sherry and i have been reading through Journeying Out by Ann Morisy. it is full of gems...and her overall thesis is beautifully crafted. challenging and compelling. wow. get it if you can.
one of the little nuggets that i have been thinking about came from her brief mention of the Arabic word ijtihad which means something like struggle (p.135). the word is from the same root as jihad and represents the intellectual or spiritual struggle of the Islamic faith to find the law/will of God (in contrast to the violent militarism of jihad). if you want to read more about Ijtihad you can start here with the wikipedia entry.
It seems like a good place for Muslim/Christian dialogue to move forward. I think the sharing of Father Abraham and a celebration of God's ultimacy provide other great starting points but ijtihad can perhaps be something more....a shared method of theological reflection where meditation and wrestling with angels replaces the hard-nosed legalism that all religions tend to veer toward.
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