Last evening in my ecumenical congregation, the
KGIJ
, we read the Bible and Quran together, guided by eminent theologian and Islam scholar,
Dr. Anton Wessels
. I
have known Anton for a long time, and about 7 years ago we did a whole series of such sessions in the
Dominicus
congregation in Amsterdam. Anton’s vision of the Quran emphasizes its critical message. The Quran calls to an exodus (in the Islamic tradition – ‘Hijra’) – to leave the city of unrighteousness and bloodshed, which originally was Mecca, and go to the city of true and lasting peace based upon righteousness, whose symbol is Medina (this brings to mind the vision of St. Augustine: the struggle between ‘the city of God’ and ‘the earthly city’). The human being is then confronted with a choice: whether he wants to be ‘the king’ (‘melek’ in Hebrew, ‘malik’ in Arab – hence the word
moloch
) – a murderer respecting no one and nothing, whose only desire is power and possession, demanding that we offer our children to him (our politicians?) – or a ‘caliph’ – a reasonable governor following the path (
sharia
– over time, like the Torah, reduced to ‘law’ only) of God. According to Quran (sura 5) God could have created us as followers of one and the same religion. He created us, however, as Christians, Jews and Muslims to test us – so that we could compete in doing good.
I will certainly remember from yesterday evening a reference to the Apocalypse. The vision of New Jerusalem there is not at all modeled after Jerusalem. As it is described it seems to resemble more… Babylon! NEW JERUSALEM IS CONVERTED BABYLON! Anton discovers the same vision in Quran – a vision of converted humanity that freely submits to the Holy One (Islam). Primitive Islamists make of this conversion to the ‘existing Islam’ (just like primitive Christians do not see the difference between the Gospel and existing Christianity). But just as Abraham was not a Jew, Jesus was not a Christian, Muhammad was not a Muslim in this sense! The question about so called ‘religious convictions’ is actually totally uninteresting! What counts is our attitude towards our fellow human being, our works of mercy: feeding the hungry (also our enemies!), giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked… The holy books agree about that in essence!
I would like to leave aside the memories of yesterday for a moment. For that vision of converted world which finally truly begins to practice mercy ( Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim – In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate…) reminds me of something I read today on the blog Generous Orthodoxy written by Rev. Fleming Rutledge, one of the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church (I would like to thank Rev. Matt Gunther for drawing my attention to this text and this blog).
This brings me to a subject that is as close to my heart as any: the full meaning of St Paul’s word “dikaiosune”, usually translated “justification.” The best Pauline scholarship of the past 50 years has greatly increased our understanding of this term, most commonly known in the phrase “justification by faith.” What exactly did Paul mean by it? More often than not, the ordinary Christian has understood this to mean that no matter what sin a person has committed or been involved in, the death of Christ has wiped it out, cancelled it, obliterated it–and consequently that person is forgiven, pardoned, and restored. This promise is indeed true, but it does not go anywhere near far enough to encompass all that God has done and will do in Jesus Christ. The word dikaiosune is best translated in English by the word “rectification,” which includes all of the above but goes further. It is a word of incomparable power and cosmic reach, involving not only individuals but the whole created order. The word means “Making It Right.” There is no earthly power that can do this. It is impossible for human beings to restore what was lost, to make right what was wrong, to create an altogether new reality. Miroslav Volf has written about “the end of memory”–the end of the terrible nightmares that victims of crimes, disasters, torture, and war must live with. The promise of God is that these memories will be “rectified”–made right–as they are replaced by the victorious life of the Age to Come. When Paul speaks of “justification” he does not mean a declaration of amnesty for sinners. He means the remaking of the world.
I also learned today via Facebook that the medieval castle
Krasna Horka
burned down in Slovakia. I have childhood memories of this magnificent building, for it was one of the first medieval castles I have ever seen. I liked it very much, and I was particularly impressed by the mummified body of one of its former owners, exposed in a glass coffin. On the castle’s website you can read that (and this is a very comforting news indeed!) they managed to rescue 90% of the museum’s priceless collection gathered in that unique ‘hrad’ (Slovak for ‘castle’). There is also an appeal to rebuild the landmark. I sincerely wish – not only Slovaks! – that it starts as soon as possible, so that Krasna Horka can once again crown
the landscape with its majestic beauty. But Rev. Fleming is right. ‘Remaking the world’ is a task far more difficult than rebuilding an architectural jewel. “There is no earthly power that can do this. It is impossible for human beings to restore what was lost, to make right what was wrong, to create an altogether new reality”. But Jerzy Nowosielski is also right to say:
We may consider ourselves rational beings, in a sense delegated to redeem the world. The moment the world disappears as the empirical reality, our redeemed consciousness will carry some elements of this world to the new earth and the new heaven.
And this seems to be what religion – EVERY RELIGION – is all about, namely that:
God has his co-workers and it’s us.
To be sure, this doesn’t eliminate problems we have with religions as they exist in reality. Here we can refer to Nowosielski once again: RELIGION IS A DANGEROUS THING! And Islam (to return to the topic of yesterday evening), being a young and amazingly dynamic religion (let’s subtract 600 years from 2012 and remember what Christianity was then!), fully demonstrates this danger (it demonstrates the good side of religion in an equally vivid way, however, but our media are not interested in that!). We should not try to conceal this – it simply is so! It is worth, however, to remind ourselves over and over again that also in Islam, under all the dangerous things, there is the call to remake the world! It is also worth to realize that our religions do not allow one thing at least – becoming cynical! We cannot afford to be cynical. Anton Wessels referred to George Steiner who is of the opinion that the Paschal pattern appears in our lives – individual and social – all over again. There are Good Fridays, Holy Saturdays, but there is (should be) also the faith in the coming of the Eastern Morning. I call this discovering the ‘impulse of Christ’ – everywhere. It is more powerful than the powers of death and destruction. It is what we rely on in the end of the day. It is what we build on!
