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Perspectives - Trialogue: Jewish, Christian, Muslim
Margaret Shepherd
The second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) opens with the words:
"In this age of ours, when people are drawing more closely together and the bonds of friendship between different peoples are being strengthened, the Church examines with greater care the relation which it has to non-Christian religions. Ever aware of its duty to foster unity and charity among individuals, and even among nations, the Church reflects at the outset on what people have in common and what tends to promote fellowship among them."
While dealing chiefly with the Church's relationship to the Jews, presenting a challenge to the Church to be resourceful and enterprising in giving visible expression to the spiritual bond that unites us with them, the Declaration also makes special reference to Islam, enumerating the reasons why the faith and life of the Muslims are worthy of Christian esteem.
In his opening address to a conference on JewishChristian-Muslim 'dialogue', held at the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute, New York, in 1977, Arthur Gouthro spoke of five factors which are urging the three great monotheistic faiths into conversation with each other.
(i) awareness of living in an increasingly interdependent world, wherein communities ignore each other and live in isolation at their peril;
(ii) a growing desire among major religions to create a more humane world order of justice and peace, which requires co-operation;
(iii) an increased appreciation of the 'when
(iv) an eagerness and willingness to recognise truth, however it is experienced and wherever it is found;
(v) a greater undestanding of the role of history in influencing ideas and culture; history gives us all — Jews, Christians and Muslisms — a forum for self-examination; it calls us to humility and forgiveness for our past sins against one another.
From Dialogue to Dialogue
The efforts to promote understanding between Jews and Christians since Nostra Aetate have been well documented, as have those between Christians and Muslims. Although the Declaration marked a significant turning point, dialogue between these communities had already begun and borne fruit long before. What is relatively new, and very much in its infancy, is the Dialogue between the three faiths.
What is our common ground? Here I am indebted to Monika Hellwig for the insights she expressed at the Graymoor Conference. First and foremost, of course, is our belief in and worship of the one God, Creator and Judge of man and of history. Such a faith demands that we recognise all men as brothers, respecting their dignity and freedom. Among the conclusions prepared by the Christians present at the Tripoli Congress (February 1976) was the conviction that:
"All the sons of Abraham have the obligation to ensure that their common religious heritage leads them to a rediscovered mutual trust and renewed love of one another, and to have the courage so to act that their life and work inspire them to cooperate as brothers in the service of the human family."
A second common base is the belief that history has a goal. We are all working towards the ultimate coming of God's kingdom, a kingdom of justice, unity and peace. Linked with this is a third common point of departure, which is the special calling of each person and of the community — a calling by God to union with him through a particular way of life. All three traditions stress the special calling by God of Noah, Abraham and Moses, a calling which was not only personal but related to the whole community. Each tradition has its own interpretation of history in the light of these vocation stories, applying the calling to itself. Such universality and apparent mutual exclusivity of each one's claims might seem to lead to inevitable conflict and deadlock. However, a community claiming special election as God's instrument for the redemption of the world is forced to ask itself how it stands in relation to other communities with similar claims. Only then can each one reach self-understanding and self-definition.
A further common base is a shared heritage of biblical lore and spiritual ancestors. Such biblical stories form a foundation of shared symbolism and archetypal images. We may not agree with each other's interpretations, but we possess a firm basis of common knowledge and understanding.
Trialogue in Europe
In the context of Jewish-Christian-Muslim trialogue, the European situation is interesting. Whereas formerly Europe was envisaged as Christian with a small but significant Jewish minority, its present ideological content is very different. Islam has entered Europe. In France there are now two million Muslims, in West Germany one-and-a-half million, in Great Britain about a million, and tens of thousands live in other European countries. Muslims have become our neghbours, even though both Jews and Christians may be unaware of the new reality. The existence of such a growing Muslim community in Europe underlines the fact that Europe is no longer Christian territory, but pluralist in its ideologies and religions. The Muslim situation is parallel to the Jewish immigration from Russia to the West at the turn of the century. Both have had to adapt to an alien environment.
All three communities need to take the hard path of learning from each other and indeed from all men, even though dialogue among them presents all the anxieties of the untried and unknown. As Rabbi Lionel Blue has said, the importance of the European context is that it makes such learning from each other both necessary and possible. In the Middle East the groups confront each other, and in America one element is missing. Here in Europe they all exist, and the external situation forces them into dialogue and trialogue, if only because they are too weak to do without it.
Christians who have been involved in the ecumenical movement have also discovered that learning from each other is both necessary and possible. Many have realised in practical terms that positions like: I'm right and you . . . well, I know you're in good faith but .simply do not fit. They have accepted that differences should not get in the way, that, in order to survive, we cannot stay apart. We can learn much from the Christian ecumenical experience; once we have been forced by ecumenism to question our own certainty, to question our uniqueness in terms of our place before God and of our religious community before God, then we are forced to question that certainty, not only within Christianity, but also beyond its bounds. Here, too, individuals are finding that the structures do not fit. New pressures are making themselves felt. The Middle East situation or the problems of Northern Ireland, to mention only two familiar issues, come as a star; reminder that dialogue between people of different faith: is needed, not because it is interesting or a theologica luxury, but because, if it is not attempted, the historica consequences could be irredeemable.
