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A dictionary on commonalities and differences between Islam and Christianity is being drafted by three US-based researchers with contributions from religion professors, priests, imams and interfaith experts.
"We want people who are going to be ordained, people in Muslim religious schools, people in communications, government and business, to be aware of the importance of the relationship between these two religions," Martin Forward, executive director of Aurora University’s Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action, the told Vindy newspaper on Saturday, April 12.
"The dictionary will act as a focus for the discipline of Christian-Muslim relations internationally," he said.
"As such, we hope it will develop understanding of positions both within and between Christianity and Islam," added Forward, who will lead the project with the help of two other editors.
Some 60 religion professors, priests, imams and interfaith experts from around the world are contributing to the "Christian-Muslim Relations Dictionary," to be released in 2012 by the Cambridge University Press.
The dictionary will have up to 900 alphabetically-arranged entries on people, places, theologies, denominations, scripture and other core texts.
It will also include entries on art, cinema and feminism.
Contents will include an introductory essay, bibliography, and appendix material such as a chronology.
Common
Forward said the dictionary will tackle, for example, how Christians and Muslims view Jesus.
"For Christians, Jesus is the suffering Messiah who dies on the cross and is resurrected," he explains.
"For Muslims, Jesus is not primarily a suffering figure. Muslims don't believe Jesus died on the cross, and if he did die, he wasn't resurrected and isn't the son of God. Muslims don't believe God has a son."
Muslims believe in Jesus as one of the great Prophets of God and that he is the son of Virgin Mary but not the son of God. He was conceived and born miraculously.
In the Noble Qur'an, Jesus is called "Isa". He is also known as Al-Masih (the Christ) and Ibn Maryam (Son of Mary).
As for his crucifixion, Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified but was lifted up to heaven.
Muslims believe that Jesus will come back to earth before the end of time to restore peace and order, fight the Anti-Christ (Al-Masih Al-Dajjal) and bring victory for truth and righteousness.
The true followers of Jesus will prevail over those who deny him, misrepresent him and reject him.
Scott Alexander, associate professor of Islam and director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and one of the three editors, said the dictionary will provide a common vocabulary for inter-faith dialogue.
"This inter-religious dialogue movement is found all over the globe," he said.
"But it doesn’t get much press."
A. Rashied Omar, a research scholar of Islamic studies and peace-building at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, is the third editors.
He believes there has been "a phenomenal growth of inter-religions dialogue and outreach between Christians and Muslims across the United States and the world" since the 9/11 attacks.
Omar, who expects to write entries on Jesus, Abraham, Moses and Mary, notes that while there has been some backlash against Muslims, Christians are now visiting mosques to learn more about Islam.