The Rumi Forum presented “Christian-Muslim Dialogue: One More Word” with Jane I. Smith, Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at Harvard Divinity School.
On February 26, 2009, during the Rumi Forum Luncheon Series, Dr. Jane Smith spoke about the necessity of dialogue between Christians and Muslims that stems from past misunderstandings, which have led to anger and distrust between the two faiths. One recent event, Pope Benedict’s Regansburg Address in 2006, deeply offended the Muslim community, and in response, Muslims from different ideologies gathered to build common ground between Christians and Muslims. A letter was written to Pope Benedict entitled A Common Word Between Us and You. Using a Surra from the Qur’an, Muslim leaders proclaimed a common ground between Islam and Christianity.
Some religious communities were excited to engage in this dialogue while others worried that no true dialogue could take place without first addressing the injustices against Christians in Muslim countries and also the impossiblity for Christians to articulate their understanding of the Trinity. Of the two efforts that arose within the Christian community, one came from Pope Benedict who affirmed the importance of looking at commonalities between Christians and Muslims. The discussion ended with a list of questions that Christians are faced with in light of this dialogue. One of which is, should we welcome this document at face value or are there too many theological barriors that exits? She recognizes that there should and will be more that must be asked before the problems facing dialogue between Christains and Muslims will ever disappear.
Jane Smith returned to Harvard Divinity School in July 2008 as associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and Senior Lecturer in Divinity. She was at Harvard from 1973 to 1986, serving as a professor of comparative religion and, at various times, associate director of the Center for the Study of World Religions and associate dean of HDS. In 1986, Jane left Harvard to become vice president and dean of Iliff School of Theology in Denver. In more recent years, she has been Professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary and co-director of its Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. She teaches and writes on women in Islam, Muslim communities in America, and historical and theological relations between Christians and Muslims. A member of the Commission on Interfaith Relations of the National Council of Churches of Christ, she is a frequent participant in Christian-Muslim dialogue meetings. Among her recent publications are Islam in America (revised 2009); Educating the Muslims of America (2009, co-edited with Farid Senzai and Yvonne Haddad); Muslims, Christians and the Challenge of Interfaith Dialogue (2007); Muslim Women in America (2006, co-authored with Yvonne Haddad); and Visible and Invisible: Muslim Communities in the West (2002)
Moderator:
Yvonne Haddad, Ph.D., is Professor of the History of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Professor Haddad’s fields of expertise include twentieth-century Islam; intellectual, social and political history in the Arab world; and Islam in North America and the West. Currently, Professor Haddad is conducting research on Muslims in the West and on Islamic Revolutionary Movements. She also teaches courses on Muslim-Christian Relations and Arab Intellectuals.