With so
many voices speaking about the ‘Same God’ standoff, I thought I might add my
two cents worth of thoughts and reflect on the issue a little. But here are a
few links you might want to check out if you aren’t sure about the nature of
the issue: 1) http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/december/wheaton-college-hijab-professor-same-god-larycia-hawkins.html;
2) http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/december/same-god-standoff-wheaton-college-larycia-hawkins-hijab.html;
3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/17/wheaton-professors-suspension-is-about-anti-muslim-bigotry-not-theology/?tid=sm_fb.
Just to quickly summarise: Dr Hawkins does
2 things: 1) expresses solidarity with Muslims by wearing a hijab; 2) writes
this ‘I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a
Christian, are people of the book And as Pope Francis stated last week,
we worship the same God.’ in a Facebook post (you can find the link to
the post in paragraph 4 of the first article above). Wheaton College finds issue,
not with the former incident, but in the latter statement. In this released statement
(http://www.wheaton.edu/Media-Center/Media-Relations/Statements/Wheaton-College-Statement-Regarding-Dr-Hawkins),
Wheaton College says ‘Dr Hawkins’ administrative leave resulted from
theological statements that seemed inconsistent with Wheaton College’s
doctrinal convictions, and is in no way related to her race, gender or
commitment to wear a hijab during Advent.’ Alright, this sounds fair, Wheaton
are aware that their disciplinary action might be misconstrued and so clearly states
that it is Dr Hawkins’ theological statement about Muslims and Christians worshipping
the same God which has led to this action. However, might this be a weak excuse
for a harsh disciplinary action on Wheaton’s part?
Miroslav Volf seems to think so,
saying that ‘There isn’t any theological justification for Hawkins’s
forced administrative leave. Her suspension is not about theology and
orthodoxy. It is about enmity toward Muslims. More precisely, her suspension
reflects enmity toward Muslims, taking on a theological guise of concern for
Christian orthodoxy’ (see 3rd article). He continues to write ‘What
is theologically wrong with asserting that Christians and Muslims worship the
same God, according to Hawkins’s opponents — and mine?’ And I think this is a
brilliant question to ask. Indeed, what is wrong?
So we return to 1 more quotation from
Volf’s article
‘Hawkins
asserted that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. She did not insist
that Christians and Muslims believe the same things about that one God. She did
not state that Islam and Christianity are the same religion under a different
name, or even that Islam is equally as true as Christianity. She did not deny
that God was incarnate in Christ. Neither did she contest that the one God is
the Holy Trinity. In fact, by having signed Wheaton’s Statement of Faith, she
affirmed her belief in God as the Trinity and Jesus Christ as God and man,
fundamental Christian convictions which, among other things, distinguish
Christian faith from Islam.’
I think the answer to the question ‘what
is theologically wrong?’ is the plain fact that Christians and Muslims really don’t
worship the same God. Why? Let’s unpack the phrase ‘same God’ and consider some
of its implications.
This phrase should encompass aspects
such as same character (for want of a better word), same metanarrative,
resulting in same belief systems which in turn affects the behaviour and
actions of their respective human followers. Thus, when the Christian says ‘God,’
there are implications to our usage of this term. We mean one God, three
Persons; we mean a relational God; we mean Jesus’ divinity; we view God’s self-revelation
in history as a redemptive narrative that culminates in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ; we mean that history is heading towards Jesus’ Second
Coming and that the Christian’s role on earth now is to proclaim His gospel to
the nations. These are just a few examples of the God Christians believe in,
and I don’t think a Muslim can agree that Allah is the ‘same God’ as I just
described.
What Hawkins and Volf seem to have
done is take the lowest common denominator between Christianity and Islam’s teachings
about ‘God’ whilst ignoring the glaring and significant differences between both
religions. How can a Muslim - who says Jesus is not God, and a Christian – who says
that Jesus is God, affirm that they are worshipping the same God? I really
cannot see how the logic works, the Christian God cannot be the same as the Muslim
God. The footballer cannot say to the handball player: ‘we’re playing the same
game,’ because there are certain differences that are pretty significant; here I
am thinking about God’s nature. The BMW cannot say to the Nissan: ‘hey, we have
the same identity.’ No, though there are similarities, the BMW is different
from the Nissan in so many ways that to pick up on simplistic parallels and make
those the controlling category of identification
is, I think, quite absurd. I don’t think a Karate and a Wing Chun exponent
would fancy other people observe that they basically ‘come from the same tradition’
(compare ‘worship the same God’).
However, Volf suggests in article 3
that Hawkins’ ‘suspension is about anti-Muslim bigotry, not theology.’ Perhaps
this is a fair assessment, I don’t know Wheaton College personally so that
might be their reason, given this politically-charged issue in the US right now.
But by appealing to political jargon, I think Volf is trying to shift focus away
from the issue at heart: do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? In our
desire for peace, harmony, and unity, our emotions can blind us from seeing clearly
what the actual issue is. Let’s not change the narrative, and stick to the matter.
Wheaton College should be given time to investigate, as they report are ongoing.
If the voices of Hawkins and Volf matter, shouldn’t we respect Wheaton College’s
voice as well? And if they need time (and are responsible in how they use it),
let’s not be bigoted by calling them bigots.
I
would like to note that both Volf and Hawkins are scholars, and I’m not. I don’t
have the space to write everything that I want here (perhaps I will write more
in another post), but if I read my Bible carefully, and think about things a
little more, I find that Christians and Muslims don’t really worship the same
God. This distinction might seem undiplomatic, but if both belief systems want
to hold onto their identities, they (in this case specifically, Wheaton College)
has to make a stand. I think it is better to be slandered for standing up for
truth, rather than to be accepted for giving up on truth. These are the two
cents worth of my thoughts on this issue.
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