Category Image Drawn to Islam


Elements of the blogosphere have been quite lit up over the recent story of an Episcopal priest who is also a practicing Muslim. I'll let other folks run the debate over whether its accurate for someone to consider themselves both Christian and Muslim, or whether the Episcopal heirarchy should do anything about this situation.

What struck me was the description of those things that drew Redding to Islam. It's important to note that Mohammed's wife's uncle was a Christian Monk (although an Arian , which explains how Islam ended up so staunchly anti-Trinitarian), because all of the things that Redding noted drew her to Islam appear to have been lifted from Christianity in the first place. Let's take them one by one.

As he dropped to his knees and stretched forward against the floor, it seemed to her that his whole body was involved in surrendering to God.

This is what's known as a prostration . It is as significant of an experience as she indicates. When we were recently at a kneeling vespers, I did the best prostration I could - with my bad knees, and it was very fulfilling to do so.

another Muslim leader taught a chanted prayer and led a meditation on opening one's heart. The chanting appealed to the singer in Redding

I'm not familiar with modern day Islamic Chant, but chanting has always been a significant part of Orthodox worship. Were the prayer services of Islam influenced by the prayer services of the Orthodox Christian world that surrounded Mohammed? I don't know, but I have my suspicions. Regardless, the chanting in the Orthodox tradition is extremely beautiful and rich, and as a singer (and pre-novice chanter), it does speak to me - regardless of whether you're discussing Byzantine or Russian (though I admit to a preference for Byzantine).

In Seattle's Episcopal circles, Redding had mixed largely with white people. "To walk into Al-Islam and be reminded that there are more people of color in the world than white people, that in itself is a relief,"

That the Episcopal Church in the U.S. is going to predominantly be populated by whites is hardly a surprise, given that it has historically been a principally English Church. Of course, we now see a growing number of African congregations in the U.S., as Anglicanism is, at least numerically, a predominantly African denomination (or at least I think we're at that point). At any rate, within the wider world of Christianity, and especially Orthodoxy is very much multi-ethnic.

She found the discipline of praying five times a day — one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims are supposed to follow — gave her the deep sense of connection with God that she yearned for.

Its interesting that historically, Christianity had 5 prayer hours, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers, as well as two other prayer times, Compline and Matins/Lauds, taking you to 7 times a day for prayer (as the Psalmist said , seven times a day do I praise you). Today, in at least the Orthodox monasteries I know of in the U.S., prayer hours are grouped together, and the Liturgy is celebrated every day, so you end up with fewer, but much longer prayer periods. For the laity, Orthodox prayer books have prayers for the hours of the day (here's one I have in my office). Now I grant you that people don't assemble at the Church any more for these hours, which is unfortunate, but the practice still exists.

The reason I find all this interesting, then, is that all of her reasons for becoming Muslim, or at least most of her reasons, center on practices that indicate both the seriousness with which Islam takes worship, and the beauty and richness of that worship. I understand that appeal, for my wife has made the comment several times about how Orthodoxy just makes sense - how all of the time spent in worship, how the beauty of that worship all just makes sense when you are talking about your relationship with the Creator. So, while Redding does state that she has had difficulty accepting Jesus' divinity, her real issues are a lack of depth and beauty in the Christianity she had come to know.

I would not be surprised to learn that growing up she never experienced chanting in an Anglican service. At the risk of offending one blogger I know, I do have to say that even if she had, Anglican chant pales in comparison to well done Byzantine. However, it is quite beautiful, and would have spoken to the singer in her.

I would also not be surprised if she knew of no other service than Sunday Morning Prayer beyond the Eucharist. Daily services, or the notion of frequent daily prayer is relatively unknown as a spiritual discipline in modern, especially non-AngloCatholic, Anglicanism. The practice is hardly gone, but it is practiced by precious few. There's even a wonderful Breviary that has everything you need to pray the seven hours. However, as the Episcopal Church continued its drift from the ancient traditions, this practice, too has been lost.

I don't think Redding felt drawn to Islam strictly because of these externals, but rather the externals spoke to her of a faith with some depth to it. If you survey the field of modern spirituality you find many attempts at introducing non-Christian spiritual activities to Christianity. The reason these activities are added is because most modern Christianity has little spiritual depth. You show up for Church on Sunday, go to coffee hour, then go home. All done. When people seek more depth, they feel that it needs to be invented. From John Ortberg's "invention" of sleep as a spiritual discipline, to transcendental meditation, soaking prayer, and various other modern phenomena, we can perceive a hunger on the part of many Christians. At the least, these people are reinventing the wheel, at worst they leave Christianity for something else.

What the bloggers, especially the Orthodox ones, need to do, is realize the opportunity here. When people like Redding feel drawn to a more extensive prayer life, or to a deeper expression of worship, they shouldn't have to go looking at other religions. They need to understand that all of that is, and always has been, part of Christianity. When Redding (who appears to be single) feels the need to surrender her life, the answer isn't Islam, but perhaps monasticism. We need to realize that evangelism shouldn't always focus on theological arguments, but should focus on presenting the whole faith - and especially its practice. I think that this will resonate with a great many people, and perhaps help them to avoid making the mistake that Redding has.

Posted: Tuesday - June 19, 2007 at 07:58 PM          

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