What dialogue is possible? Guidance has been offerer by the World Council of Churches. Speaking to Chris tians, it points out that dialogue is not only an activiq of meetings and conferences, but also a way of living in relationship with our neighbours in all spheres of life. It stresses that only by being alert to the particular areas of tension and discrimination and to the particular opportunities for conversation and cooperation in their own context will Christians and their neighbours he able to create the conditions for dialogue. They should be especially alert to infringements of the basic human rights of religious or cultural minority groups.
Christians are urged by their very Gospel to come dose to their neighbours. If a spirit of friendship permeates ordinary neighbourhood relationships, dialogue can gradually be extended to all aspects of life. Muslims, Christians and Jews can find themselves answering together the fundamental questions facing every human being: What is man? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good? What is sin? Whence suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after death? What, finally, is the ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going? (Nostra Aerate). We may be outsiders to each other's thought patterns and worship, but we are more and more walking in a world of similar predicament and mutual involvement.
Listening respectfully and thoughtfully to the religious insights of the other can bear much fruit, not least the deepening of one's own faith. In connection with this, it is necessary to stress, as the World Council of Churches points out, that dialogue must allow participants to describe and witness to their faith in their own terms, for self-serving descriptions of other people's faith are one of the roots of prejudice, stereotyping and condescension. Silence must be created within oneself; preconceived ideas must be put aside, knowing that the other will show himself to be different from what one already thinks him to be.
To engage in dialogue is to accept the other just as he shows himself and expresses himself — what he is and what he wants to be. As Kenneth Cragg has said in Sandals at the Mosque:
"Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy. Else, we may find ourselves treading on men's dreams. More serious still, we must forget that God was here before our arrival. We must ask what is the authentic religious content in the experience of the other, not judging from outside his religious situation, but trying to sit where he sits, to enter sympathetically into the pains and griefs and joys of his history... We have, in a word, to be "present' with him.”
Being able to listen to and learn from the other is particularly vital for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three faiths proclaiming universal salvation, a salvation which stems from the same biblical roots but branches out into quite different interpretations of history. Dialogue here centres on competing truth claims, not just on interesting cultural differences. It is generally accepted that there is no unbiased method by which to judge among the conflicting truth claims of different traditions. As Monika Hellwig has pointed out, Christians are committed to proclaiming salvation in Jesus the Christ. This requires them to seek an understanding of what that salvation is, why it is linked to the person of Jesus, and how it can he universally meaningful. Christians are called to tell their story and to listen to learn what others hear in it. They are also called to listen to the stories of other traditions in an attempt to discover what their understanding of salvation is, why it is linked to particular persons, events and teachings and how it can be meaningful in terms of their own experience.
In order to engage in dialogue, it is necessary to be sensitive to history. If the horrors perpetrated by one community on another in the past are not to be repeated, some knowledge of the past relationship between our three faith-communities is essential. Only in this way can we appreciate the depth of the divisions and work for healing and reconciliation. Sorrow and deep regret for the past should make us humble and repentant in the presence of the other. Aligned to this is the need for each to take the contemporaneous character of the other seriously. This is the condition of any dialogue. Each of these faiths is a living faith; their members are not museum pieces. Each must accept the belief of the other that past revelation is never done with, never completely achieved, but continues in the stream of a living tradition.
A Shared Tradition
Integral and precious to Judaism, Christianity and Islam is a strong tradition of prayer and worship. Even the mystical tradition is present in each. Such treasures can be shared, with subsequent mutual enriching. We need also to learn to pray in a new way, not so much for, as with each other. This, of course, brings its own special problems. As Kenneth Cragg says, the realm of man's worship permeated with mystery. 'Awe, like that of Moses by the burning bush, is our proper attitude'. If the issues are over-simplified, if reverence, tactfulness and sensitivity are absent, relations between the communities will be damaged, not improved. But in our world today is it right that prayer only takes place in isolated communities? Being alive to God — together —is surely more urgently needed than striving to be orthodox about him. More will be said about this later.
Jewish-Christian-Muslim trialogue is taking place on various levels, each of which is necessary and has animportant role. There have been formal meetings of religious leaders and theologians, from which reports and joint statements have been issued, like the conference on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue at the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute. A report of that conference is contained in the second set of Graymoor Papers, published in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. However, I would prefer to restrict myself to the European scene, which is both familiar and immediate and where, as Rabbi Blue has rightly said, more is happening.
