Q: Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
A: Yes. The Second Vatican Council teaches that Islam is an Abrahamic faith; that is, that like Christianity and Judaism, Islam derives its basic reason for existing from the fundamental relationship established between Abraham and God.
Paragraph 16 of The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium)* reads, in part:
In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohammedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.
Catholics who oppose this teaching (i.e. who claim that Muslims worship an alien god) fail to make several distinctions proper to this teaching. . .
That Muslims worship the God the Bible does not mean that they possess the same understanding of God that Christians do. Muslims deny the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement. This is just another way of saying that Muslims aren't Christians. Jews also deny fundamental Christian beliefs, most especially that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Yet, the Church does not hesitate to teach that Jews worship the God of the Bible.
That Muslims worship the God the Bible does not mean that they possess the same understanding of God that Christians do. Muslims deny the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement. This is just another way of saying that Muslims aren't Christians. Jews also deny fundamental Christian beliefs, most especially that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Yet, the Church does not hesitate to teach that Jews worship the God of the Bible.
That Muslims accept the Bible as a deeply flawed yet nonetheless sacred book does not mean that they reject the historical origins or all the prophetic pronouncements of the Bible. Muslims claim that Jews and Christians have misinterpreted the Bible and invented several false doctrines using the Bible. Protestants make similar claims about the Catholic Church. Yet, the Church does not hesitate to teach that Protestants worship the God of the Bible.
That Muslims themselves have used the Bible to invent false doctrines does not mean that they worship a god other than the God of the Bible. The doctrinal inventions of Islam are readily recognized by the Church as false. The Church also recognizes that many of the doctrinal inventions of Protestants, Unitarians, Mormons, etc. are false. Yet, we do not claim that these groups give worship to an alien god.
Muslims honor Jesus as a prophet and offer devotion to Blessed Mary as his virginal mother. They honor the Old Testament prophets and trace their religious foundation to Abraham's covenant with God. Their essential difference with Christians is their belief that almost all of the claims made by the Church regarding the identity of the Messiah are false. So, though Muslims worship the God of the Bible, they do so in seriously theologically deficient ways.
The Church have never taught and does not teach that Islam's theology is the same as the Church's. Nor does the Church teach that Muslims achieve salvation through their Prophet or by adhering to orthodox Muslim teaching. Salvation is achieved only through Christ in his Church. What Lumen gentium teaches is that if a Muslim finds himself in heaven, he is there because of Christ. How he arrived in heaven is strictly a matter for God. The sacraments of the Church are gifts that necessarily limit creatures not the Creator. All the Church is teaching here is that God's creatures have no power to compel their Creator to include or exclude any one person or any group of people from heaven. The sacraments of the Church are the ordinary means of salvation. for believers. They are not the only means. God is perfectly free to save whomever He wishes. And we are in no position to demand that He do otherwise (cf. Dominus Iesus, n. 20-22).
UPDATE: HancAquam regular, dimbulb, sends along this little 11thc. nugget:
From Letter XXI of Pope St. Gregory VII (†1085) to the (Muslim) King of Mauritania:
"[F]or Almighty God, Who desires that all men shall be saved and that none shall perish, approves nothing more highly in us than this: that a man love his fellow man next to his God and do nothing to him which he would not that others should do to himself.
UPDATE: HancAquam regular, dimbulb, sends along this little 11thc. nugget:
From Letter XXI of Pope St. Gregory VII (†1085) to the (Muslim) King of Mauritania:
"[F]or Almighty God, Who desires that all men shall be saved and that none shall perish, approves nothing more highly in us than this: that a man love his fellow man next to his God and do nothing to him which he would not that others should do to himself.
This affection we and you owe to each other in a more peculiar way than to people of other races because we worship and confess the same God though in diverse forms and daily praise and adore Him as the creator and ruler of this world. For, in the words of the Apostle, 'He is our peace who hath made both one.'
This grace granted to you by God is admired and praised by many of the Roman nobility who have learned from us of your benevolence and high qualities.[. . .]
For God knows our true regard for you to his glory and how truly we desire your prosperity and honor, both in this life and in the life to come, and how earnestly we pray both with our lips and with our heart that God Himself, after the long journey of this life, may lead you into the bosom of the most holy patriarch Abraham."
