Is God a Christian?

by Godsey, R. Kirby

• ISBN13: 9780881462425
• ISBN10: 088146242X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-01
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr

Summary

In a world composed of almost seven billion people, about 2.2 billion of them claim to be Christian. And while Christianity is continuing to grow at a modest rate, other religions are growing at a faster pace. Some scholars predict that Islam will overtake Christianity as the world'¿¿s largest religion by the middle of the twenty-first century. Predictions aside, religions are competing for the world stage, and in the competition, Christians seem certain that God is on their side. Christians often think and behave as though God is a Christian. This book is written to ask if that assumption is true and to foster a more open conversation about other world religions. The world has grown too small and the stakes for mankind have grown too high for any of us to engage our faith as if our understanding of God represents the only way to God'¿¿s presence may be known in the world. We need, more than ever before, to develop creative communities of conversation. Conversation does not begin with talking. It begins with listening. Like Quakers of old, we need to gather in humility and honesty to face the meanness and evil which religion itself has sometimes heaped upon mankind. Godsey asserts that '¿¿We should open ourselves to new spectrums of light that may emanate from faiths foreign to our own. Our high calling is to commit ourselves to building a better pathway for creating understanding and mutual respect among people of faith throughout the world.'¿¿

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Breaking Down Barriers	p. 1
Meeting God in Unexpected Places	p. 3
The Plague of Certainty	p. 11
The Peril of Exclusivity	p. 21
The Tragedy of Fundamentalism	p. 31
Touching the Faces of God	p. 45
The Language of God	p. 47
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob	p. 59
The God of Muhammad	p. 75
The God of Jesus	p. 95
The God of the Hindus and the Buddha	p. 111
The God of Confucius and Lao Tze	p. 129
Building Bridges	p. 143
Relativism and Covenantal Commitment	p. 145
Overcoming Our Addiction to Violence	p. 155
Creating a Community of Conversation	p. 168
The Hope for a Greater Reformation	p. 187
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