As long as Islamic studies uncritically defers to Islamic theology the situation will never improve. This is because Islamic theology, compared to the theology of the other great faiths, is extremely intolerant of everything that does not support its own viewpoint and aggressively seeks victory over, rather than an understanding of, opposing views.

D. Wayne Bogue

The VCI coaches are careful not to impose a particular vision. Rather, they work with congregations to develop their own unique vision for a “robust esprit de corps,” or “spirit of the body.” Congregations focus on their internal spiritual life and dynamic missional engagement with the world.

In a culture many describe as frantic, manic and high-velocity, how can congregations discern the future that God has for them?

Church leaders, both lay and clergy, know that transformation is no easy venture. Many congregations desire real transformation but lack the knowledge to begin. Debbie Rundlett, executive of Muskingham Valley Presbytery (Ohio), understands: “If congregations knew what to do [to achieve transformation] they would do it.”

How can congregations experience deep change and convey the Good News of Jesus Christ in a vital and dynamic way to the next generation?

That challenge rose in the heart of the Dr. E. Stanley Ott during his 18-year tenure as pastor of Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Ott founded the Vital Churches Institute (VCI), and out of that initial question came The Acts 16:5 Initiative. The apostles’ description of the early Church became their motto: “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.” Acts 16:5 (NRSV)

Ott writes about the Initiative: “We long to see our congregations grow in their spiritual vitality and in missional engagement within their communities and world.”

The Vital Churches Institute’s vision is to help congregations and regional governing bodies experience the transformation that comes from a Christ-engaging way of life. Since the inception of the Initiative, more than 600 congregations in almost 30 presbyteries have worked with VCI in an intentional process of transformation.

The Initiative’s positive focus on regional governing bodies is unique among approaches to transformation. Again, Ott: “Our conviction is that no structure or body is more strategically positioned to shape and to encourage congregations for transformation and missional engagement than a presbytery.” (emphasis original) This conviction is demonstrated in the broad appeal of the Initiative.

The Acts 16:5 Initiative, says Ott, “has drawn congregations from across the theological spectrum.” In each regional governing body, congregations who might differ, sometimes passionately, on hot-button issues, find common ground and benefit from the focus of Acts 16:5.

Those who expect a boilerplate, one-size-fits-all program imposed from the outside are often pleasantly surprised. The VCI team coaches congregations through a three-year intentional process, beginning with a solid foundation rooted in the believer’s baptismal identity. Ott believes that transformation does not begin with programming, but with a revitalized lifestyle as God’s people…

“The Acts 16:5 Initiative,” says Rundlett, “is grounded in our identity in Christ. It’s an intentional process born out of our relationship with God and Christ. It begins in relationship with a Kingdom vision.”

Read More: http://www.layman.org/News.aspx?article=28174

Islamic studies in Europe began as a Christian missionary enterprise, born out of necessity rather than interest. Islam was the first religion Christianity encountered that, as theological doctrine, sought to convert Christians and regulate their religious practices. In turn, Catholic priests and monks, particularly in the Middle East, Spain, and Italy, worked to convert Muslims from Islam, as well as to educate Christians so they would not convert. {1}

This changed following the fall of Muslim Spain in 1492 and the military expansion of Spain and Portugal and later England, Holland, Belgium, and France into Islamic countries. Catholic and Protestant missionaries followed their nations’ armies and compiled information about Islam and Muslim peoples. This information made its way back to European universities and gradually transformed Islamic studies from a missionary enterprise into a full-fledged academic discipline, sometimes called Orientalism.

Orientalism was originally defined by both political and religious visions. Politically, the colonizing governments sought to understand people to rule them more efficiently. Spiritually, missionaries sought to understand Islam to convert Muslims to Christianity more effectively. Both groups took an interest in studying the Muslim world. They translated and studied thousands of Islamic texts from Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish sources. Their work formed the foundation for academic disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, Egyptology, Assyriology, and of course, Islamic studies.

Islamic studies changed significantly in the decades following World War II, with the massive reorganization of European empires, national boundaries, and colonial identities. One idea that gradually took root in academia was that the Muslim world was the victim of systematic prejudice stemming from European “ignorance.” The only way to rectify this was through embracing Islamic ideals and peoples while repudiating the Christian and Hellenistic roots of Europe. Edward Said, the Palestinian-American professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia, eventually codified these views in his highly influential Orientalism, in which he argued that criticism of Islam or of the Muslim world is either a covert attack on the humanity of Muslims or gross ignorance in need of enlightenment. {2}

Simultaneously, Muslim groups exploited this situation to promote Islam by funding Islamic studies programs and cultural venues at universities, who in turn reformed curricula in order not to offend Muslim sentiments. In a short time, scholarship in Islamic studies was overtaken by Islamic missionary and political interests.

