Pluralism doesn't mean leaving your own faith behind

The United Methodist Church’s 25-member University Senate will vote this week on whether Claremont School of Theology will maintain its affiliation with the denomination after launching a multifaith clerical training project.

The United Methodist-affiliated seminary plans to offer -- in conjunction with the Academy for Jewish Religion and the Islamic Center of Southern California -- clerical training this fall for Muslims and Jews as well as Christians, according to a June 9 announcement by President Jerry Campbell.

It’s history in the making. While other theological schools – Hartford Seminary and Andover Newton Theological School, for instance -- have had some partnerships with Muslim or Jewish institutions, Claremont is the first seminary in the U.S. to offer theological leadership training within the three Abrahamic faith traditions.

Diana Eck, director of The Pluralism Project at Harvard University (which researches the increasing religious diversity of the American landscape), finds the Claremont project “a very exciting vision.” I’d heard Dr. Eck speak on interfaith trends at the recent Religion Communicators Congress 2010 in Chicago, and thought she might have some valuable perspective. This morning she chatted with me from her office at Harvard and gave me her take on the Claremont project.

Dr. Eck says the multi-faith project represents “not just the future, but the present of Christian ministry in the United States and in the world.”

“We live in multi-religious societies, so we enter the ministerial context with the need to have a much richer and deeper and richer understanding of the faith of our neighbors,” she said. “To build that into theological education is absolutely essential. It needs to be done.”

Not everyone is so keen on it. The denomination's University Senate suspended in January some $800,000 in funding toward Claremont’s budget for failing to consult with the church on “a substantial reorientation of the institution’s mission.” Senate members visited the campus in April to check into this multi-faith project. 

But Dr. Eck says opponents who fear the project will dilute the seminary’s Methodist tradition are misconstruing what Claremont is attempting to do. In other words, it’s not a melding of theologies, but rather the opportunity to rub shoulders with people whose faith traditions are different than our own while gaining ministerial training.

“That doesn’t mean that we leave our own faith behind,” Dr. Eck said. She pointed out that many people gain not only a much “deeper and broader and clearer understanding of their own faith” by studying other religions, but also a foundation for engaging in dialogue with other religious communities.

“I think contact with real people of other faiths is absolutely essential for Methodist pastors or any pastors,” Dr. Eck said. “Many Methodist pastors do feel kind of isolated, as if there’s something that they shouldn’t be doing if they’re out there engaging with their Muslim neighbors or those of Hindu or Sikh traditions. This is the world we live in. And for the most part, people are not trained in a hands-on way that enables them as pastors to both appreciate that and to replace whatever fear or stereotypes may be in their mind with real experience.”

She also believes Claremont’s project is right in step with the old Wesleyan quadrilateral, particularly the parts about reason – i.e., learning how the Muslim faith has developed -- and experience with faith traditions outside our own.

“We need to experience multi-faith societies,” Dr. Eck said. “If we’re not, it’s because we’re being isolationist. And we can’t afford to live in that kind of world anymore. We live too close with each other.

“It may be awhile before the continuing education of the pastorate in Christian churches catches up with the reality of our society and our world, but we need to start down that road. I think this is a very good start.”

We’ll have a full report – including the results of the University Senate’s decision – in an upcoming issue of the Reporter.

Comments

[Don]

How does this project differ from the requirement that we had at Perkins back in the 1970s to take classes in "world religions"? At SMU as an undergraduate and at Perkins in the M.Th. program I took courses on Judaism (taught by a rabbi), Islam, and Buddhism (taught by Fred Streng).

[Robin Russell]

The difference is that Muslim and Jewish students will be able to receive a clerical degree from Claremont School of Theology, as the umbrella organization for the three faith institutions.

[Mark]

No one objects to learning about other faiths. But United Methodism is a CHRISTIAN denomination and, particularly given the current economic climate and dwindling denominational numbers, need NOT underwrite the training of clerics in other faiths. This is crazy.

[Kevin]

“That doesn’t mean that we leave our own faith behind,”

It does seem to mean we leave Matt 28:19 behind and is that not a significant piece of our faith?

[Jim]

What do we do with the Words of the Savior when He stated "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me...........?"