“What Is Truth?” Negotiating Christian Convert Asylum Seekers’ Credibility

2021 ◽  
Vol 697 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-235
Author(s):  
Lena Rose ◽  
Zoe Given-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Religious Others ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
Cultural Cohesion

The arrival of more than five million refugees in Europe since 2015 has led to increasing investigations into Europe’s management of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Studies to date have chiefly focused on the integration of the cultural and religious “other,” but we take a different approach by analyzing asylum proceedings in Germany, based on conversions from Islam to Christianity. Negotiations of credibility of newly converted Christian asylum seekers help to show how European legal authorities conceive of their own historically Christian identity and their expectations of newcomers. We show how these negotiations are influenced by the power dynamics in the courts, understandings of cultural and religious contexts, and assumptions about conversion and Christianity. Our interdisciplinary approach provides insights into how European legal authorities navigate the challenge of cultural and religious others to Europe’s cultural cohesion, “values,” and secularism.

Melkites, Mutakallim?n and al-Ma’m?n: Depicting the Religious Other in Medieval Arabic Dialogues

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bertaina
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Dialogical Approach ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Religious Others ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
Muslim Scholars ◽  
Religious Worldviews

The article describes a literary dialogue said to have occurred in 829/214 between the Arab Melkite Christian bishop Theodore Ab? Qurra, several Muslim scholars, and the caliph al-Ma’m?n. The text contains two types of dialogue: Ab? Qurra versus the Muslim scholars and Ab? Qurra with al-Ma’m?n. The former is distinguished by its antagonism on both sides, while the latter is noted for its polite discourse. The evidence indicates that the Muslim caliph al-Ma’m?n held an admired place in the Melkite Christian community’s memory. The author’s analysis concludes that the dialogue presupposes Christian Arab identity was integrated into the dominant Islamic culture in a symbiotic relationship that recognized the reality of religious pluralism and disparate truth claims. The author also argues that the text placed value on the dialogical approach as a process of identity formation by constructing boundaries with religious others while simultaneously internalizing these other religious worldviews.

Moderation and al-Ghazali in Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Taraneh Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Graduate Study ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Western Intellectual ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
Intellectual Independence

Turkish theology faculties are an important but understudied source of moderate Muslim responses to the challenges of modernity. Although it is strongly associated with questions of such Enlightenment values as tolerance and freedom of thought, modernity is also tied to skepticism, atheism, and pluralism. Thus one way to examine whether the label of “moderate” applies to a given case is to examine how such a position reflects both the positive values of modernity in addition to how it addresses modernity’s challenges. This paper deals with the resources for religious moderation found in the thought of al-Ghazali and how they are used and analyzed in modern Turkish theology faculties. By focusing on two recent works by Turkish theologians Mehmet Bayrakdar and Adnan Aslan, this paper explores skepticism, atheism, and religious pluralism. I argue that not only are both thinkers “moderate,” but that they also engage this label by using their own theological interests and interpretations of al-Ghazali. Both theologians were trained in Turkish theology faculties and did significant graduate study in Europe. Their work reflects an active engagement with the western intellectual tradition. Al-Ghazali plays a crucial – but not final – role in each of their responses to modernity and the western intellectual tradition. For Bayrakdar he functions as a symbol of Muslim intellectual independence, whereas for Aslan he serves as a fundamental resource for making sense of the religious “other.” Thus, a case is presented for the increasing relevance of Turkish theological responses to debates outside Turkey.

