John Gooding (Guildford) has this comment on the language of inter-faith dialogue. What do you think?
Is ‘inter-faith’ an appropriate description for what is commonly described in this way? Christianity is founded uniquely on a personal relationship of trust into which God invites humans and which then have the potential to develop into transforming relationships of faith that grow and lead to the adoption of changed values and actions. However, other religions seem to be founded on the initial adoption of sets of rules, codes of practice, behaviours, customs, habits and life styles, and have very little to do with ‘faith’ in a personal transforming relationship with another eternal ‘Other’ who calls people into a lifelong, transforming and trusting relationship. Would the term ‘inter-religious’ be a far more accurate and honest descriptive term?
And John Twisleton (Chichester) has been reading the Chief Rabbi's latest and is impressed. Here's his review (also avalable as a Word download at the end):
The Home We Build Together - Recreating Society Jonathan Sacks
Continuum 2007 ISBN 9780826480705 £16.99 273pp
How can we recreate society? Change consumers into citizens? Get people looking forwards? Overcome selfish individualism? Grow more compassion? Gain moral depth as a national community?
These are questions asked and answered by Britain’s Chief Rabbi in 273 pages containing a vision for Britain that will surely catch the nation’s attention. Jonathan Sacks is prominent as a national faith community leader and well known through the media.
The Rabbi may be favoured by media but his ideas are not easily reduced to simple sound bites. The whole thrust of the book is an overcoming of the over simple presentation of truth which makes it a demanding yet inspiring read.
I read his book as someone concerned for more truthfulness in society and in religious bodies including the Church of England which I serve as a mission adviser steering both evangelism and interfaith encounter. The Rabbi reads as the best sort of missionary – a pragmatist. The survival of Rabbinic Judaism is, as he says, indebted to its practical rather than idealistic approach, respecting and seeking respect for the presence of competing world views as a minority group. The trick is to be bilingual and be fluent in both the language and customs of your religion or philosophy and those of your nation. There are too many groups that are really speaking to themselves and in these Sacks would group religious fundamentalists and gay militant lobbyists.
Within Christianity in Britain there are streams of evangelism that are so otherworldly they seem indifferent to the health of society and to collaboration with other faith communities for the common good. They could well heed Rabbi Sacks as he quotes Jeremiah’s advice for exiled believers to seek the peace of the city they are exiled to since in that quest they will themselves find peace and prosperity and, I would add, effective evangelisation. British Christianity has a complementary weakness in its loss of the formation and counter-cultural inspiration that has power to energise its followers to be the William Wilberforce’s of this age. Again Sacks himself is an example of a prophet nurtured by a traditional religion whose clear identity as a Jew does not make for any conflict with his helping recreate society through building a new consensus of values that will serve the future of Britain.
The future of Britain depends on the harnessing of different groups with conflicting views of the good, the Chief Rabbi writes. We need to generate a forward momentum for our nation by generating a new relationship or covenant between civil society and the state and this will take time and vision. If successful the giftings of presently segregated cultures can be brought to serve the common good. Multiculturalism has failed – this is his most provocative challenge – making Britain like a hotel in which segregated cultures live under one roof in self-contained rooms they pay for. The challenge is to build a home together and to encourage the different cultures to work together on this task so building their responsibility and ownership of society as a whole. We will not get more compassion in our society from government but from the vision bearing groups that can successfully challenge self interest.
The hardest truth-telling in this book is about what it actually means to be tolerant. The belief that I am morally right to do anything I have a legal right to do is not tolerance but moral relativism. Sacks shows up the tragic attempts at thought policing by the political correct of those who retain a sense of objective right and wrong. To say someone has a right to do something (tolerance) is not the same as to say they are right to do it. These and other deep yet basic observations make this book a searching read.
John Twisleton, Chichester diocesan mission & renewal adviser
Download the_home_we_build_together_jonathan_sacks.doc
It's a great pleasure to be able to tell you that Rachel Jordan has been appointed as Associate Mission & Evangelism Adviser, working half-time alongside Paul and Jayne for two years.
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