In January 2014 I and some of my colleagues will be going to
Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey to speak about Jesus in the Christian
tradition with Muslim theologians. This is not the first foray of the
Muslim-Christian Dialogue center with symposia and conferences with overseas
Muslim scholars. Terry Nichols, Mike Hollerich and Bernie Brady met with Muslim
theologians in Qom, Iran this past summer and they ahd met previously with the
Iranian theologians in Rome. The Turkish theologians have also visited St.
Paul, Minnesota to discuss theological issues in the past.
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| Mary's House, Ephesus, Turkey. January 16, 2006. Photo: John W. Martens |
My task for this upcoming conference is to present a paper
on the New Testament picture(s) of Jesus, which I am busily working on right
now so that it can be translated into Turkish for January. My approach is going to be threefold. I will
first present aspects of Jesus’ humanity from the Gospels, based on a certain
number of passages so that we have concrete texts to discuss and not just
ideas. Second, I will focus will fall on Jesus’ death and resurrection. I will
contend that it was the actual experience of the risen Lord that lead first
century Jews who were monotheists to reconsider the nature of Jesus as not just
human but divine, though the actual nature of the relationship of Jesus to God
the Father is not worked out systematically in the New Testament. Finally, I
will concentrate on some passages which indicate that Jesus is not just spoken
of as divine, but that Christian prayer and worship even in the New Testament
is being offered to Jesus as divine being.
Here is a question for you: are there certain passages that
you think are essential to consider? I will be choosing passages from
throughout the New Testament, so the Gospels, Paul’s letters, the general
epistles, Hebrews, Acts, Revelation, are all in the discussion. I must limit
the number of passages I discuss, however, both in terms of presentation of my
paper and the subsequent discussion. The passages will fall into one of these
three categories: Jesus’ humanity; the resurrection as the turning point in
consideration of Jesus as divine; Jesus’ divinity as seen in prayer and worship
of the earliest Christians. What passages do you think are essential and must
be considered in this conversation with Muslim theologians? I will not mention
any passages that I am using or considering right now, though I admit it will
be hard to skip John 1 or Philippians 2:5-11, as examples, because I would love
to hear from you.
John W. Martens
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