Through the Eyes of Islam

Weaving stories of interfaith dialogue with new theological paradigms, Roy Hange and Calvin Shenk challenged students and faculty packed into Seminary Room 123 Thursday afternoon to take a fresh look at their own Christianity through the eyes of "the other."

That "other" referred mainly to Islam and its view of Christians. Roy Hange, long-term resident of both Syria and Iran, student of Eastern Orthodoxy and of the Islamic faith, peacemaker and current pastor of the Charlottesville Mennonite Church and overseer in the Virginia Mennonite Conference, gave the main presentation.

Shenk, a long-term resident of Israel, the West Bank and Addis Ababa under the aegis of Mennonite Board of Missions (Mennonite Mission Network) and Mennonite Central Committee, and professor emeritus of Missions at Eastern Mennonite University, gave a brief response.

Hange's message was more of a historical, concise, systematic examination of how a segment theology has evolved to begin exploring other faiths and understanding their theologies. He opened the presentation with one of many funny interesting stories that represented these interfaith relationships. He told of an incident in Tehran where he was approached by someone in the streets that identified him as being non-Islamic and walked up to him and opened his jacket to reveal contraband bacon, illegal in Iran, and inquired if he would like some.

He used this analogy to tie into the fascination with the forbidden to transform relationships, going on to explore how within these interfaith perspectives, people like Jesus ,who was not fully accepted in his own culture, was able to reach out to different people in the politics of the time. Hange also explored how transparent orthodoxy, a reading of scriptures in other interfaith settings, transformed his approach into looking at different issues. This was a change in frames of theological witness dialogue from one of conviction to dialogue. Within this context he also touched on the development from redemptive violence to one of redemptive suffering; from a grace and sin focus to engage and become ambassadors of reconciliation.

Hange touched on the grey areas of the various interfaith relationships, pointing out that we as Christians live within grey zones and at times, participate in the structures that form the grey zones in which other faiths live in.

He concluded by posing three questions concerning scripture:

First, what is our view and what is the "other" view? He referenced Matt. 25:31 and Romans 2:1-16 noting that the passages referred to "the peoples" and were not tied directly to confession. Secondly, is scripture a bridge or a wall? Hange views this as an inquiry of who you are in relation to God. There was ample arena to use it as a bridge to overcome differences. Thirdly, is it conversion, conversation, or both? He told of some Islamic scholars who asked him to speak to them like he intended to convert them.

Calvin Shenk responded by asking what we had done to encourage dialogue, answering rhetorically that it is better to live in dialogue with other faiths and in the process build trust rather than view them as only potential converts. This is needed, he insisted, if different faiths are to come together.

Members of the audience pressed Hange on his new paradigm of mission theology, questioning whether he was dismissing conversion as a goal. Hange repeated his call for dialogue and understanding of other faiths, alluding to, but not quite insisting that we accept their theologies in the process. The ACRS (Anabaptist Center for Religion and Society) sponsored the forum on our "Understandings of Scripture and Interfaith Relationships" presented by Hange with a response from Calvin Shenk. Norman Kraus, a retired Bible and religion professor from Goshen College and former missionary to Japan, moderated the forum.