My Neighbour S Faith

This groundbreaking volume gathers an array of inspiring and penetrating stories about the interreligious encounters of outstanding community leaders, scholars, public intellectuals, and activist from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. With wisdom, wit, courage, and humility, these writers from a range of religious backgrounds share their personal experience of border-crossing, and the lessons learned from their interreligious adventures. We live in the most religiously diverse society in the history of humankind. Every day, people of different religious beliefs and practices encounter one another in a myriad of settings. How has this new situation of religious diversity impacted the way we understand the religious other, ourselves, and God? Can we learn to live together with mutual respect, working together for the creation of a more compassionate and just world? Contributors include: Mary Boys, Rita Nakishima-Brock; Arthur Green; Ruben Habito; Paul Knitter; Michael Lerner; Eboo Patel; Judith Plaskow; Paul Raushenbush; Arthur Waskow; and many more.

Nowhere else in the world have both Islam and Christianity been more instrumental in shaping the history of a people and their way of life than in Africa. African Muslims and Christians have a lot in common, including kinship ties, shared languages and citizenship. Yet, despite the centuries of deep historical links and harmonious existence between the two religions, new challenges threaten this harmony. Conflicts involving Christians and Muslims in places like Sudan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast are common. These conflicts are fueled primarily by ignorance, stereotyping and prejudice, which in turn breed fear, suspicion and even hatred, in some cases leading to violence. My Neighbour's Faith sheds light on the beliefs and teaching of Islam by addressing matters of contemporary importance to Christians and the wider non-Muslim audience. It presents the human face of Islam--the face of a close relative, a neighbour, a teacher and even a head of state--in a balanced and critical way that gives a credible view of Islam.

Do atheists hate God? Many Christians seem to think so. For the last three centuries Christians have widely assumed that atheism is always a result of a rebellious, sinful rejection of God. According to this view, at some level atheists really do know there is a God, but they sinfully suppress this knowledge because they want to live independently of God. But what if that is not correct? What if some folks are atheists not because they're sinful and foolish but because they've thought hard, they've looked carefully, and they have simply not found God? What if the common Christian assumptions about atheism are little more than an indefensible prejudice? What if the atheist really is our neighbor?

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Have you ever wondered what these words might mean for you in your own life? Elise Chase has. Lying on a rickety canvas cot night after night while volunteering in a church-sponsored emergency shelter, she had a lot of time to ask herself questions about Jesus's challenging command and to reflect on how new relationships with homeless men and women were changing her from the inside out. Fresh from an unwanted divorce, Elise began to realize that increasing closeness with these new neighbors was helping her both to heal from pain and loneliness and to enter a deeper relationship with Jesus. My Neighbor, My Self invites readers not just into Elise's own story but also into the stories of many other people. It explores surprising ways that our attempts to live into the second great commandment can actually help us live more fully into the first as well—discovering, in the process, a more fulfilling relationship with the Lord.

Christians today are very discriminating in who they consider to be a “neighbor” they should love, and what that love should look like. Jesus commanded his followers to love their neighbors (and enemies) as they love themselves. Believers are commanded to put themselves in their neighbors’ shoes, and love them accordingly. This type of love is an empathetic love; it answers the question, “What would I need if I were in this person’s situation?” My Neighbor’s Shoes: Following Jesus in Empathy Toward Others encourages Christ-followers to live a life of empathy, outlining the life and teachings of Jesus as the model for this life-changing love.