The Arab Spring cartoon

Alfred Nock on the central fact of Jesus' teaching

From Alfred Nock's brilliant (if somewhat old) book, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. (Oxford U Press 1933)

“The central fact in the teaching of Jesus was not a novel doctrine about God or man but the heralding of the kingdom. It was not new: it had been in many Jewish // minds for a century and more: it had been urged with compelling force by John the Baptist.” (pp 242, 243)

I also liked this one:

“Celsus…speaks of Christian rites as performed in cobblers’ shops or fullers’ shops.” (p 202)

In this book he tries to narrow down just exactly what was new in Christianity? Was it the Kingdom of God? (No.) Was it the sacraments? (No.) Was it the incarnation? (Uh, sort of.) Was it vicarious atonement? (Yes.) And so on...

Response to Warrick Farah's questions on conversion and being a 'Christian'

Warrick Farah at Circumpolar, a blog on the topic of mission to Muslims, asks someinteresting questions about converts from Islam to Christianity. In a nutshell, he is wondering if avoiding words like ‘Christian’ and ‘conversion’ in Islamic countries (like Somalia, if you can even call that a country anymore), would not lessen persecution. He poses three questions. Here they are, with my answers.

1. People can be persecuted for Christ, or they can be persecuted for Western Christianity by calling themselves “Christians.”  Of course the difference between the two is really difficult to discern, and I don’t pretend to know in Musa’s case here.  But some persecution is unnecessary and more a result of association with the immoral West than with the glorious Jesus.  I do wonder about Sayed Musa and this Somali MBB- what if they chose not to call themselves “Christians”?

Abu Daoud’s answer: I think it is a bit unfair to ask Muslims who decide to follow Christ to not call themselves Christians. They know the language of Christian and Christianity, and they find it in their history and in their book, the Qur’an. The concept of following Christ from within Islam is a Western, modernist construct—it represents an attempt to renegotiate boundaries traditionally considered as immutable and objective. Not to be confrontational, but it is akin to same-sex marriage in this respect. All of this to say, these are not 21st Century Americans who can deconstruct and reconstruct terms in order to fir their picture of how reality should be, and we should not expect them to act in such a way. (Anyone interested in further exploring this critique of modernity should read Peter Berger’s important book The Heretical Imperative.)

2. The language of “conversion” is politically loaded, and whenever persecution hits international headlines there are always other factors involved, as the article clearly shows.  The NT language is really rich and diverse in describing the concept of conversion.  Is there a better English word?

Abu Daoud’s answer: This is an interesting question, and I think there is more room for discussion here than with the word ‘Christian’, which, I think, need not and can not be tossed out (with the possible exception of Jews). The key word used in the NT to talk about people deciding to be disciples of Christ is repentance. But that is a technical word that will not make sense to people who do not know the NT well (including most Christians I think). How would we say that? He repented and decided to follow Christ? It lacks the concise nature of the word ‘convert’ that people in all fields understand to mean a significant turning away from something and to another thing, in this case away from Islam and to Christianity. So is there a better English word? For internet material meant for a wide audience of non-specialists? I don’t think so. Is there a better word in Somalian? I have no idea.

3. Public advocacy for the persecuted usually puts governments in very awkward situations with the end result usually ending in deportation.  How should we stand for religious freedom without shaming Muslim governments into overreacting?

Abu Daoud’s answer: I think this is the most complex question, and all I can say is that it needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately the West needs to wake up and realize that Human Rights and Islam are, I am sad to say, irreconcilable. I mean, the Prophet very clearly said, ‘whosoever changes his religion, slay him.’ That does not leave a lot of room for creativity, does it? This problem has been around for a while, and it led Kenneth Cragg to the conclusion that Christian mission to the Muslim world must contain a strong element of advocacy for religious freedom.

 Please chime in, either here or over at Circumpolar. I enjoy this sort of conversation, just keep it civil ;-)

--Abu Daoud

Two Turks who converted to Orthodoxy

Kudos to Samn for this interesting link to an interview with two Turks who converted to Orthodoxy. I love how they talk about Christianity in the West, I find it to be quite true, I am sad to say, Here is a sample:

—It would follow that your path to Orthodoxy was the result of "local" experience, without any influence from outside of Turkey? 

Achmet: Any influence from American or European Christianity can only do harm. I never felt comfortable with the Christians there. They repelled me from Christianity by turning it into psychotherapy. They go to church on Sundays to talk. However, religion has an aim of filling a certain other emptiness. In Europe, Christianity has been relegated to holidays without any connection to religion. Take the Nativity of Christ, for example. Many people greet each other with the words, ”Happy holidays,” instead of Happy Nativity.” In Europe, people have a superficial connection to Christianity, without an understanding of its spiritual meaning. 

—How do the Christians in your country differ from Europeans? 

Nejla: In that they are much closer to the essence and traditions of Christianity.

Achmet: And in that they are more religious. 

Nejla: We go to church every Sunday, read the Holy Scriptures every evening, pray together, and strive to fulfill all the demands of our religion.

Read the whole interview at Pravoslavie (translated into English from Bulgarian).

