Paths of the Heart : Sufism and the Christian East (Perennial Philosophy Series)

Rating:
Summary: Seeking the "virgin point"
Review: A perusal of current media in print, radio and television reinforces the observation that we are living in a time when the cultures of the Middle East are portrayed as ideologically opposed to the West. At the core of our alleged differences is the role of Islamic fundamentalism with its hegemonic determination to dominate cultures both in the Middle East and abroad. Such views are not new. The "clash of civilizations" theory of Samuel Huntington had already proposed and popularized this understanding in the mid-1990s. At a time when this perspective is gaining momentum, it is helpful to seek a corrective to a myopic understanding of Islam that often accompanies Huntington's theory; namely, that Islam is nothing more than Wahhabism. Moreover, a historical reexamination of Christianity's own understanding of God can be beneficial for "Westerners" who tend to understand their own religious heritage typically through modern Protestant lenses, which often leads to the positing of false dichotomies between Islam and Christianity, seeing them as mutually exclusive with no common ground. By reconsidering the mystical theologies of each religion it can be shown that a fundamental convergence occurs in the mystical thought and experience of each tradition. In particular, this inner commonality can form the basis of a deeper conversation between Christians and Muslims than has been typical in our day, aiding in a clearer mutual understanding of the similarities that exist between the fundamental religious traditions of our cultures. To this end, Paths To The Heart is an excellent beginning.

As Thomas Merton said in his Conjectures:
"Le point vierge is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see the billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely...I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere."

May we seek the gate of heaven everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Compares saints, gateways to the heart, remembrances of God
Review: Compiled and edited by James S. Cutsinger (Professor of Theology and Religious Thought, University of South Carolina), Paths To The Heart: Sufism And The Christian East is an informed and informative study of the common threads and traits shared between the traditions of the Christian East and Islamic Sufism. A valued and highly recommended anthology of essays by a series of learned and erudite authors contemplating a lasting dialogue and connection between Christianity and Islam, Paths To The Heart compares saints, gateways to the heart, remembrances of God, and much more as seen by religions with so much more in common than is usually acknowledged by their practitioners.

Rating:
Summary: Spirituality by Committee
Review: The immediate premise for this book was a conference held at the University of South Carolina in October 2001, the purpose of which was an attempt to find some common ground in Christian and Muslim spirituality. In fact, it amounted to a meeting of noted writers on two traditions: Christian Hesychasm and Islamic Sufism.

While I would not denigrate either of these traditions, it is only fair to say that neither one of them represents the entire spectrum of spirituality in their representative faiths. "Hesychasm", for the uninitiated, is a tradition associated primarily with Eastern Orthodoxy, and it is mainly associated with the use of certain techniques of prayer - primarily but not exclusively the Jesus Prayer - to attain a greater sense of the presence of God. While this spiritual tradition has achieved a certain level of awareness mainly in Roman Catholic and Anglican circles in the last forty years or so, it would be a stretch to say that it is mainstream Christianity, at least in the West; many Christians view it with misgivings, with some Catholics fearing a denigration of sacramental life and some Protestants seeing it as a rejection of the Bible as the ultimate source of inspiration, and as an attempt to relate to God "by technique" rather than by establishing a personal relation with Jesus.

As for Sufism, it respresents a much larger collection of spiritual practices than Hesychasm, although probably the best known practice of most Sufi orders is "dhikr" - an Arabic word that means both "mentioning" and "remembrance", and which consists mainly of the repetitive use of either the names of God or a short prayer. As is the case with Hesychasm among Christians, many modern Muslims would hesitate to call Sufism "mainstream." Indeed, a large segment of the international Muslim community - a segment that contains a considerable portion of the more educated, articulate Muslims worldwide - maintains that Sufism is an artificial accretion on Islam which all true Muslims should condemn.

It appears that the major reason why these two groups are talking to each other is that the techniques that they both use regarding the Jesus Prayer and dhikr resemble each other to a considerable extent, so much so that many scholars maintain some borrowing of technique. The array of scholars that contributed to this book is a Who's Who of these particular areas of spirituality, including two Orthodox clergy - Bishop Ware and Father Chryssavgis - and two Muslim scholars who are highly respected in the West, although their background - Seyyed Hossein Nasr is from a Shiite background, while Reza Shah-Kazemi is Ismaili - are not apt to endear either of them to Sunni Muslim reader. Most of the other contributors are academics, including major names in the field such as James Cutsinger and William Chittick. Throughout most of the book the writers seem to be talking at cross-purposes to each other, however. Personally, I am inclined to feel that this was to some extent inevitable. I believe that one of the contributors, Peter Samsel, hit the nail on the head when he stated that whereas Islam has considerable "theological space" for Christianity, Christians are almost inherently incapable of returning the favor. What this means is that Islam recognizes that Christianity is a valid form of spirituality, and while Muslims feel that Christ's original message was distorted by Christians and in any case was superseded by Islam, most would concede that a man can be a Christian and be truly spiritual; in fact, the Koran states as much in several passages. Christians, on the other hand, are basically incapable of saying the same about Islam, since to do so would be tantamount to stating that a valid revelation could occur after Christ; from the Christian perspective, Islam can only be an aberration.

The essays in the book are intentionally arranged to start with the ones that are at the most opposed poles and to move toward those that tend to converge, culminating in an article by Huston Smith, with leaves one with a bittersweet sense that we all have a long way to go.

The book provided an excellent forum for both sides of this argument to have their say, and is a useful exposition of polite academic debate in the area. Having said that, the book has little new in the way of true spirituality. If you're interested enough in the subject to be interested in this book, it probably won't tell you anything you didn't already know.