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FAmI THE NEWS amp OffiERltffl----1 FRIDAY MAY 2 1997

Christians and Muslims must break down the barriers BY CHARLES KIMBALL

C hri tianity and Islam the worlds two largest and fastest-growing religions comprise almost half of the worlds population yet are

currently on a collision course because of misinformation and stereotypes that block understanding

Breaking down these barriers is critical to avoiding the conomic ecological and military dangers ignorance produces for clearly global interdependence requires more than tolerance amid diversity

Unfortunately most Christians and Muslims still middotew each other through the lens of suspicion and ignorance Knowing very little about Islam most Christians in the US equate Islam with stories about terrorists blowing up the World Trade Center a zealots call for Holy War hostage takers or the sharp rhetoric of Loui Farrakhan

But the actions of the small group of Muslims involved hardly reflect the majority of the more than 1 billion Mu lims - most of whom abhor violent

--=

extremism Take Farrakhan His upporters repre-

sent less than 20 percent of the ------ African-American

YOUR TURN

If you would like to submit an essay write to Faith PO Box 191 Raleigh NC 27602 Umit your submissions to 650 words Please Include a daytime phone numbet

Muslim community and some Muslims ven consider the

movement another religion Meanwhile the large majority of Muslims peacefully follow traditional Islamic teachings out of camera range

The largest Islamic country is not in the Middle East but in Indonesia with more than 160 million Muslim China has

more than 30 million Muslims greater than any Middle Eastern country except Egypt

Why should Western Christians base their images of Islam on the behavior of a minority of extremi rath r than the ------

peaceful majority Imagine yourself a Muslim middot ving in

Tunisia whose view of Christianity is shaped by television and radio news David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas the scandals of Jim and Tammy Bakker bombings by the IRA in Ireland more than 20000 documented cases of rape or murder of Bosnian Muslim women and children or the most recent media frenzy over the group known s Heavens Gate

If your image of Christianity was shaped by media attention to these violent and sensational stories how accu-

te would it be In addition to pragmatic needs for coop-

eration the Bible challenges Chlistians to examine relation hips with others You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 2016) Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 1919) and If it is possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with everyone (Romans 1218)

How can we avoid bearing false witness

again ta neighbor to love them and live together in peace if we know so little about them Even worse how can we live in faithfulness to these biblical imperatives when so much of what we know about our neighbors is incorrect

Like Je s Christians and Muslims claim descent from Abraham The three great monotheistic religions share many common ideas and doctrines beginning with their belief in the same God Many Americans are surprised to learn that the Muslims pray to the same God as Christians and Jews

Allah is simply the Arabic word for God just as Dieu is the French and Gott is the German In the Middle East today 14 mil-lion to 16 million indigenous Arabic-speaking Christians pray to Allah

Most Christian and Mu lims have sim-ilar views on Gods revelatory activity through prophets The Bible and the Koran convey similar things about angels and devils the last judgment heaven and hell They also differ at crucial points mo t notably the understandings about

Gods activity in and through Jesus The differences are real and profoun

For Christians the similarities and dif-ferences with Muslims have important consequences for mission and witness as well a dialogue an cooperation on com-mon concerns However one approaches these concerns though the prospects for constructive en ounter are linked to bet-ter more accurate understanding

A good place to begin is with study pro-grams in churches and intentional dialogues with local Muslims Then we can begin to correct stereotypes and put a human face on the faith traditions and beliefs of those with whom we share this increasingly fragile planet

Charles_Kimregll an ordained Baptist minister is the chairman of the Department of Religion at Wake Forest Universityjormer Mideast director of the National Council of Churches and the author of three books including Striving Together A Way Forward in Christ ian-Muslim Relations

z e ty )

I

JOURNAL PHOTO BY ALLEN AYCOCI~ BAPTIST LEADERS Charles Kimball chairman of Wake Forests

religion department and Bill Leonard dean of the divinity school share a deep understanding of what it means to be ecumenical Baptists

