Earth, Empire and Sacred Text: Muslims and Christians as Trustees of Creation, David L. Johnston - Equinox Publishing

David L. Johnston [+–]

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

PAPERBACK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2013

Earth, Empire and Sacred Text seeks to construct a Muslim-Christian theological discourse on creation and humanity that could help adherents of both faiths work together to preserve our planet, bring justice to its most needy inhabitants and contribute to peacebuilding in areas of conflict. Drawing on theology, philosophy, ethics, hermeneutics, critical theory and the social sciences, its premise is that theology is always developed in particular situations. The book explores the global context of postmodernity (the post-Cold War world dominated by a neoliberal capitalist system) and the influential turn away from the modern Cartesian view of the autonomous, disembodied self, to a self defined in discourse, community and culture (postmodernism). It traces the “career” of Q. 2:30 (Adam’s God-mandated trusteeship), first in Islamic commentaries in the classical period and then in the writings of Muslim scholars in the modern and postmodern periods. The concept of human trusteeship under God is also studied over time in Christian and Jewish writers. Building on this data, the author draws together the essential elements for a Muslim-Christian theology of human trusteeship.

Series: Comparative Islamic Studies

Table of Contents

Prelims

Foreword by Bishop Kenneth Cragg xi – xiv

Wakefield Diocese

Acknowledgments xv – xv

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

List of Figures xvi – xvi

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Introduction

Introduction [+–] 1 – 24

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Muslims, Jews and Christians construct their vision of reality—as it is and how it ought to be—based on their understanding, sifting out and prioritizing of the material in their sacred texts. Naturally, this theologi- cal effort is fed and often constrained by the weight of inherited tradition, yet it can sometimes break out of the received mold to exhibit the radical tones and buoyant colors of the kingdom of God in fresh and compelling ways. Nevertheless, as Omid Safi indicates, any new burst of “progressive” thinking must also represent “a serious engagement with tradition.” The book before you takes these strategies seriously with the convic- tion that the task of theology has to be undertaken anew in each age and in each locale. Core religious beliefs and values remain, but the vision that results from their application to speci¿c historical con¿gurations necessarily changes from period to period and from context to context.

Part I: OUR POSTMODERN SITUATION

Chapter 1 POSTMODERNITY AND THE DOUBLE WALL [+–] 27 – 61

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

In this chapter I describe postmodernity—the current interconnected, global, neoliberal system of political and economic instruments, institu- tions and alliances—as the logical outcome of a chain of events in Western civilization: (1) the Western imperial drive from 1492 on to exploit foreign territories resulting in the dispossession of native populations; (2) the rise of capitalism, and especially its insistence on the commodification of public goods, which started, arguably, with the acquisition of land belonging to native peoples by Anglo-American settlers in the early eighteenth century; (3) and, much more recently, the post-Fordist, postindustrial and consumerist era arose out of the ashes of the post-World War II Bretton Woods arrangements that collapsed around 1970.

Chapter 2 BEYOND MODERNISM: TIME, SPACE AND THE SELF [+–] 62 – 110

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

This chapter and the next aim to show how the modern paradigm of growth and possession has identifiable philosophical roots in the Western Enlightenment project. Only by identifying those roots can we see why and how the seeds of a new tree must be planted. In the biblical book of Proverbs—that collection of wisdom sayings common to much of the ancient Near East—we read, “Where there is no vision the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The overall theme of the chapter in which this saying occurs, ch. 29, is the contrast between a society with wicked rulers (“the people groan under an intolerable burden as injustice and violence flourish unchecked”) and one with godly rulers. Striking a familiar theme in the Torah, v. 7 emphasizes “the rights of the poor,” which here means, “to actively promote justice for the poor.” The above quoted v. 18 uses the Hebrew word chazon , literally a “prophetic vision.” No doubt “vision” here encompasses all aspects of revelation, prophecy and law, which are “essential to the harmony and well being of society and the individuals within it.”

Chapter 3 BEYOND MODERNISM: FROM THEORY TO ACTIVISM [+–] 111 – 160

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

I argued in the previous chapter that the modernist view of the autonomous self was progressively rejected by a flurry of movements from the late nineteenth century on, and that the human “I” can only understand itself in a movement of self-reflection over time— the subject as perceived through narrative in a community of “Thous.” But with its emphasis on narratives spun out by individuals and com- munities, postmodernism has, most famously in the words of Jean- François Lyotard, expressed its “incredulity towards metanarratives.” This observation led Jane Flax to weigh the postmodernist claim of “the death of history.” I continue here Leyla Benhabib’s discussion of these issues, first with the problem of history and then with the larger question of metaphysics—though, admittedly, they overlap at points. The reason for starting this chapter with Malcolm X and King, however, was also to highlight the issue of activism. Thus I later move from theory to the practice of a “postmodern” kind of activism, a kind of holistic perspective that is rooted in specific communities, but which breaks out onto the global scene, much like the Mexican Mayans accomplished with their Zapatista movement.

Chapter 4 QUR’AN, BIBLE, HERMENEUTICS AND THEOLOGY [+–] 161 – 207

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

The last two chapters began with Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X as examples of Muslims and Christians who used the theological notion of inherent human dignity in order to broaden their appeal from civil to human rights. In some ways, King was the pioneer of a genre that came to be known as “liberation theology.” By way of reminder, this theologi- cal movement grew out of the mostly Marxist-inspired post-colonial ferment in Latin America, in which ethics and development theory met in creative ways. Though some Catholic priests, including Camilo Torres, ended up opting for violence, most Latin American theologians did not. But for all these thinkers, the key concept was not economics but power—based on the tragic realization that a handful of elites monopo- lized power while oppressing society’s majorities. The discourse of liberation was initiated in the Catholic Church, yet by the early 1970s it had been co-opted by Latin American social scientists, planners, and even some political leaders. It was a call to set aside the theories of the elite “and replace them with a deliberate stress on self- development as opposed to aid, foreign investment, and technical assistance.” This perspective of sociopolitical liberation in theological circles spread to Africa and Asia as well. Particularly interesting were the theological storms swirling around the issue of apartheid in South Africa, where some Muslims began to join the mostly black Christians in liberation circles. I begin this chapter, therefore, with this intriguing case study of theological cross-pollenization and then continue with some broader remarks about theological currents among Muslims.

Chapter 5 READING HOLY SCRIPTURES [+–] 208 – 236

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

This chapter closes the first part of this project. In the preceding pages I have described the socioeconomic and political landscape of postmoder- nity, pointing simultaneously to the urgent nature of Muslim–Christian cooperation in fostering a more inclusive, just and peaceful alternative to the Western-led, neoliberal McWorld, and to the philosophical issues within the postmodern paradigm that Muslim and Christian theologians cannot afford to sidestep. Foregoing the scientism of the modern mind- set, I have urged both parties to take into account how knowledge is produced in science, through theories, models, paradigms and research projects— a process that owes a great deal to the dynamics of individuals working within the framework of received traditions in particular com- munities. I hope to have shown that Barbour’s comparison between the production of knowledge in science and the working out of theology in religion is not so far-fetched as it might have first seemed. Despite the obvious differences in subject matter, one does encounter a great deal of similarity in the methodologies employed. In both cases, the core beliefs draw from and feed into the data through the use of imagination, sym- bols, analogies and models. Though I am here highlighting the reading of sacred texts, Barbour’s characterization of the data of religion as being “religious experience, story and ritual” is a good reminder that all four elements are in dynamic interaction and mutually influence one another in surprising ways. In the following section, I draw out the conclusions of the last chapter on the hermeneutics of sacred scriptures and apply them to the task at hand. I end by making explicit my own approach to the Qur’an in the following chapter.

Part II: HUMAN TRUSTEESHIP: MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATIONS

Chapter 6 ADAM AS GOD’S KHALĪFA: QUR’ANIC DATA [+–] 239 – 268

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

This chapter explores the use of khal ā fa as applied to Adam in the Qur’an, and, by extension, how it may apply to all his ancestors, the human race. Leaving aside for a time some of the hermeneutical insights of Chapters 4 and 5, I simply look at the qur’anic data and list the passages in which this word appears. I mostly leave the work of classical qur’anic commen- tators ( mufassir u n ) for the next two chapters. At first glance, this seems to be quite easy: there is only one verse in which khal ā fa in the singular is applied to Adam (sura 2, v. 30—from now on, Q. 2:30), and another in which it refers to David. My focus is on Adam, and therefore I will look at the contexts that contain material about creation, Adam’s disobedience, and his subsequent calling to make his home on this planet. This will also call for a brief look at some parallel passages.

Chapter 7 TAFSĪR OF Q. 2:30: CLASSICAL PERIOD [+–] 269 – 317

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

In this chapter, beginning with the early stage of qur’anic commentary and then follow- ing up with Heath’s three divisions, I try to show how various disciplines and historical contexts affected various Muslim understandings of Q. 2:30. I must add, however, that I will merely be scratching the sur- face, seeking only to illustrate in broad strokes some of the herme- neutical material of the previous chapters.