*This document is a dogmatic constitution promulgated by a legitimately assembled ecumenical council of the Church and approved by the Holy Father. Interpretations of this document and claims about its implications are perfectly legitimate. Outright denials of the document's authority to teach the faith are not legitimate.
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I'm going to dispute you on Mormons, Father.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I will note that unlike Muslims, there is no mention of them specifically in either Lumen Gentium or Nostra Aetate.
The Mormons are, essentially, polytheists. While their statement of faith confesses the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, there understanding of this is so distorted that we do not acknowledge them as Christians. Their baptism while correct in form is severely defective in intent.
And at the heart of that defect is that they do not mean by God what we mean by God.
For the LDS, Christ is not one with the father but another god. And the point of salvation in the Mormon church is to attain godhood and become a creator (meaning, organizer) of worlds oneself.
It goes beyond distortion. They are using God's name and applying it to an essentially different entity.
Individual Muslims may profess belief in a distorted version of the God of Abraham (I will continue to dispute that Islam itself teaches this when you get into the esoterica that guides orthodox interpretation; LG and NA speak only to the followers, not to the faith); Unitarians (though not Unitarian-Universalists) may also through a defective understanding and incomprehension of the Trinity, and any number of Protestants have defective but sufficient belief in the God who revealed himself to Abraham. But don't lump Mormons in there. Once God is no longer one, you're not dealing with the God of Abraham.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteYou still seem to be ignoring the basic distinction btw the object of worship and the theological beliefs attached to that object.
Mormons are not Christians. The Church does not recognize their baptisms. However, this doesn't mean that they deny the God of the Bible. . .it only means that they, like the Muslims, hold false theological positions about God.
If asked, Mormons would undoubtedly say that they acknowledge the God of the Bible. . .then they would add all sorts of strange beliefs on top of that claim.
Father, I'm not disagreeing with the Council but I'm still confused. What does it mean to worship the same God, but have such a radically different view of Him?
ReplyDeleteFather, If I look at an apple and call it an orange, it does not make it an orange. I can talk about how much I love oranges and orange juice, and the orange lover will agree with me about the sublimeness of really fresh orange juice or a perfectly ripe orange. But if, once I start describing the "orange" it becomes apparent that I am talking about an apple, at what point do we admit that I am mistaken in my name and that I share no common object of love with the orange lover?
ReplyDeleteGod is one and true. He is only subject that can be worshipped with any efficacy. In that sense, to the degree that Mormons offer true worship they offer it to the One God that revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, etc.
But the same can be said of everyone that seeks to offer worship to some divine force. The difference is that the ancient pagan who wept for Adonis had an attachment to a pagan prefiguring of a dying and rising God. They did not know of Christ but they already were disposed to the reality of the True Myth. On the other hand, more modern heresies use the name and Christ and ascribe to one who does not exist.
I'm working here from the Catholic Answers tract, which has the Nihil Obstat;
"Aside from some temporary detours , the Mormon church has constantly taught that God the Father is a perfected man with a physical body and parts. Right-living Mormon men may also progress, as did the Father, and eventually become gods themselves."
When you take that in conjunction with the fundamental polytheism, what course does one have but to say that we are dealing with a heresy which ascribes Christian titles to a pagan cosmology? It is no different than a neo-Pagan setting up statues of Mary and Jesus for the Lady and Lord, or a Hindu stating that Jesus is another Avatar. Acknowledging the God of the Bible doesn't mean that they understand Him as we do.
What I am arguing is that the Mormon acknowledgement of the Bible is accidental, not essential. Unlike other Protestant confessions, or even Islam, which view God as an uncreated being, Elohim or God the Father of the Mormons is a perfected creature. Have we not reached the point where the Book has been co-opted for an alien god?
I will pass over in silence why Joseph Smith may have chosen to use the Bible as a foundation for his heresy. It is pure speculation, and would do no justice to the many people of genuine good will who currently adhere to the LDS church.
Father--
ReplyDeleteI know I'm about to ask a loaded question, so I understand that there probably is no easy answer. But if Islam involves false theological positions about God, could those theological positions be the work of the devil?
I don't want to channel the Dana Carvey Church Lady; that's definitely not my intent. It's just that I have a really hard time wrapping my mind the position put forth in Lumen gentium while taking into consideration certain tenets of Islam that are central to that faith while being entirely antithetical to the teachings of Christ: conversion by the sword, the treatment of women, etc.