Convert from Islam to Russian Orthodoxy

Well, you don't run into many converts from Islam to Orthodoxy, but every now and then you do--especially if you can read Russian (which I can't). It seems like the Russian Orthodox Church is one of the very few Orthodox Churches that welcome in Muslims on a regular basis, good for them!

Here is the beginning of part of one convert's testimony (in English):

Do you remember, in 1984, five years after the Islamic Revolution, I was still a teenager, I met with a friend Ferdowsi Square in Tehran? I had come too early, and to kill time I decided to sit in the cinema and watch a movie... This film was "Jesus, son of Mary" - a stripped down version of the censored "Jesus of Nazareth" by Franco Zeffirelli! Remember how I forgot about the whole world, absorbed in Thee, in spite of the fact that the authorities deliberately mutilated the tape? Remember how there, in Iran, I would like to go to church, and how the spiritual fire kindled my heart at the sight of thy temple? Remember in 1989 the first time I dared to cross the threshold of the church - Catholic, in the heart of Karachi - and how disappointed I was not finding you there? I did not know that you are in His infinite love to keep me this grace, which makes thy truth, the Orthodox Church.

Read it all here (in English): Pravmir.

And I don't think I have any Russian-language readers, but what the heck. Here is the segment in Russian:

Помнишь, как билось у меня сердце, когда я встречал Твое имя в персидских стихах? Хафиз[1] и Руми упоминают о множестве людей, но лишь при Твоем дивном Имени, Иисусе, душа моя трепетала от неведомой радости. Пусть тогда я не знал Тебя умом, пусть кривое зеркало исламской мистической литературы изображало Тебя обычным человеком, мое сердце различило в Тебе красоту, много выше человеческой. Было ли то наитие Святого Духа, или Твой образ во мне, поврежденный, но не уничтоженный, узнал свой прообраз, когда я увидел Твое благодатное имя? Или, может быть, сердце, намного опередив разум, узнало в Тебе своего Создателя? Знаю только, что я ликовал, видя Твое благословенное имя.

What do you think? How does this Orthodox testimony compare to others who became evangelicals?

Fr Seraphim and a Coptic reflection on prayer

I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to this wonderful man, a Coptic monk and priest (hieromonk, as the Greeks call them). I have very much enjoyed reading his reflection on prayer, which you can find HERE.

This is one portion which I found particularly beautiful:


The habitation of the longing, the meeting, the screaming and the tears is the heart, the wide place, in which God loves to dwell more than His own heaven. It is that sacred place wherein soft and gentle knocking is always heard; it is the place where Almighty God refuses to enter by force, because on its steps the freedom of Love is experienced. On its steps there is another departure (kenosis), not from the glory of Divinity, as in the Incarnation, but from using the power to impose His presence, for He will not allow Himself to break into the heart of man, unless this man genuinely and willfully opens his heart, earnestly desiring His Presence.

Read it all, and please make this wonderful article known through your own blogs.

Pray for me and my family as we prepare for travel. There are many obstacles in our way.

Gaudeul on why Muslims convert to Christianity

One of hte best studies out there on why Muslims convert to Christianity is the study by the French Roman Catholic priest Jean-Marie Gaudeul, one of the White Fathers.

The name of his book in English is Called from Islam to Christ. He identifies a couple of broad categories of people who convert:

• those fascinated by the personality of Jesus, they begin to pray, they experience the power and goodness, and they finally recognized as the Son of God;
• those looking for a community according to God, they find that community in the Church;
• those who, after recognizing their sin, want to experience free forgiveness, this being interpreted differently by Muslims;
• especially those seeking a coherent message about life, and desire intellectual certainty, especially those educated in controversy, they discover in the Bible the consistent message of the Gospel which attracts them;
• especially those who desire to meet God, to pray to him heart to heart, which is not the case in Islam where prayer is a set of rituals.

That is a rough translation of the French from this website. Here is the original list:

• ceux que fascine la personnalité de Jésus, qu’ils commencent à prier, dont ils expérimentent la puissance et la bonté, et qu’ils finissent par reconnaître comme le Fils de Dieu ;
• ceux qui recherchent une communauté selon Dieu, communauté qu’ils trouvent dans l’Eglise ;
• ceux qui, après s’être reconnus comme pécheurs, aspirent à faire l’expérience du pardon gratuit, celui-ci étant interprété diversement par les musulmans ;
• ceux qui demandent surtout un message cohérent en lui-même et avec la vie, et ont besoin de certitude intellectuelle : instruits dans la polémique, ils ont découvert la Bible et la cohérence du message de l’Evangile les attire ;
• ceux qui ont surtout soif de rencontrer Dieu, de le prier coeur à coeur, ce qui n’est pas le cas dans l’islam où la prière est un ensemble de rites.

Albion Land inteviews Abu Daoud

Some time ago I had the privilege to be interviewed by Albion Land, founder of the blog The Continuum. I think I mentioned it a long time ago but I recently re-read it and I think you might find it quite interesting.

Here it is:

Albion Land interviews Abu Daoud