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Christian and Muslim Perspectives POWER DIVINE AND HUMAN PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED RECORDS OF BUILDING BRIDGES SEMINARS The Road Ahead: A Christian–Muslim Dialogue, Michael Ipgrave, editor (London: Church House, 2002) Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims Studying the Bible and the Qurʾān Together, Michael Ipgrave, editor (London: Church House, 2004) Bearing the Word: Prophecy in Biblical and Qurʾānic Perspective, Michael Ipgrave, editor (London: Church House, 2005) Building a Better Bridge: Muslims, Christians, and the Common Good, Michael Ipgrave, editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008) Justice and Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Michael Ipgrave, editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009) Humanity: Texts and Contexts: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Michael Ipgrave and David Marshall, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011) Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation, and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam, David Marshall, editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011) Science and Religion: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, David Marshall, editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2012) Tradition and Modernity: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, David Marshall, editor (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2012) Prayer: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, David Marshall and Lucinda Mosher, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013) Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, David Marshall and Lucinda Mosher, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2014) The Community of Believers: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2015) Sin, Forgiveness, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2016) God’s Creativity and Human Action: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2017) Monotheism and Its Complexities: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall, editors (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2018) POWER DIVINE AND HUMAN Christian and Muslim Perspectives A Record of the Sixteenth Building Bridges Seminar Hosted by Georgetown University May 8–12, 2017 LUCINDA MOSHER DAVID MARSHALL EDITORS Georgetown University Press / Washington, DC © 2019 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for third-party websites or their content. URL links were active at time of publication. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Building Bridges Seminar (16th : 2017 : Warrenton, Va.), author. | Mosher, Lucinda, editor. | Marshall, David, 1963- editor. Title: Power : Divine and Human : Christian and Muslim Perspectives : a record of the Sixteenth Building Bridges Seminar hosted by Georgetown University, May 8/12, 2017 / Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall, editors. Other titles: Record of the Sixteenth Building Bridges Seminar Description: Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2019005029 (print) | LCCN 2019022055 (ebook) | ISBN 9781626167285 (hardcover : qalk. paper) | ISBN 9781626167292 (pbk. : qalk. paper) | ISBN 9781626167308 (ebook : qalk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Power (Christian theology)—Congresses. | Christianity and politics—Congresses. | Islam and politics—Congresses. | Christianity and other religions—Islam—Congresses. | Islam—Relations—Christianity—Congresses. Classifi cation: LCC BT738.25 (ebook) | LCC BT738.25 .B85 2017 (print) | DDC 261.2/7—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019005029 ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. 20 19 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing Printed in the United States of America. Cover design by Debra Naylor. Contents Participants vii Introduction 1 PART ONE: OVERVIEWS The Power of God and Islam’s Regime of Power on Earth 9 Jonathan Brown Religion and Power: A Christian Perspective 19 Philip Sheldrake PART TWO: THE THEME OF “POWER” IN MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES The Contours of God’s Power: An Introduction to Passages from the Qurʾan and Hadith 31 Martin Nguyen The Qurʾan and Hadith on God’s Power: Islamic Texts for Dialogue 43 Biblical Conceptions of Power—Divine and Human 51 Stephen L. Cook The Bible on Divine and Human Power: Christian Texts for Dialogue 65 PART THREE: THE THEME OF “POWER AND COMMUNITY” IN ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN WRITINGS Ideals and Realities of Muslim Community Ordering 77 Ahmet Alibašić Islamic Texts on Ideals and Realities of Muslim Community Ordering 87 From Nation to Church: The Community of God’s Rule 95 Joan O’Donovan Christian Texts on the Community of God’s Rule 109 vi Contents PART FOUR: POLITICAL POWER AND FAITH The Role of the Community in the Broader World: Islamic Perspectives 119 Mahan Mirza Islamic Texts for Dialogue on Community in the Broader World 125 Faith and Political Power: A “Non-Establishment” Reading of the Christian Tradition 139 Jonathan Chaplin Christian Texts for Dialogue on Faith and Political Power 149 PART FIVE: REFLECTIONS Conversations on Power: Some Refl ections on Building Bridges Seminar 2017 157 Lucinda Mosher Subject Index 171 Scriptural Citation Index 181 About the Editors 187 Participants in Building Bridges Seminar 2017 Hussein Abdulsater, University of Notre Dame, USA Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University, USA Ahmet Alibašić, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina Ovamir Anjum, University of Toledo, USA Mehdi Azaiez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Jonathan Chaplin, Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK Stephen L. Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary, USA Maria Massi Dakake, George Mason University, USA Gavin D’Costa, University of Bristol, UK Susan Eastman, Duke University Divinity School, USA Brandon Gallaher, University of Exeter, UK Sidney Griffi th, Catholic University of America, USA Damian Howard, SJ, Heythrop College, University of London, UK Tuba Işık, University of Paderborn, Germany Ann Jervis, Wycliffe College, Canada Azza Karam, United Nations, USA Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA Daniel Madigan SJ, Georgetown University, USA David Marshall, Georgetown University, USA Thomas Michel, SJ, Georgetown University, USA Mahan Mirza, University of Notre Dame, USA Lucinda Mosher, Hartford Seminary, USA Martin Nguyen, Fairfi eld University, USA Joan O’Donovan, The University of Edinburgh, UK Elizabeth Phillips, University of Cambridge, UK Shirin Shafaie, Oxford University, UK Philip Sheldrake, Westcott House, University of Cambridge, UK This page intentionally left blank Introduction Founded in 2002 as an initiative of the Archbishop of Canterbury and under the stewardship of Georgetown University since 2012, the Building Bridges Semi- nar is an annual international gathering of scholar- practitioners of Islam and Christianity for the purpose of deep dialogical study of texts— scriptural and otherwise— selected to provoke complex discussion of a carefully framed theme, such as revelation, prophethood, prayer, science and religion, or human destiny. Meetings have been held in many locales— among them, Qatar, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Singapore, Rome, and the United Kingdom. The conversation cir- cle is always well balanced, with Christians and Muslims in nearly equal number and women well represented in both cohorts. While most Christian participants have been Anglican or Roman Catholic, care has been taken to include Orthodox and Protestant scholars. Similarly, most Muslim participants have been Sunni, but Shi’a have always taken part. This book presents the proceedings of the six- teenth Building Bridges Seminar, which took place May 8–12, 2017, at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia. Chaired by Daniel A. Madigan SJ, the Jeanette W. and Otto J. Ruesch Family Associate Professor in Georgetown’s Department of Theology, the Seminar’s theme was Power—Divine and Human: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. The Building Bridges Seminar had turned to the theme of power on the heels of robust discussion of monotheism during its 2016 convening. When addressing matters of monotheism and power, the planners found themselves in somewhat parallel situations. On both questions, the received wisdom is that one tradition has basically resolved the issue and the other has not: “everyone knows” that Christians have diffi culty substantiating their claim to be monotheists, just as “everyone knows” that Muslims have diffi culty distinguishing between God’s power and their own. Any dialogical framework for examining either theme 2 Introduction would ask hard questions of the scriptures and authoritative traditions of both religions. The Building Bridges Seminar’s method of studying together provides a framework within which adherents of each religion demonstrate for the other how they have grappled with and are in fact still grappling with those questions. And in watching each other wrestle with the larger issue from within the partic- ularities of our respective traditions, we gain insights into the
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