On Wednesday, April 7, Fordham University’s Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, Jesuit Father Patrick Ryan presented his biannual public lecture, choosing to focus on faith and culture in what has become New York City’s leading event of Christian-Jewish-Muslim “trialogue.”
The lecture presented the three monotheistic faiths with common roots tracing to Abraham, and explored their similarities and differences in their approaches to culture. The template followed H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic text “Christ and Culture,” in which Jesus Christ, or in this context religion, is seen as simultaneously but in varying ways integrating, transforming, prophetically challenging, and being incorporated into culture.
Before the presentation, I was lucky enough to have dinner with Father Ryan and his respondents, Rabbi Daniel Polish and Dr. Amir Hussain, all of whom received their doctorates from Harvard, under the tutelage of the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith, famed scholar of religion and religious history. In a memorable night, I was privileged to appreciate with new eyes the difference between inter-religious dialogue in theory and in practice, as it were. It is one thing to say, “Christianity has much to learn from Judaism; Islam from Christians,” or any parallel combination among these or any of the world’s great traditions. It is quite another, and powerfully striking, to see such dialogue present among decades-long friends in a causal and friendly atmosphere.
Dr. Anne-Marie Kirmse, OP, provided an opening prayer to the meal, thanking “the Almighty and All-Merciful One God” for the food and fellowship that were about to be shared. Over chicken parmigiana, penne alla vodka, and plenty of red wine, the conversation meandered from Joel Osteen and the notion of a prosperity gospel to contemporary Israeli politics to the 16th century Cardinal and irenicist Gasparo Contarini. It was inspiring to see these learned friends, deeply ingrained in their individual traditions for many years, breaking bread and sharing laughter in private.
The lecture took on a completely different hue for those of us who had come to see the intimate interaction of men for whom religion is their livelihood, passion, and life’s work, and yet for whom friendship in the divine continues to exist across deep historical divisions. I once again reflected on the biblical mandate from Holy Thursday to “love one another” and pondered the question that can be put to many mainline Christian traditions today: “Are you jealous because I am generous?” God’s love and grace exist in innumerable contexts and settings. There is much to learn from such trialogue projects, and, without diluting one’s own faith stance, we can encounter others and the Other in mutual goodwill and conversation.
All three traditions share the account of Abraham welcoming three strangers with hospitality near the oaks of Mamre. These mysterious guests bring the miraculous news that the aged couple would soon give birth to a son. As Father Ryan pointed out: “The tent of Abraham and Sarah, concretized in the various contemporary traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam described in this presentation, is large and welcoming. Not every guest of Abraham and Sarah will be exactly the same as every other guest, but the tent is large and the hospitality abundant. Not only must Jews, Christians, and Muslims recognize each other across religious lines as fellow visitors to the tent of Abraham and Sarah, but different types of Jews, different types of Christians, and different types of Muslims have a lot to learn about proper comportment among themselves in the tent. As people of faith we can and must look into the faces of our fellow guests and recognize the image and likeness of God in each one of us.”
Michael M. Canaris of Collingswood is a Ph.D. candidate in systematic theology.
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