Islam and Global Dialogue Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace by Roger Boase, ed. (Ashgate: Hants, 2005)

Abstract

If there were ever a time that a book on religious pluralism and peace ought
to be required reading for politicians, public intellectuals, policymakers, and
the media, as well as a general audience, that time is now. Conceived as a
response to the excoriation of Islam after 9/11, Roger Boase has put together
a remarkable book on the need for interreligous dialogue as the only way to
“lay the foundations for a more peaceful world (p. xviii).” This need reverberates
through each chapter, be it written by a Jewish, Christian, or Muslim
scholar. This means that, as in a symphony, even though each scholar writes
grounded in his/her own faith tradition (instrument), their collective voices
chorus the same song. It makes for very powerful reading.
The book is divided into three parts, with a foreword on the importance
of bridge building between cultures by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal, the
former crown prince of Jordan, a preface and an introduction by Boase, and
a postscript by author Wendell Berry on the failure of war as a way to secure
peace. After initially considering inviting scholars from all faith traditions to
contribute, Boase decided there was not space in a single volume to do this
in an adequate way. Therefore, the book focuses on contributions from
scholars from the three Abrahamic faith traditions: Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. He rightly says that this gives the book a tighter focus. Given the
importance of the West/Islamic civilizational divide these days, it is important
to have a book that focuses on these faith traditions. From a wider,
global perspective, though, this may limit its potentially positive impact
about the need for interreligous dialogue only to those readers who identify
with one of the three Abrahamic faiths. Muslims in China, for instance,
would need to appeal to whole different discourses in order to establish the
need for constructive Sino-Muslim dialogue for peace.
Part One, “Defining the Issue,” has articles from three scholars who try
to set the terms of the discourse: John Bowden talks about the ...