Toward Respectful Understanding & Witness Among Muslims: Essays in Honor of J. Dudley Woodberry

Essays in Honor of J. Dudley Woodberry

Fifteen preeminent Christian scholars of Islam present their latest research and reflections. The book is organized around three themes: encouraging friendly conversation, Christian scholarship, and Christian witness.

Published in honor of J. Dudley Woodberry, it is more than a collection of essays by friends and colleagues. It offers a seldom-available synopsis of the theories of contemporary leading Christian academicians whose work is currently influencing a wide range of Christian institutions, agencies, churches, and individuals. The authors provide cutting-edge and greatly needed resources for developing a better understanding of Muslims. In an age of increasing challenges facing Muslim-Christian relations, this volume offers Christians a unique opportunity to rethink their assumptions. It also presents practical steps which can inform their daily encounters with Muslims. This book is essential reading for people with research interests in Islam, for Bible school and seminary students, for church leaders, and for all those who want to be informed of the latest empirical research and theoretical perspectives affecting Muslim-Christian relations.

Evelyne A. Reisacher obtained her PhD in Islamic Studies under the mentorship of J. Dudley Woodberry. She is currently associate professor of Islamic Studies and Intercultural Relations at Fuller Theological Seminary. She served twenty years as assistant director of L'Ami, a Christian organization providing care to North African immigrants in France. She also assisted in securing the Conflict Transformation: Creating Collaboration and Reducing Conflict in Muslim-Christian Relations grant for Fuller. Her current research involves exploring gender issues in Islam, Muslim-Christian relations, world religions and affect regulation across cultures.

Joseph L. Cumming is director of the Reconciliation Program at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School. He also teaches courses in Islamic Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and is completing his PhD in Islamic Studies and Christian Theology at Yale University. During his fifteen years in Mauritania, one of the poorest nations on earth, he served as director of Doulos Community, a Christian humanitarian organization working in nutrition, public health, agriculture, microcredit, and emergency relief. Joseph and his wife, Michele, a registered nurse, are parents of paternal twins born in June 1992.

Dean S. Gilliland is senior professor of Contextual Theology and African Studies at Fuller's School of Intercultural Studies. After twenty-three years as church planter and head of the Theological College of Northern Nigeria, Dean taught courses in mission theology, Islam, and African Christianity at Fuller for twenty-seven years. He is now retired and lives in Claremont, California.