Thread by @jordandenari

For his feast day, a thread on Pope Saint John Paul II and Islam. He was instrumental in putting the Catholic Church’s teaching on Muslims into practice. #CatholicMuslimBridge 1/

He constantly reiterated the Church's teaching that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This teaching was originally declared in Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, from Vatican II. You can also find it in the catechism (841). 2/

The passage reads: “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, together with us adore the one and merciful God…” (16) 3/ vatican.va/archive/hist_c…

JPII emphasized this teaching often and, I’d argue, more explicitly than Pope Francis has. In a 1985 speech to youth in Morocco, he said: “We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection...” 4/

He was keen on pointing out similarities between Catholic and Muslim theological and moral perspectives, and was not afraid to take up Islamic terminology when referring to God in their company. 5/

He visited numerous majority-Muslim countries, meeting with leaders and speaking to large audiences. He was the first pope to visit a mosque. Here is a picture of him at the tomb of St. John the Baptist in the Umayyad mosque in Damascus. 6/

JPII’s respect for Muslims and their religious tradition prompted gestures like this, when he once kissed a copy of the Qur’an. Unsurprisingly, many people didn’t like this. 7/

JPII also inaugurated a World Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi on October 27, 1986. Religious leaders from 30+ traditions & denominations attended, where they fasted and prayed together at a common service. The event was repeated in 1993 (re Bosnia) & in 2002 (after 9/11.) 8/

The fact that Assisi involved interreligious prayer was something many were uncomfortable with. When JPII’s successor, Benedict XVI hosted it in 2011, there was no common moment of prayer. Attendees were dispersed into separate groups for their respective prayers/liturgies. 9/

JPII's reminder that Christians & Muslims worship the same God, his push for dialogue btwn them, and his inauguration of the Assisi event are some of his most positive contributions to Catholic-Muslim relations. But there is at least one shortcoming to his approach. 10/

JPII sometimes overplayed the contrast btwn Catholic & Muslim theologies--or he at least he got the implications of the contrast wrong. This is the case in his writing on Muslims' rejection of incarnation. (For Muslims, Jesus is a prophet, not the Word of God incarnate.) 11/

JPII asserts that, w/o the incarnation, for Muslims God “must remain absolutely transcendent...He is ultimately a God outside of the world...never Emmanuel, God-with-us [as God is for Christians].” This dichotomy he sets up is not a fair or nuanced one. 12/

The Qur’an, Hadith, other genres of Islamic writings, and Muslims’ own religious lives (!), attest to an experience of divine intimacy. Just bc Christians see the incarnation as the key to God’s immanence does not mean other traditions are altogether devoid of the idea. 13/

(For more on this, see pages 74 - 76 of my book, Finding Jesus among Muslims.) amazon.com/Finding-Jesus-… 14/

All in all, there is much to commend and be grateful for in JPII’s approach to Muslims. Today, we should honor his legacy by continuing to put the teaching of Vatican II into practice. 15/

To read some of JPII’s statements on/to Muslims, check out this resource from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (@usccb), which compiles many papal and Vatican statements on Islam and Muslims. 16/16. End.
usccb.org/beliefs-and-te…