The Rumi Forum presented “Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism“ with author Paul L. Heck.
The idea of Christian-Muslim common ground remains controversial. There are calls for harmony, but there are also unique truth claims that cannot be ignored. There are positive examples of interfaith action, but events show that religion can divide as well as unite. What is clear is that a powerful spirit of truth is a work in religious communities, offering guidance and meaning to millions of believers. If the power of God is guiding one community, is it guiding all communities? The approach we take to this question will have undeniably important consequences for the way Christians and Muslims live and act together. Scholars have a contribution to make here. By exploring the mechanics of faith traditions, by examining the way communities think about and respond to the spirit of God, by describing in detail the way believers live out of a God-consciousness on a daily basis, scholars can point to ways in which the hearts of believers are similarly moved. Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism is one attempt to put the scholarly enterprise at the service of one of today’s more pressing issues, demonstrating that the highest standards of academia are essential part of the way religious communities fully appropriate the prompting of God’s spirit in their lives.
*To read more about Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism please visit http://www.press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9781589015074
Biography:
Paul L. Heck, associate professor in Georgetown’s Theology Department since 2004, received his doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago. He is author of The Construction of Knowledge in Islamic Civilization (2002) and Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism (2009); and is editor of The Politics of Sufism: The Power of Spirituality (2006). He was a member of Princeton University’s Society of Fellows in the Humanities (2001-2004), held the Touhy Chair in Interreligious Studies at John Carroll University (Spring 2007), and taught at Muhammad V University as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (2008-2009).