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2014 Pre-reading and Presentations

  • A REALLY Long View – God’s Work among the Javanese
    History can be used as a laboratory to test our theories, including contextual approaches. The dream of every missionary is spontaneous, exponential growth. What can we learn from God’s work among Muslims in East Java, Indonesia, in the 19th and 20th century?
  • For Those Involved in the Insider Movement Debate: Perspective from Church History and Scripture – Tom Hale III
    EMQ January 2014. Available here to those with an online EMQ subscription
  • Insider Movements and the Bible: An Excercise in Mere Hermeneutics – Rob Haskell
    I want to be very clear about the scope of this paper. My sole concern is to point out some hermeneutical problems that I see in this discussion [about IM]. To do this I …[will] just look at a few specific examples from the mere perspective of biblical hermeneutics.
  • The Nature of Islam and its Sources of Authority – Kevin Higgins
    What constitutes ‘Islam’ and is there one Islam or several ‘Islams’? What are the sources of authority within Islam, especially relative to how those are employed in determining what sorts of ideas and people and practices are ‘in’ or ‘out’ in terms of being Islamic (or not)?
  • David and Muhammad – A Comparative Study
    A comparison and contrast of these two leaders, examining four important areas of their lives.
  • Competing Christian narratives on the Quran – C. John Block
    Historical overview + some of the Qur’anic exegetical issues faced as a result of years of work in the historical discipline.
  • The Qur’an and the Bible – Mark Durie
    The relationship of the Qurʾān to the Bible is the touchstone of all questions about the connection between Islam and Christianity. Everything around the issue of continuity and discontinuity ultimately goes back to the question of the relationship between the Qurʾān and the Bible.
  • Biblical and Historical Reflection on Ecclesiology and Insider Movements – Tim Tennent
    The explosive growth of the church in the non-Western world is raising many new questions regarding the doctrine of the church. In many contexts the very word “Christian” has strong connotations and associations with Western culture or foreign-ness. This has caused many to re-think the very nature and structure of the church as it has been known in the Christian West. This paper reflects historically on ecclesiology in light of the emerging and growing phenomena known as insider movements.
  • Is Muhammad Also Among the Prophets? – Harley Talman                                                        This paper offers a reconsideration of four issues: our understanding of Muhammad and Islam, our theology of revelation, the criteria for prophethood, and possibilities for a positive prophetic role for Muhammad.
  • Saying the Shahada: Matters of Conscience, Creed, and Communication – Gene Daniels
    This response to “Is Muhammad Also Among the Prophets?” critiques Talman’s reinterpretation of Muhammad, concluding: “while I agree that reinterpreting Muhammad’s prophethood may lead us to a more respectful witness, we must remember that it is no witness at all if we intentionally miscommunicate.” EMQ July 2014. Available here to those with an online EMQ subscription.
  • The Living Pyramid of Relational Communal Discipling of BMBs – Don Little  
    This article presents a model for discipling believers from a Muslim background, integrating the most important insights from dozens of interviews into a simple yet comprehensive portrayal of disciple-making among Muslims.