Academia is filled with biases and presumptions upon which entire belief systems are constructed. The inhabitants of the West are privileged to have the freedom to examine and criticize ideas and beliefs and respectfully agree to agree or disagree. This concept is anathema to Islam, since in Islam academia exists to propagate orthodox Islamic dogma. In Islamic studies at universities today it has become difficult to disagree with Islam and still maintain one’s credibility, safety, or ability to study in school. Academia has refused to question Islamic teachings, and has thus become a participant in promoting Islamic orthodoxy at the expense of academic integrity.

I know this because I am a product of this environment.

My story begins at Hartford Seminary (HS) in Hartford, Connecticut, a small Protestant seminary with the oldest Islamic studies program in America. HS’s Islamic studies program began through the influence of the Scottish Orientalist Duncan Black MacDonald in 1893, and it both employed and produced many well-known early twentieth-century Protestant missionaries, professors, and martyrs. HS is a model for the changes that have occurred in Islamic studies, as it turned from being the premier Protestant seminary for missions to the Muslim world into an institution promoting Islamization.

I was at a seminary gathering in 2009 when I met one of the last HS missionaries to the Muslim world before the missionary program was discontinued in the early 1950s. This man and a group of fellow missionaries reported back to HS that they believed Muslims did not need Christianity because they already “knew God.” These reports started a chain of events that led to the disbanding of HS’s missionary program, followed by its secularization in 1972 from solely Christian to an “interfaith” seminary.

The Islamic studies program continued, however, and while HS did not receive large donations from Muslim sources as other schools have, it self-censored its own academic program in the name of respect for Muslim students. As part of this process, critical research and disagreement with Islamic teachings were eventually worked out of the curriculum.

I was only partially aware of this when I enrolled in the master’s program in Islamic studies at HS in fall 2007. I had already been studying Arabic at the seminary for two years via a joint program with my undergraduate alma mater, Central Connecticut State University. Dr. Jane Smith, the former dean of Islamic studies, indicated that I would be a unique addition to HS because of my strong interest in and strong disagreement with Islamic teachings. She informed me that she respected my beliefs, and that I would serve as a good counterbalance in the program. Over the next three years, I would come to understand how much of a “counterbalance” I was.

Hartford Seminary prides itself on its large number of Muslim students, both domestic and foreign-exchange. Among my first experiences with the Muslim students there was in a class on interfaith dialogue. I had done interfaith dialogue before, so this was not a new experience for me. We were separated into groups for the dialogue, and when I was permitted to speak, I said, “I am Catholic, and I do not believe in Islam.”

Following me, one of the Muslim students spoke. She said that she was Muslim, and then she addressed me directly. In a soft, Arabic accented voice, she told me, “You are an infidel because you do not accept Islam” and that “according to Islam you do not deserve to live.” A second Muslim student heartily agreed, and after repeating the first student’s comments, she added that “in Islam, the Koran and the tradition of the prophet are very clear about this” and that “you deserve to die.”

This was one of several publicly-made threatening statements and insults that I would receive from Muslim seminary classmates for my open disagreement with Islam. In another incident, I was in a class on modern Islamic thought and an American male convert to Islam informed me in front of my classmates and the professor, “You deserve to die on account of your disagreement with Islam.” Another student, an American Muslim woman of Egyptian heritage, informed me that I was “dirty” on account of being a Christian. When I tried to address these and other incidents with the HS administration, I was told directly that I was “intolerant” of Muslims and needed to show a better “understanding of Islam” as a solution. No action was ever taken by the seminary.

What bothered me were neither the insults nor the menacing remarks, but the pervasive notion that respect for Muslims was conditioned upon intentionally avoiding criticism of Islam. Not a single classmate, Muslim or non-Muslim, ever spoke up in support of my opinion, even on the principle that different views should be respected.

Andrew Bieszad graduated from Hartford Seminary in May 2010 with a master’s degree in Islamic studies. Mr. Bieszad is a member of Pax Romana, an International Movement of Catholic Students and serves as their representative to the United Nations. He also serves as and Islam and Catholic-Moslem relations advisor to the National Catholic Students Coalition (the American branch of Pax Romana).

Read More: http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doctype_code=Article&doc_id=1839