Why I Signed the Yale Response to “A Common Word”
December 20, 2007
Over the last few weeks, various Christians have contacted me because they are troubled over encountering my name amidst dozens of other signatories listed in a recent New York Times advertisement as supporting a public statement of support for a recent document from moderate Muslims, “A Common Word between Us and You.” (I’m glad to say that others have contacted me to express their appreciation that I did sign it.) The statement of support, entitled “Loving God and Neighbour Together,” was drafted by several professors at Yale Divinity School, including my friend Miroslav Volf, founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology.
(For all of the relevant documents, see the pertinent press releases and links here.)
It was Miroslav who e-mailed me to ask if I’d like to sign the statement for the NYT publication. I read the original Muslim statement and the Yale response, and didn’t sign right away. I was concerned that differences between the faiths, particularly about the divinity of Christ and God’s triune nature, were not as clearly set out in either statement as I would have preferred. Had I drafted the statement myself, I would have made changes elsewhere as well.
But I wasn’t being asked to help draft it. The thing was done, and the question now was a simple, binary one: Sign or not?
Why John Tory Is Right–and Wrong–about Religious Schools
September 28, 2007
The great province of Ontario, Canada’s richest and most populous, is in the throes of an election. As many Canadians know, one of the hottest issues in that election is the promise of Conservative leader John Tory to consider funding religious elementary and secondary schools in that province.
As a native of Ontario, a product of its public school (and university) system, and one with some interest in questions of church and state, I’ll offer my full support for John Tory—and my full disagreement with him.
First, then, my support. Tory argues that if the government of Ontario ought to support a Roman Catholic separate school system, as it has for a long time, then it should support other religiously-based schools. It makes no sense in 2007 to continue to cater to the preferences of what used to be the largest religious minority in Ontario without offering similar support to others.
Effective Apologetics: Buildings, Guides, and Sandwiches
September 7, 2007
During our recent roadtrip in the northwestern and north-central United States, we made a point of stopping to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the “Vatican” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). As someone professionally and personally interested in apologetics–the way in which religious groups commend and defend their views to others and to their own number–I was impressed again at how well the Mormons do things in Temple Square.
One of those things is architecture. Non-Mormons cannot visit inside the Temple itself, but walking around it nicely presents Mormonism as what it is: sort of Christian (the European medieval battlements and spires make that connection clear), but not fully Christian (one of my sons remarked on the sustained absence of crosses in and on Mormon buildings).
The famous Mormon Tabernacle is a strikingly innovative building for its time (19th century), with a rounded roof that perhaps reminds the less-lofty-minded of a Jiffy Pop bag on its way to ebullition or perhaps a large UFO, but inside it is a rather conventional, and beautiful, ecclesiastical space of its time.
The Conference Center, however, is simply breathtaking.
Terminology Time: What Is an “Inclusivist”?
July 8, 2007
A friend recently read my piece mentioned below, “A Bigger–and Smaller–View of Mission,” and asked this good question:
“You say you are an inclusivist (salvifically speaking). Isn’t the inclusivistic position really a gentler approach of the exclusivistic position (in the eye of a non-follower) since, at its core, it really believes that only through Christ people are ultimately saved even if they come through another religion (akin to J.N. Farquhar’s position on Christianity being the crown of Hinduism)? Or are these salvific positions to be viewed on a spectrum of pluralist, inclusivist, exclusivist? I would consider myself an exclusivist because I believe that only the true and living God ’saves’.”
There is much confusion about terms here in the scholarly literature, so no wonder my friend isn’t sure what is meant! Let’s see if what follows can help:
