Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives is a record of the 2012 Building Bridges seminar for leading Christian and Muslim scholars, convened by Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury. The essays in this volume explore what the Bible and Qurʾān—and the Christian and Islamic theological traditions—have to say about death, resurrection, and human destiny. Special attention is given to the writings of al-Ghazali and Dante. Other essays explore the notion of the good death. Funeral practices of each tradition are explained. Relevant texts are included with commentary, as are personal reflections on death by several of the seminar participants. An account of the informal conversations at the seminar conveys a vivid sense of the lively, penetrating, but respectful dialogue which took place. Three short pieces by Rowan Williams provide his opening comments at the seminar and his reflections on its proceedings. The volume also contains an analysis of the Building Bridges Seminar after a decade of his leadership.
Table of Contents
Introduction
David Marshall
Preface
Rowan Williams
Part I: Surveys
Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny in the Bible
N. T. Wright
Response to N. T. Wright
Reza Shah-Kazemi
Response to Reza Shah-Kazemi
N. T. Wright
Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Qur'ānic and Islamic Perspectives
Mona Siddiqui
Response to Mona Siddiqui
Jane Dammen McAuliffe
Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny in the Islamic Tradition
Asma Afsaruddin
Response to Asma Afsaruddin
Gavin D’Costa
Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny in the Christian Tradition
Geoffrey Rowell
Response to Geoffrey Rowell
Feras Hamza
Dying Well: Christian Faith and Practice
Harriet Harris
Response to Harriet Harris
Recep Şentürk
A Muslim’s Perspective on the Good Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny
Sajjad Rizvi
Death and the Love of Life: A Response to Sajjad Rizvi
Miroslav Volf
Reflections
Rowan Williams
Part II: Texts and Commentaries
1 Corinthians 15
St. Paul on the Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15
Richard A. Burridge
Selected Qur’ānic Texts
Commentary on Selected Qur’ānic Texts
Muhammad Abdel Haleem
Selected Passages from al-Ghazālī’s The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife
Al-Ghazālī on Death
Tim Winter
Selected Passages from Dante’s The Divine Comedy
The Afterlife as Presented by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy
Dennis McAuliffe
Selected Passages from Journey to the Afterlife
Muslim Funerals
Musharraf Hussain
Contemporary Funeral Liturgy in the Church of England
Christian Funerals
Michael Ipgrave
Conversations in Canterbury
David Marshall
Afterword
Rowan Williams
Personal Reflections on Death
A Decade of Appreciative Conversation: The Building Bridges Seminar under Rowan Williams
Lucinda Mosher
Index
Reviews
"These essays offer a rich and complex study of death and the afterlife."—Anglican Theological Review
"Contrary to popular opinion, the death of Christian-Muslim dialogue is greatly exaggerated! This record of the eleventh Building Bridges seminar demonstrates the vitality of serious Muslim and Christian engagement over matters of shared interest and concern, particularly over matters of life and death. The chapters in this work are academically sound and the personal reflections intimately profound. This volume demonstrates that it is extremely valuable and possible to build lasting and intimate relationships between Christians and Muslims, and that there is much to be gained through steady and sustained encounters as a continuing process."—David D. Grafton, professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Contributors
Asma Afsaruddin Richard Burridge Gavin D’Costa Muhammad Abdel Haleem Feras Hamza Harriet Harris Musharraf Hussain Michael Ipgrave David Marshall Dennis McAuliffe Jane Dammen McAuliffe Lucinda Mosher Sajjad Rizvi Geoffrey Rowell Recep Şentürk Reza Shah-Kazemi Mona Siddiqui Miroslav Volf Rowan Williams Tim Winter N. T. Wright
About the Author
David Marshall is director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and associate professor of the practice of Christian-Muslim relations, Duke Divinity School, and the academic director of the Building Bridges seminar.
Lucinda Mosher is the faculty associate for interfaith studies, Hartford Seminary, and the assistant academic director of the Building Bridges seminar.
