Living with other faiths (1)

I've been writing some draft guidance for the Barking Episcopal Area on increasing participation in Faith Forums. As part of this work I've summarised some of the bible study material that I had previously prepared for the CTC resource pack and it now makes a relatively concise two-post series that hopefully will be of some interest:

In answering the question 'Why should churches engage with other faiths?' from scripture and tradition, it is important that we recognise that the contexts in which Israel, Jesus and the Early Church lived and ministered were multi-faith and that encounters with people who were not Jews are generally encounters with people of another faith.

From this perspective, we can then see that:

• Jesus taught in Luke 10: 25-37 that we are both to be good neighbours to those of other faiths and to receive from those of other faiths. Jesus himself crossed cultural and religious boundaries in order to speak with the Samaritan woman (John 4: 9) and showed understanding both of the cultural and religious boundaries between Jews and Samaritans (John 4: 9 & 10) and of aspects of Samaritan beliefs (John 4: 19 - 24). Jesus recognised great faith in people of other faiths (Matthew 15: 21 – 28 and Luke 7: 1 - 10) and responded to that faith with acts of healing and help.
• Paul visited the worship places of other faiths (Acts 17: 23), quoted from the writings of other faiths (Acts 17: 28; 1 Corinthians 15: 33; Titus 1: 12), used rhetorical approaches learnt from Greek oratory, and described his approach to those of other faiths as being to become like a Jew to the Jews, like those under the law to those under the law, and like those not under the law to those not under the law (1 Corinthians 9: 19-23).
• God has revealed himself in the natural world (Acts 14:17), in people's consciences (Romans 2:15) and even in their religiosity, however far removed that may seem from a Judeo-Christian point of view (Acts 17:22-31). God is at work in people of others faiths; acting in their cultures in ways similar to his actions for the people of Israel (Amos 9: 7 and Isaiah 19: 19-25) and enabling the actions of their leaders to be of benefit to the people of Israel (Isaiah 45: 1-6). Similarly, the central message of the story of Jonah is to do with God’s concern for the people of another faith who were the enemies of the people of Israel.

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Youssou N'Dour - Africa Remember.