Joyful Witness in the Muslim World (Mission in Global Community)

Sharing the Gospel in Everyday Encounters

Reisacher, Evelyne A., Sunquist, Scott W., Yong, Amos

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781493403691
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Christianity Today Book Award Winner ASM (American Society of Missiology) Book of the Year Award Named one of Ten Outstanding Books of 2016 for Mission Studies, International Bulletin of Mission Research This up-to-date textbook features global perspectives on current Christian engagement with Islam, equipping readers for mission among Muslims. Evelyne Reisacher, who has worked extensively with Muslims in Europe, helps readers move from fear to joy as they share the gospel with Muslims. Reisacher surveys areas where Muslims and Christians encounter one another in the twenty-first century, highlighting innovative models of Christian witness in everyday life. Drawing on insights from global Christianity, this survey takes account of diverse conceptions of Muslim-Christian relations. The book may surprise those who believe mission among Muslims is nearly impossible. This is the first book in the Mission in Global Community series, which reframes missiological themes and studies for students around the common theme of mission as partnership with others. Series authors draw upon their own global experience and that of their global colleagues to illumine present realities and chart a course into the future. Series editors are Scott W. Sunquist and Amos Yong.

1
Toward Joyful Witness

The first book I read on mission in the Muslim world was sad and depressing. It told the story of a country without an evangelical church. The handful of followers of Christ from Muslim families ended up arrested or dying in a car accident. When I reached the last page of that book, joy was the least of my emotions. A similar mood prevailed in my own Christian circles. When I shared my desire to witness to Muslims, my friends would usually give me a strange look as if I had told them I was sent to the galleys (or to the gallows!). And what about you? Have you heard stories of joyful witness in the Muslim world? Or, like me, have you only read the stories of suffering, pain, and loss?

Christian witness among Muslims is usually characterized as difficult and fear triggering. I often wondered why joy was missing in mission discourses related to the Muslim world. Intrigued by the lack of references, I investigated biblical texts and writings by theologians and missiologists that relate joy to the witness of the Christian community in general.1 I found more resources than I anticipated. This should not surprise us, though it did astonish Swiss theologian Karl Barth in the mid-twentieth century, prompting him to observe “how many references there are in the Old and New Testaments to delight, joy, bliss, exultation, merry-making and rejoicing, and how emphatically these are demanded from the Book of Psalms to the Epistle to the Philippians.”2 A brief review of such references naturally supports missiological concepts that lead to joyful witness among Muslims, by both full-time missionaries and ordinary Christians.

Joy-Centric Worship

Does God dance? I raise that question in my class titled World Religions: Art and Symbols. Hindu traditions, for example, do not shy away from representing their gods dancing, playing an instrument, and radiating joyful energy.3 But Christian students are often speechless about the idea of a dancing God. It is hard for them to imagine God in the same postures as Shiva in its cosmic dance or Krishna in its dance of divine love. To draw them further out of their comfort zone, I usually show paintings by Christian artists from a Hindu background, such as contemporary Balinese artist Nyoman Darsane’s representation of Jesus dancing.4 After that, the class usually takes up an animated discussion of divine joy and bliss.

I must confess that, like many of my students, I have long resisted the idea of portraying God dancing. Early in my Christian life, I imagined him sitting on a throne, like some emotionless icons I had seen in churches or museums. Undoubtedly, church controversies about divine emotions and the impassibility of God had affected me. Centuries after his death, church father Origen was still whispering in my ear, “The divine nature is far removed from every feeling of emotion and alteration; it always remains motionless and unperturbed on the summit of blessedness.”5 The iconoclastic period, with its prohibition of representations of God, also left an imprint in my mind. Later I discovered theologians who were not afraid of representing God and describing divine emotions. They challenged apathetic theology and dared to talk of “divine enjoyment.” With Jürgen Moltmann I discovered that God has feelings,6 and with William A. Dyrness that the church has often represented God artistically.7 While theological controversies continue to linger, I have slowly learned to appreciate Indian paintings of a dancing Jesus. They highlight joyful aspects of God that I had not noticed before.

Are these characteristics of God found in the Bible? Several references suggest pleasant relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism, a voice from heaven declared, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22 RSV). Later, Jesus is depicted as full of joy in the Holy Spirit and praising God (Luke 10:21). Theologian John Jefferson Davis, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, captures this reality: “Joy is a fundamental characteristic of the inner being of the Trinity; the Father rejoices in the Son, and the Son rejoices in the Father, in the communion of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. We as the redeemed people of God are on a journey into the joy-filled heart of the Triune God.”8 Raniero Cantalamessa, a Catholic priest, echoes Davis: “The Latin tradition has always left wide room for the theme of gaudium Trinitatis (‘trinitarian joy’), with the Holy Spirit as the personification of that joy.”9 He further describes an “intratrinitarian life with fervent images of intimacy and of kisses, images that most powerfully evoke communion, enjoyment and joy.”10 Richard Burnett, quoting Karl Barth, reports that “when the doctrine of the Trinity is denied, the result is ‘a God without radiance and without joy.’”11

And as if he wanted to confirm my earlier observation, Davis notes that “the joyfulness of the inner life of the Trinity” is missing from some of the symbols and artistic representations of the Trinity displayed on buildings where Christians worship.12 Could this be another reason why my students and I hesitated to picture God dancing? We ought to heed these authors’ observations and attend to the joyful nature of the Triune God.

Trinitarian joy is further evidenced by the way it irradiates creation,13 including humankind. The Old Testament depicts God rejoicing over his people (Deut. 30:9; Isa. 62:5; 65:19) and commissioning his servant to pour oil of gladness over them (Isa. 61:3). Zephaniah assures Zion, “The LORD . . . will rejoice over you with singing” (3:20 NIV). God delights in his people (Ps. 149:4). The Aaronic blessing manifests God’s shining (or radiating) face turned toward people and offering his grace and shalom to them (Num. 6:22–27). I devoted significant time during my doctoral research to this priestly benediction and proposed that God’s shining face serves as a metaphor for mission.14 It invites believers to look into God’s face turned toward them to receive his blessings, and consequently adopt that same attitude of turning their face toward others, wishing them grace and peace in God. The same image is given us in Psalm 67:1–2 (NRSV): “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.”

Another sign of trinitarian joy is its repercussion or reflection on people it irradiates. God’s joy resonates in us. According to Richard Burnett, Karl Barth believes that “there is both an indwelling joy of God and a joy that God’s glory awakens in us.”15 God’s presence becomes a source of joy for those who follow him (Eccles. 2:26). They are filled with joy in his presence, with eternal pleasures at his right hand (Ps. 16:11); their heart is filled with “gladness,” “more than when their [i.e., others’] grain and wine abound” (Ps. 4:7 NR...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Toward Joyful Witness
• 2. Muslim-Christian Attachment
• 3. Connecting with iMuslims
• 4. Joyful Witness through Art
• 5. Thinking Green in Sharing the Gospel
• 6. Caring for the Needy
• 7. Meeting Muslim Urbanites
• 8. Theological Conversations
• Conclusion
• Index
• Back Cover