2 Baptist scholars brifg depth and vision to WFU By Amy Andrews JOURNAL REPORTER

The great-grandson of an Orthodox Jewish can-tor grandson of a Presbyterian and son of a Methodist Charles A Kimball is an expertcm s~

lam and the M1lt le East He middots a Baptist A Texas native and the son of a

history teacher Bill J Leonard is a na-tionally known church hislorian who

jokes that he learned the names of the heroes of the Alamo before he learned the 12 apostles of Jesus

He too is a Baptist Earlier this year Wake Forest

University hired Kimball and Leonard for its two highest-profile positions in religion and some consider it a coup

Kimball who had taught at Fir-man University since 1990 is the chairman of Wake Forests religion department Leonard who had taught

at Samford University since 1992 is the dean of the divinity school

Carlton Mitchell a retired religion professor served on the committees that several years ago studied the feasibility of a diviniLy school and more recently searched out Kimball for the religion department

He said that Kimball and Leonard rose quickly to the top of the search conmtittees lists of candidates - and

S 2 RAPT~ P~

JOURNAL WINSTON SALEM N C

NO V 2 3 ~ 1middot

fII _ bull ~ )

~t(AJ ~ tA81 a-u WINgtIUN-~~LEM JOURNAL Saturday November 23 1996

2 BAPTISTS Continued From Page B9

that they were the only two people invited to campus to interview for the positions

These two persons complement each other o beautifully and yet both have such deep

concerns for interfaith and ecumenical develop-ment Mitchell said At the same time both are Baptist ministers and have a deep under-standing of what it means to be ecwnenical Baptists

Last month Leonard and Kimball joined with Hartford Seminary sociologist Nanc-y T Ammer-man to lead a semjnar for clergy about the future of Christian denominations in America

Theyve also preached in area churches and given lectures on campus and are coordinating vents surrounding the Year of Religion in

American Life the universitys theme for 1997-98middot

Religious events and groups on campus will be highlighted religion practitioners -ill be in-vitemicro as vi iting professors and major personal-ities will be invited to speak

bull Kimball m Oklahoma native grew up Meth-

odist but became a Baptist in high school when he started dating the daughter of a Southern Bapti L pastor

lt middotwas at a time when I was cutting my own spiritual teeth middotmiddot he recalled and attending the Baptist church seemed to bemiddot the expeditious thing to do if he wanted to keep his girl-friend

He stopped dating the girl but continued as a Baptist

The irony is I married a Presbyterian and turned her into a Baptist he said He and his wife Nancy have two crulclren

Kimball ho lds a bachelors degree from Okla-homa State University masters from The South-

RELIGION

ern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville Ky and a doctorate from Harvard Unjversity

At Harvard he specialized in Islamic studies and Chri Lian-Muslim relations interests that he had nurtured for more than a decade He had studied at American University in Cairo Egypt in 1977-78 and when the Iran hostage crisis developed in 19 79 he helped facilitate its peacef1tl resolution

Kimball was one of seven American who met with the Ayatollah Khomeini during the hostage crisis and he met with religious leaders student militants occupying the US Embassy and oth-ers during three trips to Iran

His career has i11cluded extensive interfaith work including as the Middle East director for the National Council of Churches from 1983 to 1990 He left that position to go to Furman as its director of international education and a reli-gion professor

Wake Forest is a -chool with a very rich tradition and a rootedness in the Baptist tradi-tion thats in1portant to me Kimball said That history helped draw him to Winston-Salem he added

bull Leonards Baptist roots go deep His grand-

mother he aid was a member of the Funda-mental Baptist Church of Decatur Texas who used to say about her preacher and his sermon He dont sweat I dont Listen

He brings to Wake Forest and Winston-Salem strong networks from Baptist circles and the broader interfaith community Particularly in terms of the divinity school thats helpful for us getting started he said

Th divinity school while maintaining its Bap-tist roots will train pastors [rom several denom-inations Its first class of students might not enroll until the fall of 2000

