Interfaith Journeys
  • Home
  • Interfaith Journeys
  • Stella Reekie

Interfaith Hospitality

8/3/2015

0 Comments

 
PictureRoublev's ikon depicting the three visitors to Abraham and seen by Christians as an image of the Trinity.
Hospitality has been on my mind this week because  I was asked to take part in a scriptural reasoning session  at a Jewish study day celebrating aspects of Jewish culture and diversity.  Scriptural Reasoning's an approach to interfaith relations which focuses on reading scripture texts on a common theme from various faith traditions. It began about 20 years ago with Jewish scholars engaged in a havruta style of reading Torah ( in which pairs or small groups read a biblical passage together and question one another closely on its meaning) and spread to include Christians and Muslims.  It's a good way of cutting to the chase and encouraging conversation and dialogue about issues that religions hold dear.  

    Today's texts focussed on Abraham's hospitality. The Jewish      text told the story of the three visitors whom Abraham    welcomed to his tent, giving them rest, water and food. The  Rabbinic commentary on this was that the incident happened shortly after Abraham had been circumcised and that in spite of his pain he was earnest in offering hospitality. The Qur'anic text was more or less the same story, this time with the angels telling Sarah she would have a child. The Christian text was quite different. it was from Hebrews and spoke of the need for mutual love within the community and hospitality without. For me the two Abrahamic texts talked of trusting in God even in the face of the impossible. Our Muslim presenter saw the possibility of a child for a couple past child bearing age as a  death and resurrection event, even preparing readers for future deaths and resurrections, something which had more resonance for Christians than Jews. 

 Although the Genesis scripture is also Christian, the Christian text was from Hebrews, with only an allusion to the angelic visitors but no direct mention of Abraham. It did underline the need for hospitality in a divided community, a community of Jewish Christians who were in danger of backsliding into old Jewish ways and neglecting Christian belief, ritual and community. It was in this context that the author asked for mutual love, compassion and hospitality. 

At these sessions I'm aware of Jews and Muslims having a similar approach to scripture. They seem to like to analyse the text, looking for root meanings in words and constantly asking questions about its meaning.  While scripture scholars no doubt do this in Christianity, for me the approach to scripture is more reflective and prayerful - what is the meaning behind the words, what does it tell us about God, Jesus, human beings and how we should live. To analyse words can be interesting enough but to question the exact meaning of words and how factual the information is doesn't seem as important as gleaning the religious message.  And in this case hospitality was at the heart of all our scriptures. 

The very fact of being part of a study day was a lesson in hospitality in itself. Not only was I able to participate in a workshop but I was able to attend two other workshops. One of them was on some rabbinic understandings of Jesus which weren't very complementary, one story suggesting that in eternity Jesus was being punished with boiling excrement!  A friend was concerned I would be insulted by some of the suggestions but our leader was at pains to stress how the stories reflected a growing distance between Christianity and Judaism and had to be understood in this context - not too dissimilar from some of the theology of Hebrews when Jesus is compared to the Jewish High Priest and his death with Temple sacrifice. I wasn't at all insulted.  We need to be honest about our texts and to recognise the historical circumstances that gave rise to them and the reality that is reflected in them. it's just a shame that once set down in words they can be taken literally and used to destroy rather than build relationships. Thank goodness for scriptural reasoning and our ability to be honest and straightforward with one another, not dodging difficult texts but not allowing them to weaken relationships.  

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    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.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories
    Religious Performances
    ​​

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.