In 1996, Catholic Bishop Pierre Claverie of Algeria was martyred after a lifetime of serving the Christian and Muslim community in that country. Bishop Claverie was convinced that Jesus’ model for table ministry was the key to Islamic-Christian relations. A review of his biography, recently translated into English is featured below.
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It has been a few weeks since I posted – (the week on the beach at Hattaras was divine). I thought that I might toss out a discussion starter to tap into our collective scripture & historical expertise. The article below addresses a question that I hear often: Why do Catholic Bibles have more books than Protestant Bibles? The article is the Catholic response with additional input from me at the end. I am curious to see samples of Protestant responses to this issue.
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Don’t miss CNN’s upcoming program “God’s Warriors”
Correspondent Christiane Amanpour presents a three part (Jewish, Muslim, Christian) documentary in the “God’s Warriors” series that will be airing on CNN at 9 pm Tuesday through Thursday evenings (Aug. 21-23) next week.
This can make for a great home Bible study. Invite some friends for viewing and discussion!
The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?
MYTH: Penicillin kills bacteria.
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It is my privilege to serve on the Development Team of Cross Over Ministry, a non-denominational, Christian-based organization that serves the needs of the uninsured in the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area. The mission of Cross Over Ministry is “To provide health care, promote wellness and connect the talents and resources of the community with those in need in the name of Jesus Christ.”
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I’ve been reading up on heresies lately. In the course of my readings I was inspired by the words of confession from the Athanasian Creed (also know as the “Quicumque vult”). The creed is authoritative to Catholic, Anglican, and some Protestant churches. I remember it as one we would recite on occasion in our Baptist church when I was a liturgically overly-attentive child.
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Five members of the Greater Richmond Area Christian Educators (GRACE) peer learning group took a field trip to The Center for Church Understanding of Islam and a local mosque, The Islamic Center of Virginia in November of 2006. The event was put together by GRACE member, Marty Canaday, Minister of Christian Formation at the Derbyshire Baptist Church (Richmond, VA) as a small group learning experience to facilitate greater understanding of Islam and dialogue between Christian and Muslim leaders. Dr. Charles Beckett, Director of The Center for Church Understanding led the GRACE group in an orientation to Islam through a tour of the Center and arranged a tour and dialogue with the administrative director of a local mosque. After the tour the group met over lunch for discussion with Dr. Beckett. They shared impressions and pondered questions about their experience.
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Theocracies are not new, of course. They spring up all throughout history (and literature), sometimes as a result of a group that sees itself as a “remnant” and splits off from a larger religious culture, and sometimes they come about as a result of a reactive or pro-active stance against the wider “secular city.” In a world that many describe as “post Christendom” a Christian “city of God” seems newsworthy:
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In a previous post (“Communion Rantâ€) we talked about the penchant of certain preachers for “explaining†communion. Some argue that it is necessary because, they reason, some people in the congregation, and especially visitors and the recently unchurched, do not understand the meaning of the ritual.
Here are two pieces that help address our penchant for cognitive “understanding†and how it is related to matters of faith, and the counterintuitive ways in which faith is acquired and needs to be inculcated.
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An Update on Christian/Muslim Relations: Hope & Concern
Below is an interesting article that I just pulled from a Catholic online news service. John Allen is a freelance journalist that lives in Rome and reports for CNN and U.S. Catholic publications. He was CNN’s lead expert during the papal funeral and elections. His article below updates some concerns for Christians in Gaza, but provides hope for a growing movement within Islam that might counter-balance the madness. (Allen’s online weekly articles are posted free on ncrcafe.org, so I was not as concerned about possible copyright trespass by providing it here. If his writing is of interest to you, support his efforts by visiting the site directly. He just published a “tell-all†book about Opus Dei, the controversial Catholic group that is featured in the book DaVinci Code.)
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