Leonard though is not idle He plans to teach an introductory r eligion class in the spring and hes finishing up thre books Hes also been meeting with prof es middotors in the merucal and law

schools to discuss offering inter-disciplinary classes about faith and healing or law and eth-ics

One of my reasons for coming here is be-cause they were concerned that the divinity school not be unto itself but draw on adjunct faculty Leonard said

The school will be in Wingate Hall which adjoins Wait Chapel and currently houses the offices of the religion department Wake Forest Baptist Church and the campus chaplain Win-gate will be renovated during the ne)1 two swn-mers

Leonard graduated with a bachelors degree from Texas Wesleyan University a masters de-gree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Boston Univer-sity He also has studied at Yale Universi-ty

Though he has worked in numerous churches especially as an interim pastor most of his career has been spent in academia He previous-ly was a professor of religion and the chairman of the religion department at Samford which is in Birmingham Ala

Leonard said he was attracted to Wake be-cause hes very interested in universities that value the freedom of students and staff to ex-plore ideas and express themselves without be-ing afraid of what will happen

I dont want to be a participant of introduc-ing another generation of students to the Baptist cycle of dysfunction he said Students also need to learn new ways of networking that re-flect the changing role of denominations he said

He was teaching at Southern Seminary in Louisville in the late 1980s when the conserva-tive takeover of the Southern Baptist Conven-tion was bleeding over into its seminaries The administration had not yet changed hands he said but the board of trustees were

Particularly after my ex-perience in Louis-ville I was looking for collegiality Leonard said

z e ty )

I

JOURNAL PHOTO BY ALLEN AYCOCI~ BAPTIST LEADERS Charles Kimball chairman of Wake Forests

religion department and Bill Leonard dean of the divinity school share a deep understanding of what it means to be ecumenical Baptists

2 Baptist scholars brifg depth and vision to WFU By Amy Andrews JOURNAL REPORTER

The great-grandson of an Orthodox Jewish can-tor grandson of a Presbyterian and son of a Methodist Charles A Kimball is an expertcm s~

lam and the M1lt le East He middots a Baptist A Texas native and the son of a

history teacher Bill J Leonard is a na-tionally known church hislorian who

jokes that he learned the names of the heroes of the Alamo before he learned the 12 apostles of Jesus

He too is a Baptist Earlier this year Wake Forest

University hired Kimball and Leonard for its two highest-profile positions in religion and some consider it a coup

Kimball who had taught at Fir-man University since 1990 is the chairman of Wake Forests religion department Leonard who had taught

at Samford University since 1992 is the dean of the divinity school

Carlton Mitchell a retired religion professor served on the committees that several years ago studied the feasibility of a diviniLy school and more recently searched out Kimball for the religion department

He said that Kimball and Leonard rose quickly to the top of the search conmtittees lists of candidates - and

S 2 RAPT~ P~

JOURNAL WINSTON SALEM N C

NO V 2 3 ~ 1middot

fII _ bull ~ )

~t(AJ ~ tA81 a-u WINgtIUN-~~LEM JOURNAL Saturday November 23 1996

2 BAPTISTS Continued From Page B9

that they were the only two people invited to campus to interview for the positions

These two persons complement each other o beautifully and yet both have such deep

concerns for interfaith and ecumenical develop-ment Mitchell said At the same time both are Baptist ministers and have a deep under-standing of what it means to be ecwnenical Baptists

Last month Leonard and Kimball joined with Hartford Seminary sociologist Nanc-y T Ammer-man to lead a semjnar for clergy about the future of Christian denominations in America

Theyve also preached in area churches and given lectures on campus and are coordinating vents surrounding the Year of Religion in

