The pope & Islam
September 25, 2006, 8:03 pm
Posted by Grant Gallicho
If you haven’t yet, check out our Web-only interview with Daniel Madigan, SJ, president of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, on Benedict XVI’s controversial address at Regensburg.
Fr. Madigan is a voice of knowledge, tolerance, respect, and calm at the center of an issue that often seems to be spinning out of control.
I was especially impressed with his comments that true dialogue must involve appreciation and respect for the other’s worldview. Citing Pope Paul VI, Fr. Madigan notes that “we begin dialogue not by talking but by listening.” Reminds me of the quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “God gave man two ears and one mouth so that we listen twice as much as we speak.”
For an interesting contrast to Fr. Madigan’s view of gratuity vs. reciprocity see this article (Benedict XVI and Islam) by another Roman Jesuit, Fr. Samir: http://www.asianews.it/view_p.php?l=en&art=5998
Written before the Regensburg speech, it anticipates some of the themes in that speech. Here’s one excerpt:
Yes to reciprocity, no to “do-goodism”
“The Pope’s position never falls into the justification of terrorism and violence. Sometimes, even when it comes to Church figures, people slip into a generic kind of relativism: after all, there’s violence in all religions, even among Christians; or, violence is justified as a reply to other violence… No, this Pope has never made allusions of this kind. But, on the other hand, he has never fallen into the behaviour found in certain Christian circles in the West marked by “do-goodism” and by guilt complexes. Recently, some Muslims have asked that the Pope ask forgiveness for the Crusades, colonialism, missionaries, cartoons, etc… He is not falling in this trap, because he knows that his words could be used not for building dialogue, but for destroying it. This is the experience that we have of the Muslim world: all such gestures, which are very generous and profoundly spiritual to ask for forgiveness for historical events of the past, are exploited and are presented by Muslims as a settling of accounts: here, they say, you recognize it even yourself: you’re guilty. Such gestures never spark any kind of reciprocity.”
Fr. Samir also describes the transfer of Archbishop Fitzgerald as more than a personnel move. Instead it is part of a strategy that considers dialogue between cultures as more fruitful than inter-religious dialogue.
Perhaps someone should introduce these two to one another.
At the risk of being divisive I think Fr. Madigan’s piece was deeply Christian and I cannot find anything in it to find fault with, and that is unusual.
I agree that Fr. Madigan’s comments deserve thanks.