Robert Azzi was just named on NH Magazine’s It List for 2017. It’s easy to see why. He has offered his “Ask a Muslim Anything” program in many of our churches.
He also has a new article on Open Democracy, “Embracing holy envy: ‘Allahu Akbar.'” Here he offers an important method for beginning genuine interfaith understanding, beyond the reductions of reading books on “world religions:”
In 1985, Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl, in defending the building of a Mormon temple by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stockholm, enunciated “Three Rules of Religious Understanding:”
“When trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.”
“Don’t compare your best to their worst,” and:
“Leave room for holy envy.”