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qatarperegrineI've been thinking and talking more about the symposium, and the address everyone's talking about is Father Maher's talk on the educational philosophy of Georgetown. Given the topic (religion and foreign service), it was of course the most interesting talk to me. I'll write about it here because I think it will also interest some of my readers (Mum, Matt... any other Jesuit groupies around?) and because I think it's really a testament to the state of Muslim-Christian relations here in Qatar.
Georgetown is the newest member of the Education City university family; it opened last month, joining VCU, Texas A&M, Cornell and us. The selection of Georgetown to offer degrees in the foreign service is particularly notable as Georgetown is a Jesuit school. I suspect some extra negotiation was required -- I'm not sure, for example, how Georgetown-Qatar students will meet the theology course requirement -- but I think it's a sign of Qatar's openness that it's even possible for a Catholic university to open its doors here.
Father Maher talked about Georgetown's identity as a "community of centered pluralism," meaning that while Georgetown is very diverse -- accepting students from different faith traditions since 1789 -- its teaching approach is centered in the legacy of Catholic humanism, three tenets of which are:
What struck me about this list is that they are all things that Islam absolutely agrees with. In fact, I can imagine several of my Muslim friends arguing that Islam lives up to all three of these tenets better than Christianity, since they see see Christianity as (1) making illogical claims, (2) asserting that someone else's death can mitigate the eternal significance of our free choices, and (3) arguing for original sin. I imagine that's why the Muslim colleague in front of me sort of snorted at the list, but I'm not sure.
Father Maher also talked about the importance of provoking college students to "ask questions concerning justice" and to "feel the outrage of injustice." He talked about their desire that none of their students graduate without having gotten to know someone who is poor or otherwise suffering, because "societies that keep the poor nameless and faceless bring more suffering upon themselves." Wow.
In conclusion, he talked about Georgetown's (and his) commitment to interreligious dialogue, making three main points:
Parenthetically, he closed by saying that professors at Georgetown see their students not as future diplomats and future businesspeople but as children of God. This has set me to wondering if Muslims consider this an acceptable phrase, given the strength of the Qur'anic prohibition on considering anyone sons of God.* Are any Muslims reading this who can comment?
It was pretty amazing to hear someone speaking so openly about the role of Christian faith in his job here. Obviously there are already a lot of practicing Christians here whose faith informs their work, but I haven't heard it talked about -- which has led me to ponder whether secularism is in fact a less offensive mindset than Christianity, something I hope to write about later. Nonetheless, my mind boggled at the idea of the sheikha listening to a priest talk about his calling to teach her people -- not to mention advocating Jewish involvement in Education City!
*Cf. numerous verses, including 112:3: "He begetteth not nor was begotten" and 9:30-31: "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they! They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One Allah. There is no Allah save Him. Be He Glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!"
Of course when Christians say that all people are children of God, we are speaking metaphorically; we're not saying that God begetteth all of humanity. I just wonder how Muslims hear that phrase. I've heard Christians use it in interfaith settings before, and I'm not sure it's as interfaith as we assume.
Georgetown is the newest member of the Education City university family; it opened last month, joining VCU, Texas A&M, Cornell and us. The selection of Georgetown to offer degrees in the foreign service is particularly notable as Georgetown is a Jesuit school. I suspect some extra negotiation was required -- I'm not sure, for example, how Georgetown-Qatar students will meet the theology course requirement -- but I think it's a sign of Qatar's openness that it's even possible for a Catholic university to open its doors here.
Father Maher talked about Georgetown's identity as a "community of centered pluralism," meaning that while Georgetown is very diverse -- accepting students from different faith traditions since 1789 -- its teaching approach is centered in the legacy of Catholic humanism, three tenets of which are:
- "The life of the mind and the life of faith are not contradictory; indeed they are complementary."
- "Human freedom is real, and it matters -- not just historically or sociologically but eternally."
- "The world is good; human culture is good; human society is good -- and we're called to make them better."
What struck me about this list is that they are all things that Islam absolutely agrees with. In fact, I can imagine several of my Muslim friends arguing that Islam lives up to all three of these tenets better than Christianity, since they see see Christianity as (1) making illogical claims, (2) asserting that someone else's death can mitigate the eternal significance of our free choices, and (3) arguing for original sin. I imagine that's why the Muslim colleague in front of me sort of snorted at the list, but I'm not sure.
Father Maher also talked about the importance of provoking college students to "ask questions concerning justice" and to "feel the outrage of injustice." He talked about their desire that none of their students graduate without having gotten to know someone who is poor or otherwise suffering, because "societies that keep the poor nameless and faceless bring more suffering upon themselves." Wow.
In conclusion, he talked about Georgetown's (and his) commitment to interreligious dialogue, making three main points:
- That Georgetown already has a Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding on its other campus and has long been dedicated to this dialogue,
- That he looks forward to dialogue with the Islamic Studies program that is due to open in Education City, and
- That he looks forward to "a community of all three peoples of the book" learning and dialoguing together in Education City. He didn't use the J word, but the three peoples of the books are Jews, Christians and Muslims, and Christians and Muslims are already here. Double wow.
Parenthetically, he closed by saying that professors at Georgetown see their students not as future diplomats and future businesspeople but as children of God. This has set me to wondering if Muslims consider this an acceptable phrase, given the strength of the Qur'anic prohibition on considering anyone sons of God.* Are any Muslims reading this who can comment?
It was pretty amazing to hear someone speaking so openly about the role of Christian faith in his job here. Obviously there are already a lot of practicing Christians here whose faith informs their work, but I haven't heard it talked about -- which has led me to ponder whether secularism is in fact a less offensive mindset than Christianity, something I hope to write about later. Nonetheless, my mind boggled at the idea of the sheikha listening to a priest talk about his calling to teach her people -- not to mention advocating Jewish involvement in Education City!
*Cf. numerous verses, including 112:3: "He begetteth not nor was begotten" and 9:30-31: "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they! They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One Allah. There is no Allah save Him. Be He Glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!"
Of course when Christians say that all people are children of God, we are speaking metaphorically; we're not saying that God begetteth all of humanity. I just wonder how Muslims hear that phrase. I've heard Christians use it in interfaith settings before, and I'm not sure it's as interfaith as we assume.
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Interesting
Regarding human culture/society being good, how does this work? Does not G-d say "And the L-RD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) or other such sources like Genesis 8:21. It has great potential for being good, and we must work with what we have to make it better, but doesn't saying that it is [already] good now, interfere with our ability to fix that which needs fixing?
There is still quite a lot to be done before you'll see Jews in Education City. The two Chief Rabbis of Israel were invited to the recent convention of world religious leaders in the Gulf (I can't recall which country it was in). They later canceled their attendance after they were then told they'd only be sitting in the audience. So much for "dialog". But, I guess, the invitation itself is progress of sorts, if it wasn't done pro forma.
That's strange what the Koran says regarding the "children of G-d". First of all, there is no known source that refers specifically to Ezra in this way. But there are plenty of other sources in the Torah and Bible that use the generic expression, such as "Thus saith the L-RD: Israel is My son, My first-born." (Exodus 4:22) or "You are the children of the L-RD your God" (Deuteronomy 14:1). is used. We Jews, while also using this metaphorically, also understand it quite literally. So maybe even we Jews and Christians do not agree on this term... Perhaps it is harder to argue against a greater prophet like Moses, who is directly quoting G-d?
Re: Interesting
Date: 2005-09-25 03:52 pm (UTC)Not at all. I took him to be referring to intellectual and, in particular, scientific pursuits. He is saying that there is no contradiction between (good) religion and (good) science. To give one of a zillion examples, some in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition (yes, I know you hate that phrase) have alleged that research into evolution is impossible to a person of faith because it involves doubting the opening chapters of Genesis; however, Jesuits like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin have been at the forefront of that research.
"Regarding human culture/society being good, how does this work?"
"G-d saw everything that G-d had made, and indeed, it was very good." Seems pretty straightforward. I don't think Father Maher is denying the existence of evil or injustice here, and I think he made that explicit in other parts of his talk.
"There is still quite a lot to be done before you'll see Jews in Education City."
Hey, I've already seen a Jew in Education City -- Rabbi Michael Melchior, a member of the Knesset. (Transcript of the event here -- it's a pdf.)
"The two Chief Rabbis of Israel were invited to the recent convention of world religious leaders in the Gulf (I can't recall which country it was in)."
Yeah, that was here in Qatar. I think they may have been able to give an address, but not to sit on the panels -- something like that. The invitation was not pro forma; there had been several previous Christian-Muslim dialogues, and at the last one the emir issued a directive to start inviting Jewish representatives. Given then number of Muslim scholars who backed out as a result, I think the invitation, such as it was, was the greatest endeavour feasible.
"That's strange what the Koran says regarding the 'children of G-d'. First of all, there is no known source that refers specifically to Ezra in this way."
I found that odd, too. Muslims speculate that some of the Jewish Arabs in the Hijaz or possibly Yemen may have held this clearly non-mainstream belief.