Christianity v. Islam

"...the critical political factors around the world are not decided by attitudes toward class or dialectical materialism, but rather by rival concepts of God."

Christianity vs. Islam

A worldview is hard to transform among any culture. Age-old perceptions of beliefs pass down to each generation. Phillip Jenkins writes:

At the turn of the third millennium, religious loyalties are at the root of many of the world’s ongoing civil wars and political violence, and in most cases, the critical division is the age-old battle between Christianity and Islam. However, much this would have surprised political analysts a generation or two ago, the critical political factors around the world are not decided by attitudes toward class or dialectical materialism, but rather by rival concepts of God. (Jenkins 2002:163)

The Law of Retaliation rules Christian-Muslim relations. If current trends continue, by 2050, twenty of the world’s largest nations will be predominately Christian or Muslim, which could lead to serious interfaith conflicts if the ethos held toward the other faith does not change (Jenkins 2002:166).

Western prejudice toward Islam shape their perception of history. Islam’s advance into Spain and Byzantium confirmed, for the  West, Islam’s greedy intentions to crush Christianity out in Europe. The capture of Jerusalem by Islamist prompted the Crusades. “Barbaric” Muslim pirates kidnapped European colonists forcing them to convert to Islam or serve as slaves. These examples of historical narratives reinforce Western stereotypes promoting continued retaliatory relations between Christianity and Islam. 

The Islamic worldview cannot separate Western political actions from their religious convictions. Therefore, false perceptions regarding Christianity exist within Islam. Increased secularism and syncretism within the “Christian West” support Islamic repudiation of Christianity. The Law of Retaliation will remain unchallenged as long as false-perceptions persist.

 Toward An Embracing of Retaliatory Love

Just as the transformative Worldview of the Kingdom guided the widowed women to respond to the Aucas the way they did, this Love and Ethic is also the promise of hope for Christian-Muslim relations. Through the imitation of Retaliatory Love the Christian goes out of their way to seek to understand and serve those who oppose them, thereby bringing judgment upon the predominant worldview influencing their enemies and thus defeat the Law of Retaliation. The objective of a worldview shaped by the Kingdom of God is reconciliation made possible through Retaliatory Love. The life and ministry of Jesus clearly demonstrate both Retaliatory Love and the Worldview of the Kingdom, the fruits of which are to define the character of His People.

Jenkins, Phillip

2002 The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

The Law of Retaliation

"Guided by the Law of Retaliation, violent warfare defined the relationship between their tribe and others for centuries. That is until they personally encountered a group operating under a different law."

The Law of Retaliation

Examples in History

The Law of Retaliation has regulated humanity from the beginning of time. The Old Testament law along with Hammurabi’s Code posited that justice is equitably served through obedience to the maxim, “eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth” (Exo 21:24). Within Confucius’ Analects one finds the rule, “That which you do not desire, do not do to others” (Analects XV.24). While this rule sounds wise it is only comprehendible in a culture’s ethos that views retaliation as a form of justice. 

Among the Aucas

The Aucas are a native tribal group living in Latin America whose culture possessed a worldview that held viewed all peoples outside of their tribe as cannibals. Guided by the Law of Retaliation, violent warfare defined the relationship between their tribe and others for centuries. That is until they personally encountered a group operating under a different law. 

Five male foreigners traveled by plane in order to make contact with this Amazonian tribal group. To establish relationship with this notoriously violent people, the foreigners sought a gift exchange by lowering gifts from their crop plane flying above their village. Success of the gift exchange inspired confidence among the foreigners to pursue a personal relationship. Unknown to the foreigners, however, is their pervasive cultural ethos to fear all people outside of their tribal group. In fact, some motivated by their fear believed the foreigners were seeking to entrap them in a cannibalistic plot. Upon the naïve foreigner’s personal contact with the tribal group, warriors among the tribe arose to murder these five men.

To complete the work their husbands started, two of the widowed wives made plans to personally contact the tribal group. Prior to their husband’s deaths they learned the Auca language from a native girl living within their base camp. Assisted by the native girl they journeyed into the jungle to find the Aucas. What awaited the Auca people when the women found them was vastly different from the retaliation they were accustomed to. The women’s response to the Aucas, in light of their husband’s deaths, shattered their ethos and forced them to revaluate their previous understandings regarding foreigners. 

What was the response of the women that caused such a dramatic change in the worldview of an entire group? Instead of seeking retaliation, the women forgave their husband’s murders, lived among them and learned their culture in attempt to develop empathy with them. The ethos demonstrated from this behavior is completely antithetical to the Law of Retaliation that predominates the world’s cultures (Buswell 2007:14-15). 

Buswell III, James O. 

2007 4: Review: Worldview, theology, missions. In Winter, Ralph D., Stephen D. Morad and Beth Snodderly (Eds.), Expanding world lesson overviews 4th Edition (pp. 14-18). Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.