The Structure of Religion

Setting the Stage
Using Paul Jones and William Leffler's model ("The Structure of Religion: Judaism and Christianity, the following bullets are from page 18), let's identify the following components of the three traditions:

• The Individual
  
• The Bridge-Link: This term identifies the vehicle that both initiates the process of the Individual self-consciously joining a religion and connects him to the Essential Element of that specific religion.
• The Essential Element: This phrase refers to the constitutive, core component of that religion, which if it is removed from that religion no longer exists, though it may still be a religion of some sort.
• The Religion: this word identifies the specific religion. For our purposes [in the Children of Abraham class, this means] Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.

Judaism's Structure

• The Individual
  
• The Bridge-Link: Conscious Self-Identification as a Jew, and a member of the Jewish people. "...a belief in one God is not sufficient to make a person a Jew. Rather, it is one's Conscious Self-Identification as a Jew, an identity that has been learned and acquired ...through participation in the Jewish community..." (Jones and Leffler 22)
  
• The Essential Element: The Jewish People (in Relationship to God). The essential element is the "historic Jewish People, the people who stood at the base of Mount Sinai so many centuries ago and said 'yes' to God... Judaism is the Religion of this viable and visible group of people throughout the pages of history from that ancient time until the present,...extending into the future.
  
• The Religion: Judaism.

Christianity's Structure

• The Individual
  
• The Bridge-Link: Faith-Belief. "Failure to subscribe to normative standards may cause a person to forfeit his place in the community of faith, that is, to be considered non-Christian by other Christians" (19).
  
• The Essential Element: Christ (God). Without Christ, there is no Christianity. "...the triune structure innate to Christian experience, and therefore Christian belief, mandates that Christ, plus God, be the Essential Element" (20).
  
• The Religion: Christianity

Islam's Structure (developed by me, with some trepidation, for the purposes of this class)

• The Individual
  
• The Bridge-Link: The Shahada. The Shahada has sometimes been called the Creed of Islam. It is a declaration of belief in one God who has no associates, and that Muhammad is the prophet of God. "Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharik lahu, wa-ashhadu anna Muhammad 'abduhu wa-rasuluh." Translation: I testify that none is god except Allah, He is One without associates to Him; and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.
• The Essential Element: Revelation of God to Muhammad in the Qur'an. Without the revelation of God to Muhammad, recorded in the Qur'an, there would be no Islam. Muhammad lived in the tribal Arab peninsula amongst Jewish, Christian, and pagan/polytheistic tribes. His earliest followers were well-versed in the stories of the Hebrew Bible and of Jesus. The Qur'an contains a multitude of references to well-known Biblical figures without explanation; the text assumes previous knowledge of the Abrahamic/Judaeo-Christian worldview. Without God's revelation to Muhammad, however, a new religion called Islam (a word used in the revelation) would not have been born. The monotheists and monotheistic sympathizers in the region may very well have evolved an Arab form of Judaism or Christianity. It was God's revelation to Muhammad that birthed Islam. Muhammad is considered the final and latest prophet of the continuous line from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Abraham- Ibrahim, Moses- Musa) to Jesus (Isa), and God's revelation to Muhammad was meant to reform and guide the previous mistaken interpretations and behaviors of the earlier Abrahamic communities.
• The Religion: Islam, which means "submission to God." It derives from the Arabic root sin, lam, mim, or S, L, M, which is the same root used to form the word salaam, meaning "peace."
  

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

"Orthodoxy is not the best term to use when characterizing Islam's sense of right religion. A better term is orthopraxy, which means 'right practice' and comes much closer to the reality of Muslim devotion and obedience to God. Here Islam is much closer in spirit and practice to Judaism that to Christianity. Christianity stresses doctrinal clarity and understanding by means of creeds, dogmas, and theologies. Islam and Judaism, on the other hand, view religion as a way of life and a ritual patterning of that life under God's lordship...

The fact that a Jewish-Islamic religious blending did not succeed does not mean that fundamental similarities and structural as well as functional affinities were lacking; it was because of the Jews' and Muslims' differing views on the provenance of Muhammad's prophecies."

Frederick Mathewson Denny, An Introduction to Islam, page 103

Plan for October 21

When I first hatched the idea to have an interfaith class, I had no idea how much I would struggle to prepare. How do I convey the right things to a class of people with varying degrees of knowledge about our sibling Abrahamic traditions? How do I touch on the most important aspects of each faith tradition? How can I do the world's Muslims and Jews justice and honor?

Whew! Ok, deep breath....... step back.

There are a few things I have to acknowledge so that I am not disappointed:
-I have five weeks, an accumulated 7.5 hours.
-There are three Abrahamic traditions.
-The religious culture of these faith traditions spans over 3,000 years.
-I CAN NEVER and WILL NEVER be able to do everything I want in such a short period of time. I can't hold myself to an impossible standard.

God will do God's work - the Spirit will move through the class. And with God's help, I will convey something to someone that is meaningful.

Oh dear God, I hope so.

And so, this blog will be a resource for the class to use between class meetings to cover all those little things that didn't get said during the class.

I'm very excited about the class.

Al-Fatihah

Has al-Fatihah ever sounded more beautiful?

Children of Abraham

The Children of Abraham: Interfaith Understanding class at St. John's Episcopal Church begins Wednesday October 21, and lasts five weeks - each Wednesday night from 6:30-8:00pm.

I am passionate about interfaith dialogue - particularly among the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) - because I am terrified of the consequences of silence, fear, prejudice, and slander. Fear of the other leads to prejudice, stereotyping, and lies, which in turn lead to a violent theology and demonization of the other, finally to brutality and murder.

As a Christian, Episcopalian, and a spiritual seeker, I cannot, in good conscience, say the words of my baptismal covenant, swearing to "seek God in all persons and respect the dignity of every human being," and remain aloof and uninvolved in the quest for interfaith understanding.

I studied Religion at Transylvania University, traveling to Poland, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Egypt, and spending a semester in Morocco - pushing, pulling, trudging, trekking, and digging through questions of faith, belief, ethnicity, politics, gender, language, and history. I'm still not satiated in my quest for answers; I came away from my undergraduate experience having figured some things, but I am just as full of questions now as I was at 18 years old. These questions motivate me; my memories and stories inspire me to continue learning, searching, and to start to share.

Children of Abraham is my first substantial attempt to share my experiences in a church setting in order to begin a conversation. St. John's is a loving, welcoming, and progressive place; I very much look forward to the class and the discussions that we will have.

When I was living in Morocco, I had ample time for reflection and meditation. I spent a lot of time reading and writing, and found a renewed enthusiasm for prayer and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. I used the Psalms - conveniently included at the end of the BCP - often to calm my mind, focus my thoughts, and to pray to God.

Psalm 133 has for a long while been one of my favorites, and while living in the bustling capital city of Rabat, it spoke to me in a powerful way.

Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!

2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.

3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

It still resonates as a powerful injunction to all believers (e.g. monotheists) to learn to live together in peace.