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2015 Pre-readings and Presentations

 

Articles related to Integrity/Ethics:

  • Biblical Overview of Integrity
    What does the Bible say about Truth, Trust, Integrity, Openness and Boldness as they might relate to the issues we’re discussing? Here is a brief overview of some relevant verses.
  • Biblical Perspectives on Deception
    What does the Bible say about Deception as it might relate to the issues we’re discussing? Here is a brief overview of some relevant verses.
  • Questions for Interacting with the Deception & Integrity Bible Studies
    These are some questions for thought and discussion about biblical teaching and examples concerning Truth, Trust, Integrity, Openness, Deception and Boldness.
  • Integrity and Transparency of the Minister – Karkkainen
    Outline of a presentation on Paul’s description of his own ministry, relative to issues of Integrity and Transparency.”
  • One God Means Peaceful Coexistence
    This excerpt from Mark Durie’s book Which God? critiques Miroslav Volf’s methodology in arguing that Islam and Christianity worship the same God.
  • On Truth & Lies in Islam – Durie
    This excerpt from Mark Durie’s book The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom draws from original sources such as the Qur’an and the Sharia manual, the Reliance of the Traveller, to address the subjects of lawful lying, misleading impressions, harm prevention and taqiyya.
  • Integrity in Interpretation – Durie
    In this presentation on “Integrity in Interpretation of the Qur’an (and other Authoritative Islamic Sources),” Mark Durie notes that in order to achieve integrity in dealing with a sensitive subject, one must be committed to both truth and love.  Among other topics, Durie addresses Bias in Religious Statements, Cross-cultural Observer Bias, The Risk of Islamophobia – and its opposite, and The Need for a Systematic Reasoned Evidence-Based Approach.
  • Christian Witness in Muslim Settings – Hyatt  EMQ January 2009
    Available here to those with an online EMQ subscription.
    “What do I say to this dear co-worker who is using the Qur’an so much in his attempts to share the gospel that the local Muslims believe he (and the rest of us, by implication) is interested in becoming a Muslim?”
  •  Did Jesus Die on the Cross? The History of Reflection on the End of His Earthly Life in Sunni Tafsir Literature – Cumming (no link available)                                                                                 Did Jesus die on the cross and then rise from the dead? This paper shows what a rich and diverse range of answers to this question have historically been seen as legitimately supported within the Muslim community throughout the centuries. Cumming concludes that there is plenty of room to explore common ground in the multiple different interpretation options which the Muslim commentary tradition has preserved throughout the centuries.
  •  Al-Ash‘ari’s Doctrine of God, and Possible Christian Parallels   – Cumming (no link available)  Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl Al-Ashʿarī (d. 324/935) is one of the three or four most influential and orthodox thinkers in the history of Islam. His description of God is remarkably similar to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as expounded by Patristic and Scholastic Christian writers. The issues he raises concerning the Trinity are bridgeable differences. Furthermore, apart from these differences there is a huge amount of common ground between Muslims and Christians on the fundamental issues at stake in the ṣifāt and in the Trinity – far more common ground than is generally supposed by either Muslims or Christians.
  • MBB Church, Inc. in Bangladesh: Overcoming the Destructive Effects of Naïve Western Funding – Smith
    The biggest issue facing the young church in Bangladesh is not persecution, nor the various approaches to contextualization, but rather the destructive flow of well-intentioned but naïvely distributed Western funding.
  • Ministry & Money: A Case Study from South Asia
    Includes elements in the context which influence economic aid and make it delicate and potentially harmful, plus guidelines and recommendations for foreign workers so as to have a positive impact.
  • Case Studies Involving Money and Mission in the Buddhist World
    Two Case studies designed for discussion, involving challenging issues of money and mission in the Buddhist world.
  • Are We Nourishing or Choking Young Plants with Funds?- Meydan & Harris (Chapter 17 of From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues among Muslims – ed. Woodberry)

 

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