This is report 4 of 5 from ICPJ’s January 2008 Congregational Liaison Meeting. (read reports 1: Global Warming, 2: Other Issues, 3: Peace in Iraq, or 5: Faith and Politics )

This group looked at the possibility of beginning one or more small groups involved in the process of “Scriptural Reasoning” as a way to do Interfaith Dialogue. Participants in Scriptural Reasoning (SR) believe that the resolution of religiously rooted political tensions will be attained not by avoiding religion in public, but by initiating more and better religious conversations.

Three members of the Common Ground group of ICPJ, Sarah Heidt, Tamar Weaver and Alan Haber participated in this discussion because there is interest in using small group dialogue focusing on texts as a way of continuing the discussion which began at the Sacred Texts and the Heart of Peace event in January. It is hoped that interfaith dialogue groups could look together at sacred texts that have a bearing on contentious issues.

Group participants first discussed the attractions of using this approach:

• To be able to reflect on and speak out of our own traditions can serve as a positive basis for conversation
• By working with others and building connections within small groups we can learn how to get past conversational impasses and take what we learn back to our own faith communities
• It would be enriching to share our texts in the months leading up to the First Baptist Morikawa Memorial conference to be held in November 2008, which will be addressing a positive role for religion in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The following issues, we agreed, need to be addressed:

• What are the most difficult questions which we could address together? How do different faiths understand the nature of God and the nature and purpose of scripture? What does peace look like? What do the traditions say about “just war”? How do different faiths conceive the relation of church and state? What are the various perspectives on the “End of Days”? How are we to understand the meaning of Christian Zionism and the role it plays?
• Learn more about the “Scriptural Reasoning” movement and model for group work. See this site for an attempt to illustrate one of several ways we might go about reflecting on the rules of scriptural reasoning.
• How can we ensure that the proper historical and political contexts are provided for the texts which we consider?
• Should the group move beyond scripture to study other books or even use videos? (One book recommended for use was Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis. One video recommended for use was Anna Baltzer’s Life In Occupied Palestine).
• What are the possibilities for sharing our insights during Peace Week in mid-April when the Dalai Lama comes to Ann Arbor? People from religious traditions outside the three Abrahamic faiths would be welcomed and encouraged to participate.

We decided to meet again as a Pilot Group, to propose ground rules for dialogue and make plans to begin our own Scriptural Reasoning group in the near future. Anyone interested in learning more about the Pilot Group should contact Sarah Heidt.

Read more about Scriptural Reasoning.