Book: Seeking Communion

Seeking Communion: A Collection of Conversations by Joseph Victor Edwin SJ.

The title of this book doesn't give you much of an indication of it's about-and for that reason you might skip the book if you spotted it in a bookshop. But please don't! Despite its bland title, it contains valuable bits of wisdom. It is a collection of interviews with a number of people from across the globe, focussing on religion (particularly Islam and Christianity), religious identity, interfaith and inter-community relations, conflict-resolution and peace-building-matters that continue to greatly matter today, as they always have.

A Catholic priest with a PhD in Islamic Studies who teaches Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at a leading Catholic centre for higher religious learning in Delhi, the compiler of the book, Joseph Victor Edwin, is well qualified for the task he has taken up. He has put together interviews with 25 people (24 men and one woman) from different parts of the world who are engaged, in different capacities, in trying to promote dialogue, understanding and peace among people who follow (or claim to follow) different religions.

One major focus of work for many of the interviewees is promoting better relations between Christians and Muslims, who, taken together, form a considerable majority of the world's population. Given the fact that historically, relations between Christians and Muslims in large parts of the world have been conflictual (and this remains the case in many places today), the work that these individuals are engaged is particularly important.

The interviewees include academics, social activists and priests. Some are Muslims [all Sunnis, it seems], while the rest are mostly or entirely Christians [the majority of them Catholics]). They are based in different countries in Asia, Europe and North America. They include amadrasa-trained scholar who teaches Islamic Studies at a university in India, a Jesuit who has spent much of his life studying Islam and Muslims, a Christian priest from Pakistan with many years of engagement in efforts to improve Christian-Muslim relations, a scholar of Arab Christian writings, a professor of Church History and Spiritual Formation at a university in the USA, the Catholic Bishop of Aleppo (in war-torn Syria), a Jesuit from the USA who was entrusted with the responsibility of exploring ways to restore the Jesuits in Iraq, the Director of an institute of Oriental Studies at a Lebanese university and a Jesuit of German origin who teaches philosophy in Jakarta. Some of the interviewees work mainly at the scholarly level, while others are engaged in 'grassroots' activities.

No matter what their geographical location or professional background, the interviewees are all concerned with promoting inter-community harmony. In their interviews they dwell on their own understandings of religion in the context of, among other issues, questions of religious pluralism and interfaith relations. But this book isn't just about theology. Many of the interviewees also share-and this really adds to the book's value-their personal experiences of interacting and engaging in dialogue with people of other faiths.

Some of the crucial issues that the book deals with are: how faith in and commitment to a particular religion and witnessing to it among others can go along with respect for other religions and their adherents; the contemporary importance of interfaith and inter-community bridge-building; varied purposes and forms of interfaith dialogue and collaboration; religion as a means for promoting peace, as opposed to its misuse as a vehicle for fomenting conflict; theological arguments to counter radicalism in the name of religion; the need for rethinking religion in a contextually-relevant and spiritually-elevating manner, firmly foregrounding the issue of peaceful relations with people of other faith backgrounds; and religious identities and related issues of exclusivism and supremacism.

The light, conversational manner of the interviews, all geared to seeking interfaith communion, makes for easy reading, enabling even so-called non-specialists to easily understand issues to do with religion that some theological 'experts' often unnecessarily complicate in their writings. In the context of horrific conflict in the name of religion in large parts of the world today, this book is a precious gift, reflecting an enduring hope for peace.

Seeking Communion: A Collection of Conversations by Joseph Victor Edwin SJ. Published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Delhi, and Henry Martyn Institute, Hyderabad. ISBN: 978-81-8465-649-7