Per my prior post<\/a>, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for saying that Muslims and Christians worship the \u201csame God.\u201d \u00a0Now everyone\u2019s rushing to her defense, and citing various Catholic documents asserting the fact. \u00a0But let\u2019s back up.<\/p>\nFrom a Muslim point of view, there is a definite continuity. \u00a0When they say, \u201cwe worship the same God,\u201d they mean, \u201cwe believe that God revealed himself to Jews such as Abraham, and we likewise believe that Jesus was a prophet, but his followers messed up and thought he was God, so God gave it a final, and successful, go\u00a0with Muhammad.\u201d \u00a0In fact, the expression \u201cpeople of the book\u201d that is generally used to characterize Islam\u2019s view of Jews and Christians, The Muslim Next Door<\/em> author Sumbul Ali-Karamali recasts as \u201cpeople of an earlier revelation\u201d to emphasize this continuity (and the fact that the connection between the three religions, to Muslims, is not that they all have books<\/em>, since, after all, the Quran was originally not a book at all but the utterances of Muhammad, written down by his followers and only compiled into a book later on, unless, that is, you follow the theory that the Quran had its origins in pre-Islamic religious literature).<\/p>\nBut from a Christian point of view?<\/p>\n
To speak of continuity makes no sense. \u00a0Did God really speak to Muhammad in that cave, and afterwards, repeatedly, in words that, when compiled, became\u00a0the Quran? \u00a0If you believe that, you have no business being a Christian. \u00a0Go say the Shahada instead.<\/p>\n
We can say that Muhammad drew inspiration from the Jews and Christians around him, and we can acknowledge that Muslims believe in a continuity. \u00a0But is that enough to get us to the \u201csame God\u201d formulation?<\/p>\n
Imagine we\u2019re talking about castles in Europe that we want to visit. \u00a0\u201cI want to visit the one that was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle!\u201d \u00a0\u201cI want to visit the one that the Sun King built!\u201d \u00a0We can identify where these two castles are and determine that, no, these are not the same locations, the former in Bavaria and the latter in France. \u00a0But what if we didn\u2019t have that information available? \u00a0We\u2019d be going around in circles.<\/p>\n
This \u201csame God\u201d business is even more muddled. \u00a0Of course both Islam and Christianity believe there is one God \u2014 though Christians believe in the Trinity and Muslims believe that this belief is rank polytheism. \u00a0Now, imagine a Muslim dies and (by means of that whole \u201cbaptism of desire\u201d\/right intention bit) shows up at the Pearly Gates. \u00a0Will he say, \u201coh, I was worshipping the Wrong God after all!\u201d or \u201cmy bad, sorry for rejecting the Trinity and denying the divinity of Jesus\u201d?<\/p>\n
It makes no sense, really, to speak in these terms. \u00a0It\u2019s not as if there are multiple gods out there and the question is whether Christians and Muslims alike have chosen the right one, for instance, worshiping Zeus vs. Apollo. \u00a0To speak of the \u201cSame God\u201d really only makes sense if it\u2019s shorthand for\u00a0acknowledging that Muslims are monotheistic and that their conception of God is reasonably similar to our own\u201d \u2013 that is, a God of mercy and compassion, rather than, say, the Greek gods who, the Greeks believed, were indifferent to human needs and used them as pawns in their disputes.<\/p>\n
And in this sense Wheaton College also has a point, though they don\u2019t spell it out directly in their official statement<\/a> on the matter. \u00a0My guess is that their complaint is essentially that this strips away too much of what Christians believe about God. \u00a0If you say, \u201cGod is a trinity consisting of the three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,\u201d and at the same time say, \u201cin all the essentials, Muslims believe as we do,\u201d you\u2019re relegating the divinity of Jesus to a non-essential. \u00a0Is this what Hawkins intends to say? \u00a0Probably not. \u00a0But it points to the need for more careful, more meaningful terminology.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for saying that Muslims and Christians worship the \u201csame God.\u201d \u00a0Now everyone\u2019s rushing to her defense, and citing various Catholic documents asserting the fact. \u00a0But let\u2019s back up. From a Muslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Same God"? What does that even mean?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Same God"? What does that even mean?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-18T17:30:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-18T15:15:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Same God\\\"? What does that even mean?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-18T17:30:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-18T15:15:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Same God”? What does that even mean?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Same God\"? What does that even mean?","description":"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Same God\"? What does that even mean?","og_description":"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-12-18T17:30:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-18T15:15:01+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html","name":"\"Same God\"? What does that even mean?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-12-18T17:30:10+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-18T15:15:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Allow me to be contrarian. Per my prior post, and all over the internet, Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins was suspended from her position for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/same-god-what-does-that-even-mean.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Same God”? What does that even mean?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}