Religious Plurality and the Public Space

188 Pages·2015·1.42 MB·English

Religious plurality is a vital element of many societies across the globe.
Different visions of life and religious commitment not only shape people’s
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private lives but have an intrinsic public dimension. Societies need to
find ways to acknowledge and deal with this diversity in the public space.
Religious communities and theologians are challenged to interpret their own e
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traditions in ways that enable the constructive engagement with religious
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plurality. In this volume, Christian and Muslim scholars from different parts
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of the world together explore the meaning of public space. In relation to
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their contexts, they examine how public space can be understood as a li
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shared space and discuss the meaning of secularity in plural societies. u
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and the Public Space
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THE CONTRIBUTORS: Clare Amos, Marian Burchardt, Dina El Omari, h
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Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel, Antje Jackelén, Martin Junge, Mouhanad
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Khorchide, Felipe Gustavo Koch Buttelli, Oddbjørn Leirvik, Adnane n
a Joint Christian-Muslim Theological Reflections
Mokrani, Mitri Raheb, Abdulaziz Sachedina, Simone Sinn, Mark Swanson
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ISBN 978-3-374-03930-2
EUR 12,00 [D]

Religious Plurality and
the Public Space
Joint Christian–Muslim
Theological Reflections
LWF Studies 2015/1
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the official position of the Lutheran World Federation
Religious Plurality and
the Public Space
Joint Christian–Muslim
Theological Reflections
Edited by
Simone Sinn, Mouhanad Khorchide, Dina El Omari
LWF Studies 2015/1
Bibliographic information published by the German National Library
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet
at http://dnd.dnd.de
© 2015 The Lutheran World Federation
Printed in Germany
This work, including all of its parts, is protected by copyright. Any use beyond the strict limits
of copyright law without the permission of the publishing house is strictly prohibited and
punishable by law.
This book was printed on FSC-certified paper
Cover: Piazza della Signoria, Florence; photo by Samuli Lintula (Creative Commons)
Editorial assistance: Department for Theology and Public Witness
Typesetting
and inside layout: LWF Communications/Department for Theology and Public Witness
Design: LWF Communications/EVA
Printing and Binding: Druckhaus Köthen GmbH & Co. KG
Published by Evangelische Verlangsanstalt GmbH, Leipzig, Germany, under the auspices of
The Lutheran World Federation
150, rte de Ferney, PO Box 2100
CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
ISBN: 978-3-374-03930-2
www.eva-leipzig.de
Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................7
Theological Perspectives
State and Religion in Islam—Islam’s Contribution
to the Political Culture of Democracy ......................................................................................11
Mouhanad Khorchide
Dialogical Conversation to Search for Principles of Interfaith Relations: The Future of
Pluralistic World Order..............................................................................................................27
Abdulaziz Sachedina
The Secular State as a Religious Necessity. An Islamic Perspective .................................41
Adnane Mokrani
Consumer or Citizen: Religious Communities in the Public Space ....................................51
Antje Jackelén
Owning Citizenship—The Church in the Public Space ........................................................63
Martin Junge
Public Space, Agency and Dialogue in Plural Societies .......................................................71
Simone Sinn
Scriptural Insights
No Abiding City? Biblical Perspectives and the Public Square .........................................85
Clare Amos
Historical Contextualization of the Qur’an as a Key for Today’s Interpretations of the
Qur’an ...........................................................................................................................................95
Dina El Omari
Historical Insights
Spaces for Conversation: Occasions and Conditions for Christian-Muslim Dialogue in
Pre-Modern Times ....................................................................................................................105
Mark Swanson
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Religious Plurality and the Public Space
Contextual Insights
Creating Public Space: Observations from the Palestinian Context ...............................119
Mitri Raheb
Citizenship and Public Theology: A Lutheran Approach from Brazil .............................133
Felipe Gustavo Koch Buttelli
Religion in the Public Space: A Nigerian Perspective .......................................................145
Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel
Secularity Revisited
Should Public Space Be Secular? ...........................................................................................155
Marian Burchardt
