Washington Report On Middle East Affairs – October 2018

Finding Jesus Among Muslims

By Jordan Denari Duffner, Liturgical Press,

2017, paperback, 162 pp. MEB: $18.

At a time of ever

sharpening divi-

sions, heightened

xenophobia, and

the thorough main-

streaming of an an-

tagonistic obses-

sion with Islam and

Muslims in many

parts of the West-

ern world, a young Catholic from Indiana

issues this clarion call for deep engage-

ment and dialogue with Islam and Mus-

lims.

Guiding her readers through her own

personal journey of faith and her encoun-

ters with Muslims in the United States

and abroad, Jordan Denari Duffner

makes a passionate case to her spiritual

brethren to view interreligious dialogue

with Muslims as not merely a feel-good

gesture of neighborliness, but as a fulfil-

ment of spiritual mandate. Duffner does

not belittle interfaith dialogue with the ob-

jective of collaborating for justice, resolv-

ing conflict, deepening mutual under-

standing between religious communities,

or even seeking converts, but she as-

serts that these ought not to be the ulti-

mate goals motivating her fellow Chris-

tians to engage. At its core, she writes,

such engagement should be fundamen-

tally animated by a desire to draw closer

to God.

Duffner first introduces us to some of

the Muslims she’s come to know, and

Islam as reflected through their character

lived experiences. She underscores her

belief—citing Pope Francis—that Chris-

tians cannot truly be in relationship with

God while being out of relationship with

Muslims.

She then moves on to discuss the ex-

periences of animus and prejudice en-

dured by many Muslims living in Western

countries. Drawing parallels between the

treatment of Catholics and Muslims in the

United States, she demonstrates how

today’s prejudices and acts of hate

against Muslims so resemble anti-

Catholic sentiments of old. She describes

the torching of Catholic churches and

mosques, as well as the depiction of

these communities as subversive fifth

columns set on infiltrating American insti-

tutions, changing its culture and way of

life, and supplanting U.S. laws.

The latter portion of her work is de-

voted to exploring her experiences living

a life deeply engaged in dialogue with

Islam and Mus-

lims. She tells of

how her own re-

lationship with

faith was deep-

ened by her en-

countering Mus-

lims, and how her

fellow Christians

might also experi-

ence God and

faith with “fresh

perspective and

eager curiosity”

by approaching

their religion

through a tradi-

tion other than

their own. She also addresses challeng-

ing topics in the arena of interreligious di-

alogue, and concludes with a practical

guide for putting her call for engagement

between faith communities into action.

The work is as informative as it is per-

sonal. While unfailingly sensitive and gra-

cious, Finding Jesus Among Muslims is

not sanitized. Duffner writes honestly and

does not merely brush under the rug un-

comfortable aspects of her journey over

the years. She reveals thoughts and ex-

periences that many would be reluctant

to reveal, particularly in settings as emo-

tionally combustible and susceptible to

provoking offense as faith and religious

differences.

Duffner broaches thorny aspects of

theology that threatened her own faith—

such as the question of who can be

saved—and discusses the ways in which

Islam and Christianity are quite different.

She writes also of having to grapple

with her own preconceived notions about

Muslims. She tells of having witnessed

anti-Muslim sentiment from those she

knew back in Indiana, on Christian satel-

lite TV channels, and even among her

Jordanian Christian hosts and a Catholic

priest she met in their home. Most dis-

concerting for Duffner is that the latter in-

dividuals knew and regularly encountered

Muslims.

In this is a lesson that speaks to the

importance of her project. In her mind, di-

alogue is not merely surface level interac-

tion and niceties, but a disposition. It is a

way, as she writes, of “being in relation-

ship with others” and “an attitude of open-

ness, allowing others to speak for and

define themselves, giving them the bene-

fit of the doubt, assuming the best—not

the worst—in others, and refusing to let

our ignorance be exploited by those who

benefit from conflict.”

This is Duffner’s challenge to us all.

70 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018

B•O•O•K•S Reviewed by Amin Gharad

Amin Gharad is director of Middle East Books

and More, a project of the Washington

Report on Middle East Affairs.

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