Chapter 8 TAFSĪR OF Q. 2:30: MODERN PERIOD [+–] 318 – 351

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

TAFSĪR OF Q. 2:30: MODERN PERIOD

Chapter 9 TAFSIR OF Q. 2:30: POSTMODERN PERIOD [+–] 352 – 403

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Whereas a sharp distinction has often been drawn between Islamic “reformism” and “fundamentalism,” in this chapter I seek to emphasize the continuity of motivations and objectives (if not strategies) on the part of Muslim thinkers and activists, starting with Banna, Sayyid Qutb, the chief ideologue of his movement in the two decades following Banna’s assassination (1949), the South-Asian scholar/activist al-Mawdudi, two Palestinian leaders of Hamas, as well as current writers who might be labeled “progressives” or “liberals,” moving as they do toward a post- modern epistemology. As I look at their exegesis of Q. 2:30, it appears that they all share a renewed sense of human dignity that increasingly prizes the values of human rights and democracy.

Chapter 10 A BIBLICAL TRUSTEESHIP OF HUMANITY [+–] 404 – 451

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

This chapter concludes the second section of this work on interpreting scriptural texts—the human caliphate as seen in the Qur’an, and now, as viewed from the Bible. First, I present some of the salient exegetical questions relevant to the dominion of humanity in the Genesis 1 and 2 creation narratives. It entails, among other things, taking into serious consideration Gen. 1:26-31 as a literary unit and a discussion relative to its central concept, the “image of God.” Second, I take a historical look at this passage’s interpretive “career” among Jews and Christians. This leads me, thirdly, to engage the theological discussion, a process that will call to mind not only other passages, both in the Old and New Testa- ments, but even more, a framework of thought discernible through the whole sweep of biblical revelation. The conclusion shows both the extent and the limit of a common Muslim–Christian theology of humanity and creation.

Part III HUMAN TRUSTEESHIP: MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATIONS

Chapter 11 A COMMON THEOLOGY OF TRUSTEESHIP [+–] 455 – 518

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

We now come to the third part of this work, the part which seeks to connect the theory and data of the previous chapters in order to provide a viable theological foundation for Muslims and Christians to re-envision their joint God-given caliphate and carry it out more faithfully on this planet. I seek to go further than before, both in the on-going Muslim– Christian conversation about hermeneutics and a theology of humanity, and in the practical business of making this earth more of a community. This will involve a struggle for greater justice for the poor and margina- lized and the promotion of a culture of peace and conÀict resolution, often in direct confrontation with the seemingly ubiquitous tentacles of the global capitalist matrix.

Chapter 12 CONCLUSION [+–] 519 – 556

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

In this concluding chapter I wish to bring together the important strands of this study on a common theology of humanity and creation for Muslims and Christians. I begin with a short case study that illustrates the practical outworking of a number of principles emanating from this project. Then I list the main ¿ndings of the preceding chapters and some of the questions that will need to be kept in mind in the continuing conversation between members of both groups determined to act together as God’s trustees for the common good, both locally and globally.

Appendix A

THE 5TH INTERNATIONAL SABEEL CONFERENCE STATEMENT. APRIL 24, 2004 [+–] 557 – 559

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Appendix A

Appendix B

CPT IN THE HEBRON DISTRICT [+–] 560 – 564

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Appendix B

Appendix C

NINIAN SMART’S TYPOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE [+–] 565- 570

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Appendix C

Appendix D

TOWARD AN AUTHENTIC MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE [+–] 570 – 592

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Appendix D

Bibliography

Bibliography [+–] 593 – 620

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Bibliography

Index

Index of Biblical and Qur’anic References [+–] 621 – 624

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Index

Index of Authors [+–] 625 – 630

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Index

Index of Subjects [+–] 631 – 632

David L. Johnston

Saint Joseph’s University

David L. Johnston is Visiting Scholar at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct lecturer at the Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.

He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and Journal of the American Academy of Religion).

His blogs can be found on his website, www.humantrustees.org

Index

Reviews

The breadth of Johnston’s reading and research on display here is simply staggering. In addition to his deep familiarity with over a millennium of Islamic commentary on the Qur’an, he also brings to this project a range of insights drawn from the disciplines of sociology, economics, politics, and philosophy, as well as from hermeneutics and from both Muslim and Christian theology.
Stephen J. Davis, Yale University, USA

Johnston offers a possible rapprochement between Christians, Muslims, Jews, and indeed, the whole human family, based on insightful Christian and Islamic readings of sacred texts … .
David Naugle, Dallas Baptist University, USA

A brilliant example of profound scholarship that connects with social and political realities. Trusteeship is not just a concept that will enhance Christian- Muslim relations. It offers a sound and solid foundation for the articulation of our common humanity. Johnston has brought all these elements together in this magnificent work.
Chandra Muzaffar, Nordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies,Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia