Common Words in Muslim-Christian Dialogue

Vebjørn L. Horsfjord, Ph.D. (2015), University of Oslo, is senior lecturer in interreligious studies at the Faculty of Theology of that university. He has published on interreligious relations and human rights, and has long experience from facilitating international interreligious dialogue.

• Acknowledgements1 Introduction: It Takes Two to Dialogue1.1 Letters and Conference Statements1.2 Jordanian Roots1.3 The Common Word Process and Academia1.4 Goal: To Understand What These Men are Doing2 We Muslims and You Christians: A Common Word between us and You2.1 A Complex Text: Structure and Main Argument2.2 Textual Forerunners2.3 A Common Word: A Second Open Letter2.4 Using Sacred Texts2.5 Publication, Promotion and Related Dialogue Initiatives2.6 Muslims and Christians: Construction of Group Identities2.7 What Does acw Do?2.8 Conclusion: It Takes Two to Dialogue3 The First Christian Responses3.1 Response from David Ford3.2 Senior Church Leaders Respond3.3 An Alternative Reading: Michael Nazir-Ali3.4 Conclusion4 Roman Catholic Responses4.1 Catholic-Muslim Dialogue since the Second Vatican Council4.2 First Official Catholic Responses to acw 744.3 Five Substantial Commentaries from Four Scholars4.4 Catholic-Muslim Dialogue in the Wake of acw 834.5 Conclusion5 The Yale Response: Loving God and Neighbor Together5.1 An Advertisement in the New York Times5.2 Interacting with acw: Arguments, Speech Acts, Construals5.3 Bodily Gestures, but Little Flesh5.4 Conclusion6 World Evangelical Alliance: We Too Want to Live in Love, Peace, Freedom and Justice6.1 The Text and Its Main Arguments6.2 What wwll Does6.3 Different Difference6.4 Interpreting Evangelicals: Beyond Polite Dialogue?6.5 Conclusion7 World Council of Churches: Learning to Explore Love Together7.1 Four Decades of Christian-Muslim Dialogue7.2 Learning to Explore Love Together: A Resource Document7.3 Conclusion8 Rowan Williams: A Common Word for the Common Good8.1 Background and Context8.2 The Text and Its Main Arguments8.3 What the Text Does8.4 Managing Differences Discursively8.5 Conclusion9 Orthodox Church Leaders: Responses from Five Contexts9.1 Response from Archbishop Mor Eustathius Matta Roham, Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch9.2 Response from Catholicos Aram i, Armenian Orthodox Church9.3 Response from the See of Etchmiadzin (The Armenian Orthodox Church)9.4 Response from Patriarch Alexy ii of Moscow and all Russia9.5 Response from Archbishop Chrisostomos ii of Cyprus10 We Muslims and Christians Together: Statements from Dialogue Conferences10.1 Declaration from the Yale University Conference, July 200810.2 Communique from the Cambridge Conference, October 200810.3 Declaration from the Catholic–Muslim Forum, November 200810.4 Statement from the Geneva Consultation, November 201010.5 Conclusion: acw as Proposition and Invitation11 Lessons11.1 Making Sense of a Common Word11.2 Cross-cutting Topics11.3 Religion and the Religious11.4 The Myth of Interreligious Dialogue11.5 A Hermeneutics of Good Will11.6 Managing Difference – In-groups and Out-groupsBibliographyIndex