Father, I beg your indulgence, for I am no theologian. As a simple layman, I must think in practical terms and consider the effect on the rank and file within the Church and the Muslims concerning this matter of whether we worship the same God.
ReplyDeleteI do not know the status of the teaching as presented in the document Lumen Gentium. Is it a de fide teaching? Does it appear elsewhere in Catholic tradition? I hasten to add that I do not dispute the authority of Vatican II to teach in any respect, but wonder if this is presented by the Church as something that we must give assent to as believing Catholics. If it is, then so be it.
Be that as it may, in practical terms I question the prudence of implying that Allah of the Quran is anything like the God of Christian Scripture and Tradition. As we both know, the true God Who reveals Himself through the Catholic Faith is nothing like Allah of the Quran.
If, academically, we must accept that Allah of Islam and the God of Christian revelation are the same, we must be careful when speaking to the general populace. Theologians will presumably understand the proper distinctions between God as He reveals Himself in Christian revelation and how He is presented in the Quran. The rank-and-file Christians may not. In isolation from the context provided by Catholic Tradition, could not the passage you quote be used to promote a false "ecumenism"? (Please note dear Father, I emphatically do not believe that this is your intent.)
The fact is that the Quran condemns our belief in God as He reveals Himself to be. The Quran says we are blasphemers and calls down punishment upon those who accept the Divinity of Christ and the teaching of the Blessed Trinity. We need to make the stark and shocking distinctions between our opposing views of God clear. It does not serve Catholics or Muslims if we present only part of that truth we believe.
Father, I will understand if you do not print this. It perhaps would not be proper to do so. I looked for a personal email address for you, but could not find one. It is not my intent to dispute with you publicly. I just wanted to express my concerns to you personally.
Robert,
ReplyDeleteExcellent questions!
The Church does not believe that the Koran is an inspired book. There may be places in the Koran that agree with the Bible and then we can say that the Koran has it right.
The Church is claiming nothing more than that Muslims are an Abrahamic religion. Nothing more.
Anon., you are confusing theological beliefs ABOUT God with belief IN God.
ReplyDeleteThe Church has no problem with saying that 99.9% of Muslim beliefs about God are wrong. However, they do believe in the same God that we do.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteIf you are describing an apple and I'm describing an orange, then we are obviously describing very different things.
I can describe an orange as tart and you can describe it as sweet. I can argue that oranges are toxic and you can argue that they are healthy.
That we have competing descriptions of oranges does not mean that we are describing different fruits.
Christianity and Buddhism have radically different objects of devotion. Christians and Hindus do not worship the same God.
Muslims and Christians do worship the same God, but we do so in very, very different ways. That we believe the Muslims to be mistaken on almost every theological point is no indication that they are worshiping an alien god.
Thank you for this post, Fr. Powell. Even before the 2nd Vatican Council and the documents to which you alluded, I was taught what you have presented about Muslims worshiping the same God as ourselves, and about salvation of all peoples being possible in Christ, and about how God, not we, decides who will attain heaven. Your way of presenting this is very good and reinforces what I had learned long ago.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this fantastic blog post, Father. So many people need to know Church teaching sans extreme interpretations, and I'm glad that you are among the priests who are not afraid to offer that.
ReplyDeleteFrom Letter XXI of Pope St. Gregory VII (†1085) to the (Muslim) King of Mauritania:
ReplyDelete"[F]or Almighty God, Who desires that all men shall be saved and that none shall perish, approves nothing more highly in us than this: that a man love his fellow man next to his God and do nothing to him which he would not that others should do to himself.
"This affection we and you owe to each other in a more peculiar way than to people of other races because we worship and confess the same God though in diverse forms and daily praise and adore Him as the creator and ruler of this world. For, in the words of the Apostle, 'He is our peace who hath made both one.'
"This grace granted to you by God is admired and praised by many of the Roman nobility who have learned from us of your benevolence and high qualities.[.. .]
"For God knows our true regard for you to his glory and how truly we desire your prosperity and honor, both in this life and in the life to come, and how earnestly we pray both with our lips and with our heart that God Himself, after the long journey of this life, may lead you into the bosom of the most holy patriarch Abraham.'