Interreligious Relations, Secularity and the “Immanent Frame” .....................................167
Oddbjørn Leirvik
List of Contributors ..................................................................................................................183
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Introduction
In many societies around the globe religious plurality is an integral part of
public space. How do religious communities understand and interpret this
plurality? How do they engage with other communities and stakeholders
in the public? As new dynamics in the field of religion and society have
emerged there is a renewed academic interest in these matters. Secular-
ization theory has been critically reviewed while, at the same time, the
quest for secular space remains crucial. The vibrant plurality of religious
commitments is apparent and religious communities and theologians are
challenged to interpret their own traditions in ways that enable the con-
structive engagement with religious plurality. Worryingly, this endeavor
is threatened by fundamentalist perspectives, religious fundamentalisms
as well as nationalistic and ethnic identity politics that question the very
existence of a shared public space in plural societies.
In plural societies the notion of public space is key when negotiating
questions pertaining to justice and peace. It is here that people not only
come to discuss their distinct interests, but also to present their manifold
worldviews. They engage in meaningful conversations about the various
visions of the good life, dignity and the well-being of all in society. These
visions are shaped by the different religious and non-religious value com-
mitments and influenced by diverse social, economic and cultural back-
grounds, family constellations, professional expertise and life experiences.
In January 2014, the Lutheran World Federation, in cooperation with
the Centre for Islamic Theology in Münster (Germany), organized an
international consultation under the theme “Creating Public Space: The
Role of Faith in the Public Sphere.” Christian and Muslim theologians as
well as social scientists looked at the role of faith commitments in society,
examined the distinctions and relations between religious communities
and the state, and analyzed anthropological and theological assumptions
guiding the understanding of public space.
Most of the essays included in this publication were first presented
at the 2014 consultation. The theological perspectives in the first chapter
provide in-depth rationales for why and how Islam and Christianity can
contribute to building a shared public space. Three Muslim scholars re-
flect on Islam’s contribution to the political culture of democracy. They
challenge exclusivist agendas and, arguing for dialogue, they defend an
understanding of the state as a secular entity that not only is compat-
ible with Islam but, for theological reasons, also necessary. Furthermore,
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Religious Plurality and the Public Space
three Lutheran theologians discuss the role of the church in the public
space, insisting on the active and committed engagement in society. They
question hegemonic claims of religious communities in the public sphere,
affirm the importance of mutual interaction, underline the significance of
critical and self-critical theological reflection guiding engagement in the
public and highlight the concept of citizenship.
These systematic outlines are deepened through essays in the follow-
ing chapters that look at more specific dimensions of religious life in the
public sphere. As the Bible and the Qur’an are normative reference points
for Christianity and Islam respectively, the interpretation of these scrip-
tures strongly influences how these communities engage in public space
and how they deal with politics and power. Two contributions discuss the
interpretative principles that guide the reading of the scriptures.
Chapter three examines the key question of whether and where we find
actual space for conversations between different religious communities. A
historical contribution tracks the occasions and conditions for Christian–
Muslim dialogue in pre-modern times while reflections on contemporary
complex realities come from three different places: Palestine, Brazil and
Nigeria. Issues of domination are addressed as well as the complex en-
tanglement of religion and politics. Furthermore, the vital role of creative
minorities for plural societies is highlighted.
The final chapter revisits the understanding of secularity, with a
contribution from the perspective of the social sciences and the other
one from the field of interreligious studies. These two conceptual papers
conclude the book and provide insights into how to configure secularity,
interreligious relations and public space today.
This publication provides enlightening insider perspectives which
have been presented in a dialogical setting and thus represent important
public contributions: Muslim and Christian scholars give theological ra-
tionales for constructive contributions to public space in plural societies.
Scholars coming from twelve different countries around the globe explore
theological, scriptural, historical, contextual and sociological perspectives
in relation to religious plurality and public space. The contributions come
out of dialogical interaction and engagement, and thereby convincingly
present and embody the process of jointly creating shared public space.
Simone Sinn, Mouhanad Khorchide and Dina El Omari
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