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Introduction to Islam (Part 2 of 5: Revelation)

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In yesterday’s blog post I began a brief introduction to Islam.  I focussed primarily on the founding of Islam and Muhammad.

Today I would like to look at the divine revelation which Islam claims to have received, which is found principally in the Qur’an/Koran.

As I said yesterday, I have done my best to ensure factual accuracy in all these posts and have used Islamic sources as much as possible to ensure that I’m not propagating Christian misconceptions of Islam.  I did send this to some Muslim friends for comment, but I have yet to hear back. If you are a follower of Islam and believe that I have misrepresented your religion, please drop me an email and I will remedy the situation.

The Qur’an

As mentioned in my previous post, the Qur’an (literally, “the recitation”) is a compilation of the messages given to Muhammad.

Christians and Muslims understand the concept of scripture differently.  Christians describe the Bible, in the words of St. Paul, as being “God breathed” (theopneustos).  As Dei Verbum explains:

“In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” – Dei Verbum, Chapter 3

Muslims, on the other hand, view the Qur’an as the word of God in the most literal sense, believing that the text bears no imprint of the writer’s character whatsoever. Rather, they believe that the Qur’an is the literal word of God, dictated to Muhammad, written down verbatim.

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Invented at Nicaea?

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A friend of mine recently told me about a conversation she had with her friend who considered himself a follower of Jesus, but who also held to the popular Dan Brown myth that one also often hears from Jehovah Witnesses and Muslims, that the divinity of Christ was something invented by the Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea.

albino monk

Don’t trust murdering albino monks when it comes to theology…

I promised my friend that I would put together a post to demonstrate the Divinity of Christ from both Sacred Scripture and Early Church history, so here it is…

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When you get a new Dad…

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A few months ago, I got a new Dad… well, sort of.

Following the retirement of one the priests in our Eparchy (the Eastern name for a Diocese), our Bishop reassigned many of his priests. As a result of this shuffle, our Pastor was sent to Denver and our parish given to a new priest.

This kind of situation occurs periodically in the life of a Catholic parish. A few years after I started attending my Byzantine church, the Bishop assigned our Pastor to the role of Rector at our Seminary in Pittsburg. Fr. Robert had been at the parish for many years. He had been our spiritual father for a long time and had married and baptized many in our parish. As a result, his transfer was quite a wrench for us.

Although these periods of transition can be rather painful, on the whole, I think this is good for the spiritual health of the parish. By having our priests changed every few years, we are taught a certain level of detachment and are given some inoculation against a cult of personality which may form around a particularly charismatic minister. It also offers us periodic opportunities for parish renewal. Most of all though, it reminds us of what is transient and what is unchangeable. The man standing at the altar may differ, but the Eucharist remains the same.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts

Malachi 1:11

Update on “Twelve for 2012″…

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I was reading Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog entry The Mystery of the Catholic Book Buyer and it prompted me to write another update for my Twelve for 2012…

Here are the finished books:

The Church and the New Media – Brandon Vogt
I’m Not Being Fed!  – Jeff Cavins
The Passion of Jesus Christ – John Piper
Father Brown of the Church of Rome – G.K Chesterton
The Story of Christianity – Justo Gonzalez
How To Listen When God Is Speaking – Mitch Pacwa, SJ
Godless Delusion – Patrick Madrid & Kenneth Hensley

Here are the bonus books/documents I’ve read which were not on the list:

The One Thing – Matthew Kelly
Pillar of Fire and Truth – Catholic Answers
Quitter – Jon Acuff
The meaning of Vocation – Pope John Paul II
Orientalium Ecclesiarum – Second Vatican Council
Deus Caritas Est – Pope Benedict XVI

I am currently reading:

Jesus of Nazareth – Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican II: The Crisis And The Promise – Alan Schreck (I’m reading this for the course I’m doing)

The books still to read:

Rediscover Catholicism – Matthew Kelly
Jesus Among Other Gods – Ravi Zacharias
Philosophy For Dummies – Thomas Morris
The Path of Life – Cyprian Smith OSB

If you’re happy and you know it…

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Something has been bugging me for some time now. The vast majority of Masses I’ve attended in the States have ended with applause. Back in England I encountered this fairly often among non-Catholic congregations, but quite rarely in Catholic parishes.

guitar

Here in San Diego I play the guitar in at a LifeTeen Mass and there is applause every week as we finish the final song. Now, there was a time when I wasn’t fussed about the clapping, but now it really rather bothers me… 

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The Four Loves – Chapter 1 (“Introduction”)

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Four Loves 1

Our San Diego C.S. Lewis Reading Group will starting a new book this week, The Four Loves.

Once again I will be providing an outline of the arguments presented in each chapter, together with quotations and explanatory notes. The chapters in this book are generally a good bit longer than our previous book (Mere Christianity), so I may well experiment with the format of these posts as I work through each chapter.

Notes and Quotes

1. Lewis thought that St. John’s statement that “God is love” would provide a clear plan for this book

“‘God is love,’ says St. John. When I first tried to write this book I thought
that his maxim would provide me with a very plain highroad through the
whole subject. I thought I should be able to say that human loves deserved
to be called loves at all just in so far as they resembled that Love which is
God”

2. He therefore divided love into two types:

(a) Gift-love

“The typical example of Gift-love would be that love which moves a man to work and plan and save for the future well-being of his family which he will die without sharing or seeing”

(b) Need-love

“…that which sends a lonely or frightened child to its mother’s arms”

3. These types of love reflect both divinity and humanity

(a) Divine Love

“Divine Love is Gift-love. The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father and gives Himself to the world, and for the world to the Father, and thus gives the world (in Himself) back to the Father too”

(b) Relation to God

“…what…can be less like anything we believe of God’s life than Need-love? He lacks nothing… We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness. We need others physically, emotionally, intellectually; we need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves”

3. Lewis thought he could just praise Gift-love and disparage Need-love

“I was looking forward to writing some fairly easy panegyrics on the first
sort of love and disparagements of the second… But I would not now deny the name love to Need-love… The reality is more complicated than I supposed”

In this section, Jack uses the term “panegyrics” which refers to a speech in which something is praised. He also refers to his “master, MacDonald” was an author and minister he greatly admired, George MacDonald.

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