I am a middle-aged man who is in the early stages of a second career. I have passed through many doors in my time. But when I met the Jewish Rabbi who is on the faculty of my theological college, many more doors opened in my mind.
Why does Rabbi Robert A. Daum work at the Vancouver School of Theology, a Christian theological college on the campus of the University of British Columbia? In order to answer the question I needed to understand the thinking behind this.
I started with VST’s principal, Rev. Dr. Wendy Fletcher. Fletcher talked about VST’s philosophy of expanding students’ knowledge and understanding of other faith traditions. She was careful to note that this was not an attempt to water down anyone’s beliefs or to sink to the lowest common faith denominator in order to promote peace in the valley. Rather, the hope was that giving future church leaders better insight into the life of the “other” would help to promote respect for all people’s faith traditions; and this respect would lead us to identify areas of mutual concern where we could all work together in an inter-religious way.
Fletcher said it is important to do work in areas of common interest without compromising the particular beliefs of either party. We should become conscious of the overlapping concerns of other faith communities. She said one of the best ways to get to know one another is through direct interaction, where we first identify then work on common goals in this world, such as care for the poor or the environment.
My next interview was with Rev. Dr. Harry O. Maier. He is the professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at VST. Maier presented the idea that it is useful for people who are learning about the Christian faith to study its historical origins and development. He pointed out that because Christianity sprang from the Jewish faith it is helpful for the student of Christianity to gain increased knowledge of the history and practice of Judaism. Maier suggested that the most authentic way of gaining this type of understanding was through engagement with a practitioner who was also a scholar of that faith’s origins and traditions.
Rabbi Daum is the director of the Iona Pacific Inter-Religious Centre and associate professor of Rabbinic Literature and Jewish Thought at VST. He feels the role of Iona Pacific is to remind us that “no religion is an island.” (He attributes this idea to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.) Rabbi Daum said, “I understand this point in two respects: the inestimable intellectual value in learning together with colleagues who are deeply and knowledgeably engaged with other wisdom traditions, and the enormous importance of collaborating with people of goodwill across a broad spectrum of our shared community and world in order to enhance our capacity to address more effectively the critical local and global challenges that overwhelm our generation.
“Far from being an island, Iona Pacific is a bridge, a research and teaching centre that sits comfortably and creatively beside its two vibrant sister centres at VST [the other two being the Centre for Christian Leadership and the Indigenous Studies Centre]. Iona Pacific facilitates mutually respectful inquiry about the place of religion in the world, between scholars, community leaders and emerging student leaders across a broad spectrum of faith communities, cultures, and institutional partnerships.”
In other words, for me as a candidate for ministry, Iona Pacific is about giving me the opportunity to learn firsthand about inter-religious matters and to function more effectively as a Christian minister in a pluralistic world.
Daum’s words reinforced ideas alluded to by the other interviewees. Iona Pacific’s goal is not to eliminate or even to minimize the differences between the faith traditions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and native religions. Rather, its intention is to find areas of concern shared by people of other religious customs. Daum suggested that by focusing on these common concerns, such as care for our environment and the poor, and by going further in respectfully striving to understand each other’s motivations, true and meaningful inter-religious work could begin to be done. He suggested hope for the health and safety of our world and its people could be found in inter-religious work, undertaken on these terms.
It is my prayer that all peoples, acting in good faith and coming with integrity to their religious beliefs, might work to open this door and allow the full light of God’s love to bring us all to a place of peace. I close by offering kudos to VST for having the vision both to begin this work of deep learning and transformation and the courage to continue to support it in the face of questions about the wisdom of offering this type of “liberal” religious education. It seems to me that Jesus’s ministry spoke to a life of liberality and abundance; a liberality and abundance that is meant to be ours when we knock on doors and have them opened to us.
About Dennis Howard
Dennis Howard is in his third year of studies in the Master of Divinity program at the Vancouver School of Theology.
