Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Promise and Problems

Can there be dialogue between Muslims and Christians? Can we overcome the long history of antagonism between the two largest religious communities in the world–Christianity and Islam? The twenty essays in the volume address these vital issues as they explore the promise and problems of dialogue between these two great traditions. Here Muslims and Christians speak of their faith with passion and insight as they seek to move beyond mutual antagonism toward mutual understanding. The essays cover a range of issues from the encounter of Islam and Christianity with modernity to Islam in Africa, from the role of women to the understanding of Messiah/Jesus in Islam and Christianity and the role of the Prophet Muhammad in Muslim piety. Rather than seeking to convert the other, these internationally known scholars and religious leaders contribute to mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims.

Muslims and Christians constitute nearly sixty-percent of religious believers. Yet Muslims and Christians remain strangers to one another hidden behind caricatures of ‘the Muslim as terrorist,' ‘the Christian as crusader.' Here the reader will encounter a more humane face of believers in each tradition as each writer explores in his own voice the hope for a new era in Muslim-Christian relations.

DR. M. DARROL BRYANT is Professor of Religion and Culture at Renison College, University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Bryant is author/editor of many articles, papers, and books in religion, including Huston Smith: Essays on World Religion, The Many Faces of Religion and Society, The Religions of Man, and Interreligious Dialogue: Voices from a New Frontier.

DR. SYED A. ALI was the founding Director of the Indian Institute of Islamic Studies. He remained its director for more than 30 years. He was the Vice-Chancellor of Hamdard University in New Delhi, India. He has maintained an active scholarly career and has published many articles in the areas of Islamic studies, Persian and Sufi poetry, and the dialogue of religions. His writings have appeared in such journals as Hamdard Islamicus and Dialogue and Alliance. He has lectured throughout the Muslim world and in universities in Canada and the United States of America.