Thursday, July 12, 2012

Christian prof says Jesus was Muslim.
Luther College - ELCA - Once Conservative



Christian prof says Jesus was Muslim:


Shedinger said the issue arose when a Muslim student challenged his teaching about Islam, and he rethought not only Islam, but all of religion.

He came to perceive Islam as a social justice system instead of a religion, and found that he thought the same about Jesus.

“I had to rethink what Islam is,” Shedinger said in the interview. “I came to the conclusion that it was a social justice movement and I think that’s who Jesus was in the first century so I conclude Jesus is more like a Muslim.”

He admitted it would “be a stretch” for many to follow his process and consider Jesus a Muslim, but, “It doesn’t make me uncomfortable any more.”

“Even as a Christian I have to answer yes to that,” he said

“We’re not trying to aggravate nobody,” said the interviewer, Abdush Shahid Munir.

Noting that his audience included Christians, Muslims “and other denominations,” Munir asked Shedinger to explain this book.

Shedinger said he re-evaluated a lot of the research he’d encountered during his training, and he suddenly recognized “there were a lot of scholars out there who are arguing the points I make in the book.”

He described his book as a “call for Christians and Muslims to work together to promote social justice.”

His book is published by Fortress Press, the academic book imprint of Augsburg Fortress, which “is noted for its significant publishing in the areas of religious studies, Jewish-Christian studies, African American religion, religion and science, feminist theology, and ethics.”

“The Fortress Press is academic, ecumenical, inclusive, and international,” the company explains.

The college lists Shedinger as associate professor of religion, and cites his course teachings as Intro to the Hebrew Bible, The Bible and Imperial Politics, Intro to Islam, Life After 9/11, Unity and Diversity in Contemporary Islam, and Biodiversity.


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