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Religious Genius

22/10/2017

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​Alon Goshen-Gottstein from the Elijah Interfaith Institute in Jerusalem has recently published a new book – Religious Genius, Appreciating Inspiring Individuals  Across Traditions. It’s been many years in the making and is the result of a project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. While it’s academic in its approach its purpose is to advance interfaith relations and engagement. I haven’t read the book and am unlikely to do so given its cost but the idea of religious genius is intriguing.  What exactly is it and is it associated with the idea of sainthood with which all religions are familiar?
 
Being an academic project it’s interested in definitions and categories. It recognises the importance of saints within religious traditions but hopes to extend an appreciation of religious figures beyond their own tradition and perhaps even beyond the confines of religion at all. This is not something new to those of us involved in interfaith relations of course. The journey into the faith of others opens us to the wisdom, strength and courage found in the stories of significant figures in other faiths, though not all of them would be categorised as geniuses. For me an element of genius would have to be a new insight into reality or religion, the impact of the message and the lasting effect of its inspiration.  The founders of many of the world religions could fall into this category.
 
This month Baha’is the world over are celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of their founder Baha’u’llah.  The Baha’i religion is a young faith, seen as heretical by Shia Muslims in Iran, sometimes categorised as a new religious movement rather than a world faith by others such as the Vatican for within the history of religion two hundred years is a short time. It’s only recently that the Vatican has entered into a formal dialogue with Sikhism which was founded in the sixteenth century.  It’s interesting though to see a religion in its early days when institutionalisation doesn’t seem to have taken over or debates about the truth of its teaching divided its followers. There’s a freshness in its approach and a beauty in its prayers. An advantage it has over most other religions is that Baha’u’llah was prolific in his writings and Baha’is have a record of what he said. These have been collected into over a hundred volumes which makes studying the Baha’i scriptures a bit difficult. It’s good to have the exact words of the founder but no doubt there will come a time, and perhaps it has already come, that some of these writings will need to be interpreted for another age for insightful and beautiful as they are, they are conditioned by the context in which they were written. A Baha’i friend of mine was quite surprised when she learned that Christians don’t have verbatim reports of the words of Jesus.  
 
The story of Baha’u’llah’s life follows a pattern that is common in the founders of other faiths. His message was foretold and prepared for by a herald, known as the Bab, which means gate in Arabic, a bit like John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus or the hanifs preparing the way for Mohammed’s message.  The Bab, however, is regarded as more than just a messenger, being recognised as a manifestation of God and as such is a co-founder of the Bahai faith.  Baha’u’llah, like the Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Guru Nanak spent some time in the wilderness, alone in meditation after which he announced his message for the world. Like other founders his message was a challenge to the prevailing culture in which he lived and he proved his fidelity to God’s call by his willingness to suffer for what he preached.   
 
The similarities in the lives of religious founders in no way invalidates their stories but shows, perhaps, that religious geniuses, if indeed they were that, will be a challenge to the  culture and religion in which they live, will have to suffer for what they believe, will inspire others to continue their teaching and keep their memory alive. It’s possible to respect and admire the centrality of their teaching, accepting their goodness and significance without believing in their claims of uniqueness. So many people can and do admire Jesus and his teaching without believing that he is the unique Son of God, many people can and do admire Mohammed without believing that he is the last and final prophet and many people can and do admire Baha’u’llah and not accept that he is a unique manifestation of God.
 
The idea and contribution of the idea of religious genius might be that it is a category that allows us to accept and admire the force of a person’s life, the importance of his or her teaching, the impact of their message on the life of their followers and yet bring with it a sense of detachment which does not require commitment or conversion.  It allows us to see humanity at its best and do what Pope Francis encouraged us to do at a recent gathering for peace in Al- Azar University, that is welcome one another as fellow-travellers “in the genuine conviction that the good of each resides in the good of all”  

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A Welcome Visitor

8/10/2017

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This has been a busy week on the interfaith front. We were very lucky and privileged to have Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald with us this last week in Scotland as the guest of the Scottish Bishops’ Committee for Interreligious Dialogue.  Archbishop Fitzgerald is a missionary, an expert in Christian – Muslim relations and the past president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.  We worked him hard. He gave talks in Edinburgh and Glasgow, gave the Time for Reflection at the Scottish Parliament, met university students and participated in a schools’ conference.

As someone who worked at the heart of the Catholic Church Archbishop Michael informed us of some of the formal dialogues set up by the Church. One was a dialogue set up in 2003 on Exploring Spiritual Resources for Peace which produced a statement read out by Pope John Paul before thousands of people in St Peter’s Square. If such a statement was needed in 2003 it’s surely more needed today, though many people would say that the conflicts between religions are more political than religious. In some parts of the world religious and national identity have become confused. Religion is identified with nationalism and used as a reason for denying civic identity, encouraging conflict and violence. At their best religions teach the way of peace and their scriptures are, as the Vatican document states, important resources for peace but it also acknowledges that scripture has often been and continues to be used to justify violence and war. The document says
”Our various communities cannot ignore such passages which have often been misinterpreted or manipulated for unworthy goals such as power, wealth, or revenge, but we must all recognize the need for new, contextual studies and a deeper understanding of our various scriptures that clearly enunciate the   message and value of peace for all humanity”.

Is this suggesting that scriptural study might be necessary for dialogue? It can be difficult to dialogue around a passage of scripture when one conversant takes the scriptures literally and the other understands it within the context in which it was written. Sometimes literal readings can be negative and cause embarrassment while understanding the context can make a difference. For example to know that the Islamic injunction for a Muslim man to have four wives was given in the context of war when many women and children would have been left unprotected in a patriarchal society makes it an expression of compassion more than oppression, as is often thought. All faiths have texts that are difficult. It’s in sharing them that we come to see them in the light of another’s self-understanding. It was only through dialogue that I came to see that the Christian text which suggests that in Christ Jesus there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or freeman  could be seen as denying Judaism an identity rather than a text about unity and inclusion. Certainly not suitable for an interfaith service!

More than once Archbishop Michael mentioned that were the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue to be set up now he would prefer it to be called the Council for Interreligious Relations as interfaith is more than dialogue. While formal dialogues are important good relations include working together on social projects, living together, establishing good friendships. In the end good interfaith relations depend on friendship and it’s friendship that helps us face the difficult questions and be honest in our conversations. It’s friendship that cultivates the trust that’s necessary for  interfaith encounters to progress and contribute to peace in our world. It’s friendship that will help us develop our own spirituality and engage in the spiritual adventure of our age which is to pass over into the religion of another and come back to our own changed. It helps us be religious interreligiously. And while formal high powered dialogues are important good relations at grass roots level are vital – often, the Archbishop admitted, sustained by local interfaith groups which are often managed and kept alive by interfaith enthusiasts. In a sense enthusiasts are like prophets, witnessing to the importance of interfaith and encouraging the involvement of others. A friend of mine who has recently got involved a little in interfaith admitted that before this she had never met, talked to, had coffee with someone of another faith – and she will not be the only one for many of us still live within our cultural and religious bubbles.

A good number of people met Archbishop Fitzgerald. Many have said how inspired they were by him and impressed to know how much is going on in interfaith relations at a global level. I hope the Archbishop was equally impressed by what he learned of interfaith work here in Scotland. We may be a small country but we are proud of our good interfaith relations and the many opportunities that we have to develop them even more and to make links with the wider world. 
 

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    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

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