Written by: gfesadmin on October 18, 2012

At a local church a priest, a rabbi and a imam (no, this is not a bar joke) all met in a church to talk about interfaith understanding. They had developed a relationship after 9/11 to talk about how faith communities can break down biases and suspicions between them. The interchange was respectful and civil. Our politicians should take note. Each talked about their journey together and how they became friends. They have written books and given talks all over the nation.

They led by example. By listening they learned and built bridges between them and their faith traditions. They talked about how each of their holy books has exclusive language and inclusive language. While in dialogue their perspective changed.

When leading any organization, the perspective of the leader is vital. So much has been written on the leaders activity, but much is learned by looking at the leader’s perspective. This week I have been reading and reflecting on a book called “Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice”. It is an exhaustive overview of leadership. One chapter by Walter Freeman points out that studying history can provide a better perspective from which to lead. (p.300) Examining the past victories or failures of leaders gives that perspective. Historians can give a longer view. What these three in interfaith dialogue had discovered is that each tradition had a sorted past and some actions of which they were not proud. They were taking the longer approach.

One historic approach is by Fritz Redlich. He studied business leadership over time. He proposed that studying change over time had great value. He stated that business leadership in a capitalist society had a creative-destructive quality. Alfred Chapman goes on to say that leadership should be as much about destroying old methods as creating new ones. “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It” as one recent leadership book suggests. Leadership is a process of change. The question is what kind of change. To critically examine the history of previous generations leadership has great value. However, how do we determine how that information is used? Do our conclusions create more problems?

The interfaith dialogue is a big step forward for Christian leaders to examine those not like them and to see afresh their own faith. We do need to break stereotypes and deconstruct the resentment or even hatred between us. We do need to understand the failures of leadership in the past who have done horrendous things in the name of God. The question is, how far does one deconstruct ones own beliefs to find common ground? The Christian in this dialogue stated that the foundational teaching of Christianity is unconditional love. While I agree with the idea that Christianity teaches unconditional love, the focus of Christianity is Christ. The rabbi said all religions are climbing the same mountain. He went on to say the same about even those without any faith. He is a good example of what Ford calls Type 3 theology. This where a person uses contemporary thought to reinterpret the core of the Gospel. (p.25) But then the Gospel tends to lose its distinctive.

So a rabbi, an imam and a priest all walk into a church to dialogue with each other. They learn from religious leadership problems and atrocities of the past. We are all better for it. They seek to change that. I, too, want to promote dialogue and civility among those we have great differences with. But we are not all climbing the same mountain. I prefer to use the illustration that people are either going away from God or toward God. In order to understand how to lead as a Christian, the question for me is how to hold on to your core faith while seeking to understand those who have dramatically different view on faith? How does one go about seeking to understand faith in a pluralistic society?

A great example is a friend I met who is reaching out to befriend Muslims. His goal is to study the holy books together and examine the greatest prophet Jesus or “Isa”. At a gathering of local pastors and imams the dialogue was warm and welcoming. We can care and see our mutual hopes and anxieties. We all do share a common humanity and desire peace and prosperity for our families. We may not be climbing the same mountain, but we all do share our love for climbing.

Nitkin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, “Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice.” Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press, 2010

David Ford, Theology: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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