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CHARLESTON, SC: “God” in Christianity and Islam: Are they the same “God”?
By David W. Virtue in Charleston, SC
www.virtueonline.org
1/16/2009
Do Muslims and Christians believe in the same God?
According to Methodist theologian Dr. William Abraham, Christians and Muslims believe the same God exists, but they do not worship the same God.
The outspoken Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology and an Islamic scholar told a gathering of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and laity at a Mere Anglican conference meeting in St. Luke’s cathedral, that Christians and Muslims believe the same God exists. “Christians and Muslims can identify their God as the one and only creator of the universe worthy of worship and obedience and they disagree with atheists and agnostics.”
“The question revolves around the issue of sameness of identity. Is the God of Christianity the same God as the God of Islam? Is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the same God as the God of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad?
The issue is, at bottom, a pivotal philosophical one, says Abraham.
“My thesis is this: Christians and Muslims believe in the same God; they do not worship the same God. Christians and Muslims can both identify their God as the one and only Creator of the world who is all good, all powerful, and worthy of worship and obedience. Both Christians and Muslims believe that this God exists; they disagree with atheists and agnostics on this score. Both Christians and Muslims are realists with respect to truth.”
Abraham said President George Bush is in agreement with many Muslim leaders when he claims that Muslims worship the same Almighty as Christians Dr. Richard Lund took him to task saying Bush was mistaken. “We should always remember that he is commander in chief, not theologian in chief. The Bible is clear on this: The one and true God is Jehovah and his only begotten Son is Jesus Christ.”
Abraham noted, with some irony, that an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has announced she is both a Christian and a Muslim. A priest for more than 20 years, her bishop handed her an ultimatum: resign the priesthood, deny being a Muslim, or be deposed.
“In the context of worship Christians insist on the identity of God as laid out in the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed; they speak of God as Father; they name God as ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ The practices of the Church show that we pray to the Triune God, that we baptize in the name of ‘The Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’ and that we praise God as the Triune God.
“These are not incidental phrases; they are canonical; they are constitutive of the identity of God in the Church. All of this is resolutely, systematically, and canonically rejected by Islam.”
Abraham said that these differences cut so deep that in this context, it is natural that we do not worship the same God.
“The same line of argument applies to Christian and Muslim references to Jesus. They have different names for Jesus, ‘Jesus’ and ‘Isa’, but they both believe that the same human agent existed. They both believe that a first century prophet, born of a virgin, known to Christ as Jesus, lived. When we shift into the context of worship, Christians and Muslims clearly do not revere the same ‘Jesus.’ Muslims and Christians believe the same Jesus existed, but they do not obey and are not devoted to the same Jesus. Thus Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified; and they consider the Christian attitude to Jesus to be that of idolatry and blasphemy.
“Jesus is merely one of the prophets of God, and not the most important one. The differences are too radical to allow sameness of identity in this context, for Christians revere and worship Jesus as crucified Savior, risen Lord, and Unique Son of God.”
Abraham said, in the light of this thesis, the Episcopal Church is right to depose The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding if she does not either resign her priesthood or deny that she is a Muslim She is simply mistaken to claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. If this were the case, then the distinctions between Islam Christianity would be akin to the distinctions between various Christian ecclesial bodies; Christianity would be a version of Islam and Islam would be a version of Christianity.
“President Bush is mistaken when he makes the same claim.”
Abraham said that when he spoke to a group of Muslims in Kazakhstan, he assumed that they believed in the same God. “I did not try to first make them into atheists or agonistics and then seek to bring them to believe in the God of Christianity. I sought to build on our shred, initial conception of God and to persuade them that the full truth about God and his great salvation had come in Christ.”
“Muslims often identify the Trinity with God, Mary, and the Holy Spirit. When it comes to references to Jesus as the Son of God, Muslims invariably think of Sonship in terms of physical paternity. There are severe linguistic challenges in enabling Muslims to come to terms with the doctrine of the Trinity.”
Abraham rejected this as all just “philosophical nitpicking” when some Christians argue that we should concentrate on more basic issues like love of neighbor, undermining religious extremism, and building peaceable, inclusive, tolerant communities. Certainly, many mainline Christians are tempted to press this kind of challenge, he said.
“The issue of the Christian and Muslim identity of God is not mere hair-splitting; mutual understanding requires that we deal with it.”
Abraham said that the challenges of virulent atheism and secularism are here to stay. The challenges of race and gender have by no means run their course. However, the challenge of Islam adds spice to the mix; it adds whole new dimensions to the epistemological and political issues that currently preoccupy us.
“We will have to revisit the complex theological foundations of Western democracies, sort through how to deal with theologically motivated terrorism, and revisit the nature and limits of religious freedom.
“Second, we will have to overhaul our current obsession with inclusivism, political correctness, and diversity. These, when absolutized, cannot begin to do justice to the deep incompatible commitments that arise when you have real diversity and radical pluralism. Third, we will have to revisit the epistemological issues that swirl around the appeal to special revelation, to public truth, and to reasoned argument.”
Abraham said Christians could no longer take refuge in philosophically oriented conceptions of God as Absolute, Being, Ground of Being and Process.
Abraham said we now face a massive doctrinal and theological deficit at the local church level. “Western mainline Christianity is in disarray. Many of its clergy and members are ignorant and unteachable; they are totally ill-equipped to understand much less offer an intelligible response to Muslim criticism. Evangelicalism is numerically strong, but it too is fragmented; in some places it is saturated in eschatologies that are out and out heretical when measured against the faith of the church.
“Currently evangelicalism is in the throes of one more face-lift in which a new disillusioned generation is madly networking, hoping against hope that something new will emerge. As I see it, cherry-picking the past together with betting the store on a shot-gun wedding with postmodern philosophy is not a recipe that will serve us well in the long run. Certainly, eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism offer vast resources and experience; but the jury is out on whether they will face up to the stewardship of those resources.
“I see the debate about the identity of God as a welcome catalyst to awaken us from our dogmatic slumbers and replenish the theological store for future generations. It calls for a fresh engagement with the canonical faith of the Church.”
Footnote: In a panel discussion, Abraham said that Pacifism is immoral in the face of Muslim terrorism. “We are not a nation state; we have shifted into a market state.”