Differing Views of Muslim-Christian Dialogue

A few months ago 138 Christian leaders, including a number of evangelical notables from Fuller Theological Seminary, Christianity Today, and the National Association of Evangelicals were signatories to an open letter, "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to 'A Common Word Between Us and You.'" Originating with several significant scholars from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, and published in the Novemeber 18, 2007 New York Times , it was a response to an open letter by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals from around the world.

This week leaders from several Baptist bodies (American Baptist Churches USA, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Alliance of Baptists) announced that they had met on January 4-5 in Hartford, Conn with Dr. Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America "to begin discussions on ways Baptist and Muslims can speak, share and learn from each other as we seek to fulfill Paul's admonition in Romans 12:18 'If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.'"

Since this is an important subject as well as a timely one, I wanted to refer my readers to the recent statement on the subject of Christian-Muslim dialogue by Dr. John Piper:




One can hardly listen to the passionate appeal of Dr. Piper without being moved by his sincerity and urgency of concern for the lost. Piper has long been a model of lifting high the cross of Jesus Christ as the only hope for an alienated humanity. He delivered his message without harsh words or bitter acrimony. Indeed, the power of his message is strengthened by the humble passion coupled with burning zeal for the glory of God. Since so many of those connected with the Yale effort are fellow alums with him of Fuller seminary, it will be interesting to see what response they make to it.

References:
Yale Center for Faith & Culture - http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm
Baptist press release - http://www.abc-usa.org/news/2008/20080123a.htm
John Piper video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTY-9FY13kw