Learned Ignorance: Intellectual Humility among Jews, Christians and Muslims

361 Pages·2011·1.896 MB·English

by  James L. Heft, Reuven Firestone, Omid Safi

■ Learned Ignorance
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Learned Ignorance
Intellectual Humility among Jews,
Christians, and Muslims
edited by
James L. Heft, S.M.,
Reuven Firestone,
and
Omid Safi
1
1

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Learned ignorance : intellectual humility among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
/ edited by James L. Heft , Reuven Firestone, and Omid Safi .
p. cm.
Proceedings of a conference held in June 2007 at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute
in Jerusalem. Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-19-976930-8; ISBN 978-0-19-976931-5 (pbk.);
ISBN 978-0-19-977306-0 (ebook)
1. Abrahamic religions—Congresses. 2. Religions—Relations—Congresses.
3. Catholic Church—Relations—Congresses. I. Heft , James.
II. Firestone, Reuven, 1952– III. Safi , Omid, 1970–
BL410.L43 2011
201'.5—dc22 2010030256
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
■ Rabbi Dr. Michael Signer
(1945–2009)
■ “Dialogue does not occur between religions but
between people who are profoundly committed to
a life within their own community.”
■ We dedicate this volume to Michael Signer, deeply
grateful for his leadership, scholarship and personal
commitment to interreligious dialogue.
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■
contents

Contributors ix
Learned Ignorance 1
james l. heft
part i: ■ Learned Ignorance and Interreligious Dialogue
1. Some Requisites for Interfaith Dialogue 23
david b. burrell
2. Learned Ignorance and Faithful Interpretation
of the Qur’an in Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) 34
pim valkenberg
3. “Seeing the Sounds”: Intellectual Humility and the Process
of Dialogue 53
michael a. signer
4. Finding Common Ground: “Mutual Knowing,” Moderation,
and the Fostering of Religious Pluralism 67
asma afsaruddin
part ii: ■ Must Particularity Be Exclusive?
5. Humble Infallibility 89
james l. heft
6. Chosenness and the Exclusivity of Truth 107
reuven firestone
7. Th e Belief in the Incarnation of God: Source of Religious
Humility or Cause of Th eological Pride? 129
oliver-thomas venard
8. Supernatural Israel: Obstacles to Th eological Humility
in Jewish Tradition 149
shira l. lander
vii
viii ■ Contents
9. Walking on Divine Edge: Reading Notions of Arrogance
and Humility in the Qur’an 170
afra jalabi
part iii: ■ Violence, Apologies, and Confl ict
10. Aft er Augustine: Humility and the Search for God
in Historical Memory 191
elizabeth groppe
11. Apology, Regret, and Intellectual Humility: An Interreligious
Consideration 210
michael b. mcgarry
12. Islamic Th eological Perspectives on Intellectual Humility
and the Conditioning of Interfaith Dialogue 225
mustafa abu sway
part iv: ■ Religious Pluralism
13. A Meditation on Intellectual Humility, or on a Fusion of Epistemic
Ignorance and Covenantal Certainty 241
stanislaw krajewski
14. Saving D ominus Iesus 257
daniel madigan
15. Between Tradition and Reform: Between Premodern Sufi sm
and the Iranian Reform Movement 278
omid safi
Epilogue: Th e Purpose of Interreligious Dialogue 300
james l. heft, reuven firestone, and omid safi
Index 313
■
contribu tors
Asma Afsaruddin is Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near
Eastern Languages & Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the
author and editor of four books, including Th e First Muslims: History and Memory
(2008) and Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate
Leadership (1999). She has also published extensively on pluralism in Islamic
thought; interfaith relations, reconciliation, and violence in Islamic sources; and
gender issues in scholarly journals such as the J ournal of Religious Ethics , the
Muslim World, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and the Journal of Church and
State , in addition to more popular venues such as the Christian Science Monitor
and the R eview of Faith and International Aff airs. A recipient of research grants
from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, Afsaruddin is
currently completing a manuscript on jihad and martyrdom in Islamic thought
and practice, forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
David Burrell has been working since 1982 in comparative issues in philosophical
theology in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as evidenced in K nowing the
Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas (1986), Freedom and Creation in
Th ree Traditions , (1993), and two translations of al-Ghazali: Al-Ghazali on the
Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God (1993), and Al-Ghazali on Faith in Divine
Unity and Trust in Divine Providence (2001). More recent books include collected
essays outlining strategies in philosophical theology, Faith and Freedom (2003), a
theological commentary on the book of Job, Deconstructing Th eodicy (2008), and
an appreciation of the life and work of John Zahm C.S.C. from his writings: When
Faith and Reason Meet (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2009). A visiting member
of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies in Cairo, as well as the Tantur
Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, he is currently professor of ethics and
development at Uganda Martyrs University.
Elizabeth Groppe is associate professor of systematic theology at Xavier University
in Cincinnati, Ohio and co-director of Xavier’s Ethics/Religion and Society
Program. She earned her doctorate at the University of Notre Dame and is the
author of Yves Congar’s Th eology of the Holy Spirit (Oxford, 2004) and E ating and
Drinking (Fortress, forthcoming) a volume in a series on Christian faith and the
practices of everyday life. Her articles on trinitarian theology, pneumatology, and
Christian-Jewish relations have been published in Th eological Studies, Modern
Th eology, Horizons, Worship, and the annual volume of the College Th eology
Society. Her interests in constructive theology include garnering the resources of
the Christian tradition to respond to the crises of ecological degradation, failed
economic systems, and war. Her work in Christian-Jewish dialogue has origins in
a trip to the Center for Dialogue and Prayer near Auschwitz led by Rabbi Michael
and Betty Signer in 2000.
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