Can I be a Christian and a Muslim?

One of the comments on my recent article published by the Ooze was a question as to whether a Christian can also be a Muslim.  The commentator referred to this story of a female priest, Ann Holmes Redding, who says that she is also a muslim.

It is clear from some comments left on the internet that some Christians feels that you can clearly not reconcile the claim that Jesus is the only way to God with the fundamental tenant of Islam that there is no God but Allah – therefore it is impossible to be both.

Personally I wonder whether the two are mutually exclusive – after all I think of Jesus and his earliest followers who were Jews – they did not renounce their Jewish national identity or their religious one, think of where the early church in Jerusalem met (the temple), what some of the biggest questions were when it came to the Gentiles (did they need to convert to Judaism by being circumcised) and the trick questions of food offered to idols etc.  One of the biggest questions faced by those Jewish Christians was what did it mean to say Jesus is Lord, how did it sit with their own monotheistic Jewish statement that there is only one God, YAWEH.

If you can be Jewish and a Christian can you not also be Muslim and a Christian?  Indeed the attraction of say the 5 pillars of Islam, the disciplined life of prayer etc is something that can be intrinsically attractive as a way of practicing faith – and can be related to the rules of faith by Christian religious communities/orders (e.g. rule of St Benedict). 

A question closer to home for me to ask myself would be can I both be a follower of Jesus and a worshipper of consumerist individualism?  Well clearly I can as I am – so perhaps it is not about the labels but about orientation and direction of travel? If the invitation is to leave the kingdom of my life and enter the kingdom of God how much of my identity can I take into that – clearly I enter as I am which is why I say I am still part consumer dominated and a Christ dominated world. 

How much am orientating my life to believe in Christ and to live out a Christ-like Spirit empowered life and how much am I seeking to continue to live out of my own life in my own way?  Like the tide, this seems to ebb and flow… or like Jesus picture of good fruit it takes time and the interactions of seasons to see what emerges from the branches of my life. I can hang bananas from me but that does not make me a banana tree… What is the overall orientation of my life? 

I am interested in hearing what you think/what your experience is?

Comments

[Rick Ianniello]

Paul - are you serious? Given that both Judaism and Islam are faiths, you cannot ascribe to the tenants of those and Christianity. They are in fact mutually exclusive based in that only one accepts forgiveness and Lordship of Jesus the Messiah.

If you are speaking culturally, fine but why would I confuse tenants of faith with culture?

[Duncan McFadzean]

Paul, interesting post. A bit McLaren-esque? Anyway, to the post at hand, I think you'd struggle to say you can't be a consumerist because clearly that would rule out a whole load of Christians from the last 50 years. I think to be a better Christian i.e. closer to God and more a reflection of Him, rejecting consumerism, chasing a simpler life and giving rather than buying is the way Christians should go.

Can you be a Muslim and a Christian? I think Rick got to the nub of it in his last line - I think what you are talking about is cultural. One of the speakers at Q asked why when you became a Christian in America you had to give up your "blackness" if you were black, and identify as colourless. I think there will be cultural parts of Islam that are helpful, without being contradictory. Remember that all truth is God's truth.

Interesting post, will be good to hear what others have to say.

[Erin]

Somehow I get the sense that this is a test on syncretism or something...

I guess what I heard in this post was it's no bigger of a stretch to be a Muslim and a Christian than it is to be a consumerist and a Christian. Is that right? Still trying to serve two Gods and all that.

Otherwise, I really know very little about Islam...so I couldn't say it's IMPOSSIBLE, but somehow I don't see it.

[Geoff]

Well, I'm mostly just struck with how deeply ingrained my acceptance of consumeristic individualism is. That's the killer for me. I don't really struggle with reconciling and Islamic or Judaism longings within myself - because they mostly just don't exist. But I'm an individualistic consumer. And I'm not sure that is any more OK than being a Muslim and a Christian.

[fernando]

Thought-provoking piece. What this highlights for me is that depth of engagement is such an issue. Take yoga, for instance. Lots of Christians intergrate Yoga into their life on a purely physical level. I think you can intergrate some of the meditative practices as well. But, at some point, Yoga will demand of you decisions that involve rejecting a Christian cosmology. Same is true of Bhuddism and I've met quite a few Buddistic Christians.

The problem is that if someone maintains a commitment to be integrative all the way down, they might make it work for them, but they'll be a pariah to both faith communities.

