Comparative Theology | Sojourners

Comparative Theology

Letter to the Editors

I enjoy comparative theology, but I have a hard time with your cover article (“Did Jesus Pray to Allah?”). First off, I think the article was disingenuously titled. Saying “Christians and Muslims pray to the same God” is different than asking “Did Jesus pray to Allah?” Jesus cried to God using the words, “Eli, Eli,” but because Eli is linguistically similar to the word Allah it means very little in comparative religion. Good comparative religion seeks to create understanding amongst differences between faiths. Bad comparative religion attempts to smooth over those differences with a thin layer of problematic theology. I’m afraid this article falls under the second category. I expect better theology from Sojourners.

Patrick Ryan
via sojo.net

This appears in the July 2014 issue of Sojourners
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