American Life the universitys theme for 1997-98middot

Religious events and groups on campus will be highlighted religion practitioners -ill be in-vitemicro as vi iting professors and major personal-ities will be invited to speak

bull Kimball m Oklahoma native grew up Meth-

odist but became a Baptist in high school when he started dating the daughter of a Southern Bapti L pastor

lt middotwas at a time when I was cutting my own spiritual teeth middotmiddot he recalled and attending the Baptist church seemed to bemiddot the expeditious thing to do if he wanted to keep his girl-friend

He stopped dating the girl but continued as a Baptist

The irony is I married a Presbyterian and turned her into a Baptist he said He and his wife Nancy have two crulclren

Kimball ho lds a bachelors degree from Okla-homa State University masters from The South-

RELIGION

ern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville Ky and a doctorate from Harvard Unjversity

At Harvard he specialized in Islamic studies and Chri Lian-Muslim relations interests that he had nurtured for more than a decade He had studied at American University in Cairo Egypt in 1977-78 and when the Iran hostage crisis developed in 19 79 he helped facilitate its peacef1tl resolution

Kimball was one of seven American who met with the Ayatollah Khomeini during the hostage crisis and he met with religious leaders student militants occupying the US Embassy and oth-ers during three trips to Iran

His career has i11cluded extensive interfaith work including as the Middle East director for the National Council of Churches from 1983 to 1990 He left that position to go to Furman as its director of international education and a reli-gion professor

Wake Forest is a -chool with a very rich tradition and a rootedness in the Baptist tradi-tion thats in1portant to me Kimball said That history helped draw him to Winston-Salem he added

bull Leonards Baptist roots go deep His grand-

mother he aid was a member of the Funda-mental Baptist Church of Decatur Texas who used to say about her preacher and his sermon He dont sweat I dont Listen

He brings to Wake Forest and Winston-Salem strong networks from Baptist circles and the broader interfaith community Particularly in terms of the divinity school thats helpful for us getting started he said

Th divinity school while maintaining its Bap-tist roots will train pastors [rom several denom-inations Its first class of students might not enroll until the fall of 2000

Leonard though is not idle He plans to teach an introductory r eligion class in the spring and hes finishing up thre books Hes also been meeting with prof es middotors in the merucal and law

schools to discuss offering inter-disciplinary classes about faith and healing or law and eth-ics

One of my reasons for coming here is be-cause they were concerned that the divinity school not be unto itself but draw on adjunct faculty Leonard said

The school will be in Wingate Hall which adjoins Wait Chapel and currently houses the offices of the religion department Wake Forest Baptist Church and the campus chaplain Win-gate will be renovated during the ne)1 two swn-mers

Leonard graduated with a bachelors degree from Texas Wesleyan University a masters de-gree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Boston Univer-sity He also has studied at Yale Universi-ty

Though he has worked in numerous churches especially as an interim pastor most of his career has been spent in academia He previous-ly was a professor of religion and the chairman of the religion department at Samford which is in Birmingham Ala

Leonard said he was attracted to Wake be-cause hes very interested in universities that value the freedom of students and staff to ex-plore ideas and express themselves without be-ing afraid of what will happen

I dont want to be a participant of introduc-ing another generation of students to the Baptist cycle of dysfunction he said Students also need to learn new ways of networking that re-flect the changing role of denominations he said

He was teaching at Southern Seminary in Louisville in the late 1980s when the conserva-tive takeover of the Southern Baptist Conven-tion was bleeding over into its seminaries The administration had not yet changed hands he said but the board of trustees were

Particularly after my ex-perience in Louis-ville I was looking for collegiality Leonard said

JOURNAL WINSTON SALEM N C

NO V 2 3 ~ 1middot

fII _ bull ~ )

~t(AJ ~ tA81 a-u WINgtIUN-~~LEM JOURNAL Saturday November 23 1996

2 BAPTISTS Continued From Page B9

that they were the only two people invited to campus to interview for the positions

These two persons complement each other o beautifully and yet both have such deep

concerns for interfaith and ecumenical develop-ment Mitchell said At the same time both are Baptist ministers and have a deep under-standing of what it means to be ecwnenical Baptists

