Building Bridges Seminar

Conventional wisdom would have it that believing in one God is straightforward; that Muslims are expert at monotheism, but that Christians complicate it, weaken it, or perhaps even abandon it altogether by speaking of the Trinity. In this book, Muslim and Christian scholars challenge that opinion. Examining together scripture texts and theological reflections from both traditions, they show that the oneness of God is taken as axiomatic in both, and also that affirming God's unity has raised complex theological questions for both. The two faiths are not identical, but what divides them is not the number of gods they believe in. The proceedings from the Fifteenth Building Bridges Seminar, this book begins with a retrospective on the seminar's first 15 years and concludes with an account of deliberations and discussions among participants, thereby providing insight into the model of vigorous and respectful dialogue that characterizes this initiative. 

download | PDF of this book (provided by Georgetown University Press)

Table of Contents

• Participants in Building Bridges Seminar 2016
• Preface: Fifteen Years of Construction: A Retrospective on the First Decade and a Half of the Building Bridges Seminar | Lucinda Mosher
• Introduction

PART I: THE ONENESS OF GOD IN THE BIBLICAL WITNESS

• Complexities Surrounding God’s Oneness in Biblical Monotheism | Richard Bauckham​
• Bridging the Chasm between the Divine and the Human: A Muslim Response to Richard Bauckham | Maria Massi Dakake
• Texts from the Bible 

PART II: THE ONENESS OF GOD IN THE QURʾĀN AND ḤADĪTH

• Monotheism in Islam | Asma Afsaruddin
• ​The Complexity of Monotheism in Islam: A Christian Response to Asma Afsaruddin | Sidney Griffith
• Texts from the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth 

PART III: GRAPPLING WITH THE UNITY QUESTION IN THE ELABORATION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

• The One and the Three in Christian Worship and Doctrine: Engaging with the Question of Divine Unity in the Elaboration of Christian Doctrine | Christoph Schwöbel​
• Of Storytellers and Storytelling: A Muslim Response to Christoph Schwöbel | Martin Nguyen
• Texts from the Christian Tradition 

PART IV: SAFEGUARDING TAWḤĪD IN THE ELABORATION OF THE ISLAMIC TRADITION

• God Is One but Unlike Any Other: Theological Argumentation on Tawḥīd in Islam | Sajjad Rizvi​
• Christianity, Trinity, and the One God: A Response to Sajjad Rizvi | Janet Soskice
• Texts from the Islamic Tradition 

PART V: REFLECTIONS

• Dialogue in Northern Virginia: Reflections on Building Bridges Seminar 2016 | Lucinda Mosher