I’ve just finished reading A Deadly Misunderstanding, which documents the spiritual journey of former US congressman, Mark D. Siljander, as he is transformed from a Muslim-hating Evangelical into a Qur’an-reading, Muslim-loving follower of Jesus.

It’s a book that inspires real hope: hope for personal transformation that can lead to national and international change. It demonstrates that in-depth study of the Qur’an and the Bible, combined with a commitment to the life and teachings of Jesus (Isa), as revealed in both of these books, can create a peaceful foundation on which people from different backgrounds can build relationships.

At the outset of the book we find a man who is convinced that Islam is evil and diametrically opposed to his Christian faith and culture. He storms out of a prayer breakfast in which someone reads from the Qu’ran, and later chastises its organisers for allowing it. Before a speaking engagement he is informed by CIA agents that he has received a death threat from Yasser Arafat and asked to wear a bullet proof vest.

Eventually, a friend challenges him about some of the assumptions he has about his faith, and he is inspired to study the Bible in Aramaic, and the Qur’an in Arabic.

The journey that unfolds through his rigorous study and research is fascinating, and leads him to conclude that Muslims, Christians and even Jews have far more in common than the majority of us realise.

He begins with the basics, asking: who are Muslims talking about when they refer to Allah? What does the Qur’an mean when it describes Isa (the person we call Jesus) as The Spirit of God, The Word of God, or The Messiah? And leads on to questions that have been the subject of many a disagreement: is the Trinity Biblical? What does it mean to be begotten?

On many occasions He finds major linguistic discrepancies between the Aramaic scriptures and how their ideas have been translated into English, and then into Evangelical dogma. These discrepancies have led to misunderstandings, which over time have led to violence and hatred.

As Siljander finds answers to his questions he shares them with politicians, academics and Muslim and Christian leaders and finds that they come as a breath of fresh air, a bridge over which wounds can heal and friendships form.

Order the book here, or visit the website here.

From an interview with Tony Campolo regarding women in leadership:

He [Jesus] goes to visit the home of these two women. Martha takes her assigned role taking care of the kitchen, taking care of preparing food. Mary, on the other hand, decides to go and sit at the feet of the rabbi as only men were allowed to do in those days. Here is a woman breaking the social morés of the society, sitting, learning Torah from a rabbi with other men. Martha complains. At this point, Jesus says, “Martha, Mary has chosen the better thing to do.”

Charles Finney was the Billy Graham of the 1800s. When you came down the aisle and accepted Jesus as your personal savior at a Finney revival, he took you in the back room, where there were two tables, one table to sign up for the anti-slavery movement and the other for the feminist movement. When they took you in the back room, they didn’t give you a Gospel of John. You had to sign up for what he believed God was doing in the world at that time. And at that time, he saw that the great movements of God were the abolition of slavery and the liberation of women from their servitude.

~ click here to read more

Earlier I was sat in a lecture on European Federalism. My professor was explaining how the institutions of the European Union were designed with different questions in mind (e.g. things like how to manage a strong centre, economic redistribution etc. with writers like Spinelli) and are now having to adapt to new demands. This got me thinking about what Todd Hunter says about the reformation and the fact that most of our explaination of Jesus/what church is etc. is designed to answer questions which people are no longer asking, that we have to learn to listen (like Eugene Peterson says) so that we can learn the new questions.

On Saturday I went to see my Grandpa. He told me that he’d been thinking about the fact that the word Christian seems to have so little meaning in today’s world, it’s a word used when you don’t know what else to say you are (for some people). He was telling me how being a “disciple” or “follower of Jesus” is a far better term. I could only agree. I can’t remember having chatted about that with him before but what he said to me sounded like what I could have said to him. Weird (and cool).

I can’t help but think that it has only been since he retired as a minister of an Elim Church that he has started to get back to basics. It’s like he’s gradually letting go of all the religious legalism that he was brought up with.

We had a great central gathering last night. It was awesome to hear where everyone was at. The questions were “what first brought you here” and “why did you stay?” These are cool ways of encouraging each other to evaluate why you are part of the community you are part of and to get away from religiosity.

It was a time of encouragement – I love hearing the different perspectives people have on the same thing.

The vision is one of continuing to grow as a family. To see ourselves becoming the kind of people we were designed to be and to share that love with others. Through our lifestyles of vulnerability we can affect those around us.

Tonight we asked the question: “do we think of ourselves as missionaries?” “do we really think of our ‘gospel’ as being capable of changing lives?” Challenging thoughts.