dr. Mouw continues: "We do believe that some of the rhetoric used by evangelicals in describing Islam needs to be toned down. In contrast to those who insist on beginning with a condemnation of Islam as idolatrous, we want to seek any common ground possible as a place to witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ."

Dr. Woodberry states that: "We need to distinguish between the One Creator God to whom we refer and what we say about Him. Muhammad referred to the God of the Bible when he used the name 'Allah,' the name that Arab Christians used and still do, and the Qur'an says 'Your God and our God are One' (29:46); so it means the same person. What we say about Him is both similar and different. The differences are essentially the same differences we have with contemporary Jews who do not follow Jesus. Yet most Christians would say that Jews worship the same God, even though they do not understand or accept his revelation in Jesus Christ. As one who is studying Muslim conversions to Christ and is privileged to teach in a school whose former students are probably involved in leading more Muslims to faith in Christ than those of any other school, a majority of the converts that I have seen understand their conversion as bringing them into a personal relationship to the One God whom they knew less completely and misunderstood before."

Thank you again for your interest and please contact me if further information would be helpful.

Fred Messick
Director of Public Relations
Fuller Theological Seminary
135 N. Oakland Ave
Pasadena, CA