We live in a multi-cultural, interfaith society of global proportions. Our children are growing up playing and learning alongside children who may not be of the same faith - Christian, Buddhist, Moslem, Jewish, Hindu, Ba-hai. In the midst of our different belief systems and traditions, there lies much that we all have in common.
And now there is a new resource, accessible via the web that brings the voices of three of the Abrahamic traditions, sharing the story of the Exodus. As we enter the core events of the Jewish and Christian faiths - Passover and Holy Week - this conversation is worth participating in, especially as many congregations will be holding a "Christian Seder" which I believe denigrates both faith traditions.
Published on the web, Exodus Conversations is intended to encourage an international dialogue. It features side by side presentations of the story of the Exodus as presented in the Qur’an and in the Book of Exodus. This is augmented by the traditional Passover service with a notable difference. At sixteen junctures, three scholars — a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim discuss issues which arise from the text. The scholars are not and could not speak on behalf of their faith communities. Rather, they are offering their individual responses based on their experiences within those communities.
Exodus Conversations focuses on the Story of the Exodus and how it speaks to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It could be called An Interfaith Commentary and Passover Haggadah. There are over a dozen "pods" of conversation on such topics as blessing, choosing, washing, teaching/learning, interpreting law, women, treating strangers. Each week a new question will be posed. The first question is, "How do our traditions speak of God and to God?
Other resources for interfaith conversation:
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On Being: Children of Abraham: Understanding the Links between Judaism, Islam and Christianity - Small-Group Discussions with Krista Tippett
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On Being: Living Islam: Beauty, Truth, Compassion - Small-Group Discussions with Krista Tippett
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Embracing Interfaith Cooperation with Eboo Patel
- Faith in the Neighborhood: Belonging by Lucinda Mosher
- Out of the Darkness, Into the Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources with Jamal Rahman, Kathleen Schmit Elias, and Ann Holmes Redding