The Rumi Forum presented ‘Challenges of a Christian Reading of the Qur’an’ with Dr. Wilhelmus G. Valkenberg Loyola College in Maryland.
Dr. Valkenberg presented some reflections on Christian readings of the Qur’an. In the first part of the talk, Dr. Valkenberg discussed Nicholas of Cusa (1401-64) as one of the first Christians who tried to overcome the traditionally biased Christian approach to the Qur’an. In his cribratio Alkorani (“sifting of the Qur’an”) Cusanus tried to give a faithful Christian interpretation of the Qur’an that would contribute to the glory given to God by the Qur’an without detracting from the position of Christ as God’s decisive revelation for Christians. In the second part of his talk, Dr. Valkenberg gave some reflections about the possibilities for Christians to read the Qur’an in a faithful manner that does justice to both the Christian and the Islamic religious tradition. He concentrated on an interpretation of Al Imran 64: “Come to a common word between us”, since this verse has been the central text in the recent (October 2007) Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address. In conclusion, Dr. Valkenberg posed a challenge to the audience by explaining why Fethullah Gülen would certainly endorse the text of ‘a common word’, and why Dr. Valkenberg would have endorsed it as well, despite some reservations.
Dr. W.G.B.M. Valkenberg was born in the Netherlands in 1954. Between 1987 and 2007 he has been an associate professor of dogmatic theology and theology of religions at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In these years, he established many dialogue meetings in collaboration with the Gülen-inspired “Islam and Dialogue” foundation. He wrote about these dialogue initiatives and his exercises in Muslim-Christian comparative theology in the book Sharing Lights on the Way to God: Muslim-Christian Dialogue and Theology in the Context of Abrahamic Partnership (Amsterdam – New York: Editions Rodopi, 2006). Since 2006 he works in Baltimore as an associate professor of theology and Christian-Muslim relations at Loyola College in Maryland.