CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM CONVERSATIONS SEEK COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING

Ekklesia
16 Oct 2008
UK

The World Council of Churches (WCC), together with a number of
Christian world communions, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and
the Roman Catholic Church are expecting some 50 church leaders and
experts on Christian-Muslim dialogue to attend a consultation from
18 to 20 October in Chavannes-de-Bogis, outside Geneva, Switzerland.

The aim of the consultation is to provide a space for churches and
communions to share their initiatives and theological resources
for engaging with Muslims, and to identify substantial issues for
Christian theology in relation to Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Among the expected outcomes of the consultation is to consider ways
to articulate a Christian theological understanding of dialogue
with Islam and identify theological issues that are pertinent to
Christian self-understanding in relation to Islam. To achieve this, the
consultation will consider input from different Christians traditions
and from the experience of churches in different parts of the world,
including Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of
Cilicia), will be the key-note speaker at the consultation. Already
as moderator of the WCC Central Committee from 1991 to 2006, Aram I
gave considerable leadership to the Council’s work on interreligious
dialogue and coooperation.

The meeting brings together representatives of the WCC fellowship
of member churches, councils of churches and communions of churches,
including the Anglican Communion, the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative
Council (Christian Churches), the Friends World Committee for
Consultation, the International Old-Catholic Bishops Conference,
the Lutheran World Federation, the Reformed Ecumenical Council, the
World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the World Methodist Council.

The consultation emerged from an ecumenical process of response to
A Common Word, a letter signed by 138 Muslim scholars and addressed
to Christian leaders around the world, which was launched by the WCC
in 2007. This process includes the release of the document "Learning
to Explore Love Together," which encourages WCC member churches to
be in dialogue with Muslims in their local communities.

This event builds on a series of dialogues between Christians and
Muslims, including a high-profile conference at Cambridge University
ending today, hosted by the archbishop of Canterbury, as well as a
meeting at Yale University in July.

Since the letter was released, Christian leaders from the Catholic,
Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Evangelical traditions have been
working with Muslims to organize a series of dialogue events and
consultations which are scheduled through 2010.

What is unique about the consultation taking place from 18 to 20
October is the space it provides for developing, ecumenically, a
common Christian theological understanding of dialogue with Islam
and the implications for Christian-Muslim dialogue today.

WCC programme on Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation:
s/interreligiousdialogue.html

"A Common Word between You and Us", a Muslim letter to Christian
leaders:

WCC commentary "Learning to explore love together":