A Sacred Argument: Christian, Jewish and Muslim Encounters

Below is my review published in the journal Interpretation. I welcome your thoughts.

At the beginning of this thought-provoking book, Christopher Leighton acknowledges the challenge of authentic conversation among Christians, Jews and Muslims: “There are no safe spaces that can sustain moral integrity and human flourishing. Disruption and conflict, disorientation and confusion are inescapable” (p. xiii). He proceeds to tell the story of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (Baltimore, Maryland) and how it engaged in “disruptive” conversations as a model for deeper understanding. With unflinching honesty, Leighton describes the courage required to remain in conversation with religious counterparts when one’s own tradition is being challenged. Yet, Leighton, a Presbyterian theologian, shows the possibilities of genuine relationships taking shape through respectful, hard conversations that explore areas ordinarily considered off-limits. We live in a time when serious arguments often devolve into separate tribes of like-minded people, or worse, result in violence. What makes this book valuable are its vivid stories of how something else can occur: mutual understanding and respectful relationships that do not avoid differences or ignore historical pain.

There is nothing sentimental about Leighton’s approach. The difficulty of entering terrain that truly disrupts your entire religious foundation, forcing you to confront questions rarely asked, is clearly reflected in Leighton’s own experience with his beloved friend, Rabbi Joel Zaiman, a relationship central to the story. The title of the book comes from the Jewish tradition of machloket, a form of arguing that yields neither winners nor losers, but wisdom. In this sense, this type of discussion is sacred in Leighton’s view: “A sacred argument seeks the inclusion of divergent points of view and affirms an ethos of both-and rather than either-or. . . . Rather than treat your interlocutor as an enemy to defeat, your verbal opponent is affirmed as an ally who instructs you to see the world from a different angle. Your best teachers turn out to be the very people with whom you passionately feud. A sacred argument does honor to difference” (p. 71).

It is difficult for some to imagine opponents as teachers. Yet over time, the Institute focused considerable attention on a communal method of engaging Scripture based on this notion of a sacred argument. One chapter describes a communal study of Job that yielded astounding fresh insights among participants from different backgrounds. Leighton discusses at length how this way of deepening understanding can be helpful in confronting racial differences. The final chapter, a brilliant conclusion to a remarkable book, explores the theological and practical implications of forgiveness as an “impossible necessity” (pp. 173–89).

Roy W. Howard
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Gaithersburg, Maryland