Last month Leonard and Kimball joined with Hartford Seminary sociologist Nanc-y T Ammer-man to lead a semjnar for clergy about the future of Christian denominations in America

Theyve also preached in area churches and given lectures on campus and are coordinating vents surrounding the Year of Religion in

American Life the universitys theme for 1997-98middot

Religious events and groups on campus will be highlighted religion practitioners -ill be in-vitemicro as vi iting professors and major personal-ities will be invited to speak

bull Kimball m Oklahoma native grew up Meth-

odist but became a Baptist in high school when he started dating the daughter of a Southern Bapti L pastor

lt middotwas at a time when I was cutting my own spiritual teeth middotmiddot he recalled and attending the Baptist church seemed to bemiddot the expeditious thing to do if he wanted to keep his girl-friend

He stopped dating the girl but continued as a Baptist

The irony is I married a Presbyterian and turned her into a Baptist he said He and his wife Nancy have two crulclren

Kimball ho lds a bachelors degree from Okla-homa State University masters from The South-

RELIGION

ern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville Ky and a doctorate from Harvard Unjversity

At Harvard he specialized in Islamic studies and Chri Lian-Muslim relations interests that he had nurtured for more than a decade He had studied at American University in Cairo Egypt in 1977-78 and when the Iran hostage crisis developed in 19 79 he helped facilitate its peacef1tl resolution

Kimball was one of seven American who met with the Ayatollah Khomeini during the hostage crisis and he met with religious leaders student militants occupying the US Embassy and oth-ers during three trips to Iran

His career has i11cluded extensive interfaith work including as the Middle East director for the National Council of Churches from 1983 to 1990 He left that position to go to Furman as its director of international education and a reli-gion professor

Wake Forest is a -chool with a very rich tradition and a rootedness in the Baptist tradi-tion thats in1portant to me Kimball said That history helped draw him to Winston-Salem he added

bull Leonards Baptist roots go deep His grand-

mother he aid was a member of the Funda-mental Baptist Church of Decatur Texas who used to say about her preacher and his sermon He dont sweat I dont Listen

He brings to Wake Forest and Winston-Salem strong networks from Baptist circles and the broader interfaith community Particularly in terms of the divinity school thats helpful for us getting started he said

Th divinity school while maintaining its Bap-tist roots will train pastors [rom several denom-inations Its first class of students might not enroll until the fall of 2000

Leonard though is not idle He plans to teach an introductory r eligion class in the spring and hes finishing up thre books Hes also been meeting with prof es middotors in the merucal and law

schools to discuss offering inter-disciplinary classes about faith and healing or law and eth-ics

One of my reasons for coming here is be-cause they were concerned that the divinity school not be unto itself but draw on adjunct faculty Leonard said

The school will be in Wingate Hall which adjoins Wait Chapel and currently houses the offices of the religion department Wake Forest Baptist Church and the campus chaplain Win-gate will be renovated during the ne)1 two swn-mers

Leonard graduated with a bachelors degree from Texas Wesleyan University a masters de-gree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Boston Univer-sity He also has studied at Yale Universi-ty

Though he has worked in numerous churches especially as an interim pastor most of his career has been spent in academia He previous-ly was a professor of religion and the chairman of the religion department at Samford which is in Birmingham Ala

Leonard said he was attracted to Wake be-cause hes very interested in universities that value the freedom of students and staff to ex-plore ideas and express themselves without be-ing afraid of what will happen

I dont want to be a participant of introduc-ing another generation of students to the Baptist cycle of dysfunction he said Students also need to learn new ways of networking that re-flect the changing role of denominations he said

He was teaching at Southern Seminary in Louisville in the late 1980s when the conserva-tive takeover of the Southern Baptist Conven-tion was bleeding over into its seminaries The administration had not yet changed hands he said but the board of trustees were

Particularly after my ex-perience in Louis-ville I was looking for collegiality Leonard said