FWIW, i found at theological college that I was often the odd one out because of cultural background.

[sacred vapor]

In terms of a Christian Muslim identity... I like to think of this question as it pertains to 'story.' The early Jewish believers became followers of Jesus as they saw themselves in the unfolding narrative.

Although there are some similar strands of monotheistic foundations between Islam and Christianity, I see them as fundamentally different stories. I guess I have not found a way to connect the narratives but am certainly interested in any ideas in this area.

vapor

[Paul]

Hi Rick, well I'm serious in posing the Q, i'm not serious myself about becoming a christian-muslim.

It's an interesting point you make about culture/faith - how much of culutre is actually representative of my faith - is a Jewish culture centred on the practice of a Jewish faith but that does not exclude following Christ and being christian or does it?

For me i find applying the analogy closer to home of my own consumerism - if what I do reflects what I believe then how much am I worshipping in my own consumer culture/religion that may have very little to do with being a follower of Christ?

[Paul]

Thanks Duncan, well after jamie's excellent post about the size of Brian's shoes i'm not so sure :)

Anywho thanks for your thoughts - i think repositioning the question into our own context is a lot more challenging - indeed i can see how say a jewish practice of the christian faith or a muslim one could actually be a detox from my consumer-centric modern one? So from that point i agree with you there is going to be a base level of helpfulness from other faiths that might well help mine.

It is an intriguing idea that the Q speaker raises - the giving up of identity - it makes me wonder whether that has more to do with accepting/being accepted by a white western version of the christian faith than anything else? What do you think?

[Paul]

Thanks Erin, no test, well at least not one I'm setting.

I think what i was trying to do was reposition the Q - it's a lot easier to say no you can't be a muslim and a christian when i'm staying firmly in the christian camp with no clue/desire to explore any aspects of the muslim faith/culture.

So maybe i am asking how much of our own consumeristic individual me-first culture is in fact a religion/way of life? With its own temples, rituals, calander/festivals, and holy laws?

Now i think it would be a bigger stretch in one sense to be a muslim-christian because that may demand a bigger sacrifice in the practice of my faith than i currently chose to have? But then again maybe i am saying that christ can enter any culture/religion and transform it/change it even as Christ enters us as individuals and transforms and changes us...

[Paul]

Thanks Geoff, yep i hear you - for me our culture has its own dominant narratives and they can often compete, swallow or overshadow the narrative of Jesus and the Kingdom of God...

[Paul]

Thanks Fernando, that is a good point about some of the internal conflicts of the worldview of particular faiths - which for example in a budhist and/or hindu setting seem to be on face value opposite narratives to the Christian one. Altho maybe there can be found ways in which one could still reconcile your faith even if as you say you stand to be rejected by both faith communities.

[Paul]

Thanks vapor, for me the narratives have never really had to interact, my narrative is being a western white christian so i am probably not in a good place to spot overlaps in the narratives of the other monotheistic faiths. Perhaps a jewish christian or a muslim-christian would be able to provide that part of the narrative?

[Duncan McFadzean]

"It is an intriguing idea that the Q speaker raises - the giving up of identity - it makes me wonder whether that has more to do with accepting/being accepted by a white western version of the christian faith than anything else? What do you think?"

Paul, I think that this is exactly the issue. White churches in the USA (and maybe this is more an issue in the US than here, I don't know) seem to labour the "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus". The message of colourlessness is implicit, thus implying you have to think of yourself as a person with no colour. If you are white, that may be less of a problem, as less of your identity is tied up with your colour. But to suggest that giving up your cultural identity is a condition of Christianity is not I think often true. Yes, where there are parts that are not consistent with God's ways, then change, but don't change just to fit in. An interesting dilemma. (I realise I have made a sweeping generalisation of US churches and I apologise for that, it's clearly not true of all or even prob most, but clearly the speaker (Jeff Johnson) at Q felt it was an issue in some places)

But in all reality, given that most of us surround ourselves with people like us, is this really an issue?

[Paul]

Thanks duncan - how often as cultural identity been infused with new meaning, life rather than surpressed? Maybe that is the difference between the missionaries in the ancient world who took pagan festivals/traditions and recast them in a new profound christ centred light - and the african missonaries, some of whom saw conversion to mean "civilised" as much as christ-like?