TEXTUALIST AND CONTEXTUALIST INTERPRETATIONS AMONG MUSLIMS
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

There are two broad approaches among Muslims in relation to how scholars interpret the ethico-legal content of the Islamic text in our modern period: Textualists (literalists) and Contextualists (modernists or post-modernists).
Classical and modern textualists rely in interpreting the texts and the traditions on the linguistic criteria to determine the meaning of the text. They are dominated by the linguistic tools and criteria developed by the scholars of classical fiqh (jurisprudence).
They consider the early generation as the most authoritative and thus the early …

AGAINST JEWISH LITERALISM
Rabbi Michael Whitman

John raises an issue that is crucial for all three of us to confront. Not only does Judaism have an approach that is distinct from Christianity and Islam, but among different groups of Jews, this is one of the fundamental questions that define the difference between Jewish denominations. I will try to present my approach as a modern orthodox rabbi.
While Judaism has its share (unfortunately) of extremists and fundamentalists, we do not have a tradition of literalists – those who read and attempt to live the …

SACRED TEXTS AND LITERAL INTERPRETATIONS
Father John Walsh

Tongue in cheek, the alleged Dr. James F. Kauffman, in an open letter to Dr. Laura Schlesinger, questions her judgement that according to Leviticus 25:44 he wonders if Canada would be a neighboring country to allow for the purchase of slaves. Are we allowed to kill someone who works on Saturdays as in Exodus 35:2? Is football to be played with gloves when in Leviticus 11:6-8 touching the skin of a dead pig makes a person unclean? The letter ends when he thanks Dr. …

FAITH GROWS AS WE GROW IN CONSCIOUSNESS
Father John Walsh

Zijad’s post Living Life On Auto Pilot affirms that Islam is dealing with modernity, a failure often attributed to Islam.  The Roman Catholic tradition was also accused of failing to face modernity.  The Church, for millennia, defended its faith and its beliefs.  Apologetics was the order of the day.  Adversaries were many.  The Christian Catholic faith needed to be strong. It was to become a bastion of truth against Jews from the beginnings of the Jesus movement, Muslims after Mohammed founded Islam and Protestants after …

LIVING LIFE ON AUTO PILOT
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

We can often go through life doing things “on auto-pilot” without ever thinking about their consequences and how they affect our relationship to faith and belief.
We set personal goals in life, we take jobs, we study different academic and professional fields, we pursue hobbies, we cultivate friendships; and as good as many of these activities are, we rarely (if ever) stop to review them in the light of our faith.
By living life this way, we fail to consciously actualize our faith or discern …

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE AND LIVE WHAT THEY LEARN
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

As I was reading through Father John’s and Rabbi Michael’s amazing posts I remembered the wise words said in 1993 by Dorothy Law Nolte: Children Learn What They Live…and thought how timely these words are. The words go as follows:
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive (nervous).
If children live with pity (shame), they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If …

CREATING GOD’S HOUSE
Rabbi Michael Whitman

John writes from his heart, and also reflects the magnificent experience of the Church over the last 50 years. It is not possible to overstate, not could it have been imagined beforehand, the dramatic shift in the Church’s relationship with Jews and Judaism. Many factors went into this process but the key was education. Church leaders implemented a multi-faceted, world-wide educational effort, directed to young and old, to correct and improve the relationship between Christians and Jews.
The momentum of that success must lead to a similar …

THE BEGIINING OF THE END TO ISLAMAPHOBIA, ANTI-SEMITIISM AND CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
Father John Walsh

The beginning of the end to hate and prejudice has its beginnings at an early age. Children are born free. What they learn is what adults teach them. It begins in the crib. Adults might not think they hear what is said about those who are different but they learn quickly. We teach them their vocabulary. They follow our example. They have no other way to learn. We are their greatest influence and, for good or bad, it …

THE TEN WORDS
By Father John Walsh

Michael has asked me to respond to his question:  There are many commandments that are common to all of us, and many that are unique to our own faiths. Do you experience a commandment primarily as an act that gives glory to God, or primarily as an act that adds value to our lives – and if the latter, how do you maintain that feeling when the commandment seems burdensome or meaningless?
The ten words, commonly referred to as The Ten Commandments, were given to Moses …

ARE THERE TEN COMMANDMENTS?
By Rabbi Michael Whitman

When revealing Himself at Mount Sinai and introducing Himself to the entire Jewish people for the first time, and for all time, why does God describe Himself (Exodus 20:2) as the One who took us out of Egypt and not the One who created heaven and earth? Surely creating heaven and earth is a more majestic and apt description.
We refer to this passage as the Ten Commandments, one of the most influential collection of words in the history of mankind, words that hold special …