Moderation and al-Ghazali in Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Taraneh Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Graduate Study ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Western Intellectual ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
Intellectual Independence

Turkish theology faculties are an important but understudied source of moderate Muslim responses to the challenges of modernity. Although it is strongly associated with questions of such Enlightenment values as tolerance and freedom of thought, modernity is also tied to skepticism, atheism, and pluralism. Thus one way to examine whether the label of “moderate” applies to a given case is to examine how such a position reflects both the positive values of modernity in addition to how it addresses modernity’s challenges. This paper deals with the resources for religious moderation found in the thought of al-Ghazali and how they are used and analyzed in modern Turkish theology faculties. By focusing on two recent works by Turkish theologians Mehmet Bayrakdar and Adnan Aslan, this paper explores skepticism, atheism, and religious pluralism. I argue that not only are both thinkers “moderate,” but that they also engage this label by using their own theological interests and interpretations of al-Ghazali. Both theologians were trained in Turkish theology faculties and did significant graduate study in Europe. Their work reflects an active engagement with the western intellectual tradition. Al-Ghazali plays a crucial – but not final – role in each of their responses to modernity and the western intellectual tradition. For Bayrakdar he functions as a symbol of Muslim intellectual independence, whereas for Aslan he serves as a fundamental resource for making sense of the religious “other.” Thus, a case is presented for the increasing relevance of Turkish theological responses to debates outside Turkey.

Creation and Religious Pluralism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cheetham
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Theology Of Religions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Creatio Ex Nihilo ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Other

In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider interreligious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. In the course of the book’s narrative, there will be close consideration given to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of ‘sabbath’, human action, and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of ‘creational politics’ that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes will challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes—because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature—can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.). Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is creatio ex nihilo, part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

For Comparative Theology's Christian Skeptics:An Invitation to Kenotic Generosity in the Religiously Pluralistic Situation

2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Smelser White
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Religious Plurality ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
American Society ◽  
Daunting Challenge

In present–day North America, with mosques and temples springing up a few streets from synagogues, cathedrals, and steepled church houses, a state of religious plurality is becoming undeniably more pronounced. In the wake of 9/11, the tensions ushered in by this shifting landscape are also increasing—not least for Christian believers who have shadowy notions of the religious “other” and are concerned about the realities of a pluralistic, post–Christian American society. Meanwhile, Christian scholars and practitioners engaged in the burgeoning field of comparative theology view this pluralistic situation not as a daunting challenge; rather, they view it in terms of its constructive potential. For them, religious pluralism is not an obstacle to be overcome but an opportunity for rich theological inquiry and practice. Thus, these comparative theologians urge their fellow Christians to take up a distinct form of conversation with the religious newcomer, guided by peaceful interreligious dialogue and the understanding that interreligious learning is a worthy aim.

Locating Empathy

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-558
Author(s):  
Emily Hall
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Television Show ◽  
Literature Classroom ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Introductory Literature

This article explores how to use science fiction, particularly texts centered on android protagonists, to open up discussions of marginalization, race, and oppression in the introductory literature classroom. In response to the hateful rhetoric directed toward asylum seekers, this author developed an entire course around personhood and rights. She first examines how, in particular sci-fi works, paranoia and prejudice compel citizens to delineate between kinds of personhood. She then illuminates how students were invited to make parallels between the othering that the androids endure and historical and present-day examples of human rights abuses. After a semester of examining and debating these issues, students selected an android or robot in a television show, film, or video game of their choice and first assessed how the android’s personhood was delimited by human and then articulated why humans placed these boundaries on the android. Throughout the article, the author explains the kinds of texts she used for the course, the assignment students were tasked with, and how the course broached other issues of power dynamics, such as consent and disability rights.

Misconceptions of the Religious ‘Other’

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Eileen Barker
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
The Common ◽  
Reliable Knowledge ◽  
Religious Other

In a world in which we are faced with an ever-increasing religious diversity, the underlying assumption of this paper is that logical thought combined with accurate and reliable knowledge can make a significant contribution to the reduction of conflicts that arise through fallacious arguments and through both ignorance and misinformation of the beliefs and practices of religions other than one’s own. The paper summarizes some of the challenges of religious pluralism, demonstrating how tensions can arise and be exacerbated through the construction of negative images of ‘the other’, and outlines some of the common misconceptions that have led to conflicts and the abuse of the human rights of members of minority religions.

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