Here in Europe, the most important work has been undertaken by the Standing Conference of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Europe, significant for being first in this field. The practical beginnings of this movement are interesting. It began after the war as an attempt to reestablish some links between Jews and post-war Germany. A rabbi in England, Lionel Blue, and a German Lutheran pastor, Winfried Maechler, decided to arrange an exchange of students. They found that it was possible to meet together, to pray together, to flint each other — on the basis of religion. At the same time it began to be recognized that the Muslim population in Europe was in a very similar position to the Jewish population, in that they were a religious minority struggling to live in a way that was very firmly set by their tradition and law in a society which seemed completely ignorant of these and which, in fact, could be actively working against any possibility of fulfilling their religious duties. Added to this, Christianity is beginning to discover that it is also existing as a minority religious group in a society which does not accept many of its fundamental presuppositions.
Conferences have been held in Holland, London, Berlin and Bendorf. For the past three years I have attended the Standing Conference held at the Hedwig Dransfeld Haus in Bendorf, near Koblenz, which has pioneered Jewish-Christian-Muslim encounter in Europe. The seminars for the theology students who attend the conferences have given an opportunity for those responsible for the future spiritual leadership of the three communities to experience the other faiths at first hand at an early stage in their studies.
One aspect of the rich experience of such a conference is the sharing in the prayer of all three faiths. Rabbi Zalman Schachter of Temple Univeristy, who took part in the Graymoor Conference, has said that 'Jews, Christians and Muslims do not, can not, will not worship together even when they do meet together'. That has not been our experience at Bendorf. Of course, there have been problems, not least among the members of one's own faith, but the lesson that has been learnt there is that perhaps the first question to ask is not, What is the correct statement of my faith, or what is the correct way of worshipping together', but tow can we come together to develop through our prayer together, through our life and work together? How can we develop in ourselves that presence of God and love which will make it possible then to discuss issues on which we are divided?'
In England, the most significant initiatives are at present being taken by 'Concord', which is the Leeds/ Northern England branch of the Standing Conference of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Europe. In the Leeds situation, where there are also quite large Sikh and Hindu communities, they have extended their interfaith activites to include Sikhs and Hindus. However, a very large proportion of their meetings is concerned with JewishChristian-Muslim trialogue. The following are their main categories of interfaith meeting and encounter:
(i) The annual Three Faiths Conference;
(ii) trialogues — with invited speakers;
(iii) large public meetings in which other organizations, such as Amnesty International, Justice and Peace Commission, are invited to participate;
(iv) normal monthly meetings, often concerned with aspects of faith and practice;
(v) house group meetings and study groups.
Conditions /or Progress in the Trialogue
Before any progress can be made, it is vital that each faith accepts the other as an authentic experience of God. Only then can such delicate and difficult topics be approached — topics such as the centrality and unique role of Jesus for Christians; an understanding that Trinitarian belief is not tritheism; the non-abrogation of Torah; the question of mission; the Muslims' claim that Mohammed has received the final revelation, which means that both Judaism and Christianity are outmoded in the light of this; the link between faith and nationhood — the land of Israel as an integral part of Jewish religious consciousness. However, with regard to this last topic, it must be stressed that political questions are not a main concern of Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue and there is an insistance that it is not to become entangled in such corners as the Middle-East conflict. The Standing Conference has affirmed that its interests are spiritual and communal and that it is not a political body, nor does it have any desire to be a platform for any political group.
An early statement made in 1970 by a working party of Jews, Christians and Muslims which met in Bendorf is appropriate to quote as a summary of what has been discussed here:
"For three days we have lived together as a group of religious leaders within the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths. We have been privileged to experience a deep fellowship in that bond which is offered by our belief that we are spiritual heirs of Abraham. In an urgent desire to comprehend and be comprehended, we have expounded to each other our insights into our respective religious problems in contemporary Europe and our mutual understanding has been stimulated. Each in our own way we have commended the others to God. We have experienced proof of the fact that, given mutual effort, it is possible for those representing these three great faiths to meet each other in a positive, constructive and reconciliatory manner. Encouraged by the Experience of these three days, set, as they are, in the midst of such troublous times, we have agreed to undertake two common actions.
The first is to make the necessary arrangements that these fruitful contacts, on the religious level, might be continued and developed.
The second is that we would inform the congregations from which we come and to which, enriched by these days together, we now return, of the unusual and promising experience that has been ours. In the face of the complexity of the problems confronting our communities in Europe, well aware of those prejudices which so easily arise and so profoundly distort our thinking, and in the interests of the establishment of justice and peace in the world, we appeal to you. Let those who hear this common statement be encouraged by it to engage more directly in whatever reconciliatory action may be possible to them, as a contribution to the creation of that general atmosphere of mutual concern and goodwill, in which alone realistic hopes of understanding and peace might be developed."
That statement, although made ten years ago, is still a valid expression of the hopes of all those involved in this difficult but challenging area of dialogue.
This article appeared in Christian Jewish Relations Vol. 14 No. 3, Sept. 1981, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the editor.
* Sr. Margaret Shepherd is a member of the London Study Centre for Christian-Jewish Relations, 17 Chepstow Villas, London V7.11 3DZ.
