Customer Reviews

The Theology of Tariq Ramadan: A Catholic Perspective

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a small book and easy to miss in the flood of new titles. So let me get right to the point: If you care about the future of interfaith relations globally, get this book. Read it. Talk about it with other people. Tell us what you think of its themes.

Gergory Baum isn't a household name in the U.S., but he certainly ranks among "legendary" names in inter-religious relations. Born in 1923, he is a Canadian Roman Catholic theologian who served as a major adviser at Vatican II on opening up the Catholic Church to other faiths. Specifically, he pushed hard and successfully for an end of Catholic efforts to convert Jews.

Now, well into his 80s, Baum has given us a short but clear-eyed roadmap for engaging a cutting-edge figure in international Islam: Tariq Ramadan. Whether you're drawn toward this controversial Muslim figure or you're suspicious of him, the fact is that Ramadan is one of the most important and innovative Muslim writers today.

Thinking about the long journeys of both Catholicism and Islam that have brought us all to this point in history, Baum writes that the faiths "were both embedded in a pre-modern culture and resisted the arrival of modernity, even if for different reasons." The catalyst to constructive dialogue can be three principles, Baum argues: "attention to the universal message regarding the human condition, attention to the changed historical circumstances, and attention to the Scriptures reread with a new sensibility."

Baum further argues that these same three principles already are at work in Ramadan's writings--that's the main reason Baum wrote this book.

Baum sees an "affinity" here that could provide a new doorway for dialogue. His roadmap also includes a list of issues to explore in which the two faiths share basic assumptions--and issues where their basic approach differs significantly. It's a mature, wisely charted course that Baum describes.

If you're engaged in interfaith relations at any level--or you're simply contemplating how Christians and Muslims might find a sense of community in this current, turbulent moment in history--listen to what Baum has to say here.