introduction

“Today, fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.”

President George Bush

“I beg God to sustain you and the American people in this hour of suffering and trial.”

Pope John Paul II

“This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair

“We are completely shocked. It’s unbelievable.”

Yasser Arafat

“I prayed for all the families and for all the people who died. But I’m afraid. If our sadness turns into violence, we’re going to turn out just like those bad people in the airplanes.”

Shirley Wepherhold (8-year-old girl lighting a candle in Union Square)

“Mohammed. Oh God! He is so decent, so shy and tender.”

The father of Mohammed Atta, a hijacker

“My family and I still wrestle with what has happened, but are comforted with the knowledge that a sovereign God is in control and that ‘God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.’ ” (I Corinthians 14: 33)

Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer who died on Flight 93

Coping in our modern world often is a matter of understanding complexity and the unthinkable. We seek clarity and simplicity, and are innately optimistic. Today, however, the modern world has assaulted our optimism to a point where we struggle to understand, or to cope. We have mechanisms that inflict destruction, and passion to use them, which are new to the world. Our response to such destruction often involves courses of action that are marked by moral ambiguity.

September 11, 2001 illustrates the complexity of coping that confronts us. We must come to terms with the “skill” required to embark on the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, the thousands of devastated lives, and the gargantuan task of responding appropriately. The temptation when confronted with such complexity is to resort to silence. Silence, at least, ensures that we avoid the platitudinous or fatuous. Yet silence also ensures that we do not start to grapple with the complexity. It makes it less likely that our subsequent actions will be considered and reflective. So it is, with some nervousness and trepidation, that the faculty of Hartford Seminary invites you to join a conversation about who we are and what is happening in our society after September 11.

When approaching complexity, we do so with humility and with a strong commitment to pluralism. This book promises no answers. Instead as you turn the pages, you are joining us on a journey to understand the events of September 11 and the aftermath. We come from different places to our task. One editor is a Christian; the other is a Muslim. Worshippers in different Christian denominations, as well as Muslims, are represented in these pages. Understanding the complexity surrounding September 11 requires us to understand the views of the Other. Many of the differences between contributors are painful and significant, but we all believe that it is important that we learn to engage with these painful disagreements. This book will invite you to hear those disagreements and participate in them.

We also are all theologians. We are utterly persuaded that at the heart of “understanding” is theology. Theology touches everything. As Christians and Muslims, we share a belief in a God who created and sustains everything that is. Many have asked where God was as the airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many have wondered about “true Islam” and how those who committed these acts could claim to be acting in the name of Allah. From all this arises the imperative to commit to dialogue and find constructive ways in which the strengths of our faith traditions might be used to alleviate the destructive tendencies of the traditions. There is much work for those of us who belong to religious traditions to persuade our fellow travelers of appropriate ways to join in dialogue in the modern world. And our religious traditions can enable us to consider the whole cluster of ethical questions that have arisen. Is the war just? How do we balance human rights and the need for security?

We do not promise to reflect on all your questions, but we do promise to make a beginning.

The opening chapter written by Heidi Gehman locates the fact of the tragedy and identifies some of the primary questions provoked by it. Gehman takes us back to H. Richard Niebuhr and his call for appropriate “reflection” in the context of war. Setting the scene for the tone of much that follows, Gehman raises the different questions and the difficult perspectives that need to be taken into consideration when thinking about September 11.

We then move to the first section of the book called the “Cultural and Social Context”. Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi’ provides a masterful survey of the Muslim world. He provides an important mapping article that helps us understand relations between the Muslim world and the West, identifying three major factors that have shaped the Muslim world: modernization, nationalism, and Islamic revivalism. Much of his chapter is descriptive, although as with all description there are significant implications.

We then move to the American context. Nancy T. Ammerman suggests that the United States’ response to September 11 illustrates the existence of social capital in America. She takes on the gloomier prognosis of Robert Putnam and others, who argue that American individualism has eroded social capital and demonstrates, decisively, that the reaction to September 11 shows a more positive view. In the same venue, Carl S. Dudley examines the devastating impact of September 11 upon welfare, philanthropy, and faith-based community ministries in the United States, suggesting several ways for congregations to adapt constructively to changed and challenging conditions.

The second section deals with the task of theological reflection. Ingrid Mattson sets the tone for Muslims. In addition to unequivocally condemning the terrorism, she also reflects upon the need for Islamic leaders who are grounded in the faith of Islam and willing to encourage both America to live up to the highest ethical ideals of justice and also Muslims to be equally willing to face up to injustice within their own community. She is calling for leadership grounded in faith.

Miriam Therese Winter reflects on the combination of patriotism and spirituality in a post-September 11 world. Located firmly in the New Physics (that demonstrates our fundamental interconnectedness), she argues that many of our reactions were spiritual. Her hope is that there is an emerging American spirituality that is constructed on such concepts as “spontaneity”, “generosity”, “hospitality”, “compassion”, “courage”, “community”, “adaptability”, and perhaps most surprisingly “patriotism.”

Kelton Cobb is a Christian theologian who confronts the violent strands that are found not only in Christianity, but also in Islam and Judaism. He suggests that contemporary Jewish attitudes to the non-Jew in Israel/Palestine and Islamic fears of a Zionist conspiracy feed on deeper underlying myths that are grounded in Scripture. He argues that admitting the extent of the problem is the first step to finding ways to ameliorate it.

The responsibility of theologians in advancing inter-religious relations in a post-September 11 world is taken up in the next two chapters from specialists in biblical studies. Efrain Agosto suggests that Christians should go back to Jesus and Paul. He finds in the ministry of Jesus and that of Paul a strong commitment to the marginalized and an insistence that we must work with others. Perhaps most significantly, Agosto argues that Jesus and Paul call for “humility” in our dealings with others and urges us to avoid the temptations of a violent response that can often obscure a fundamental hubris.

In a similar vein, Judy Fentress-Williams identifies a distinctively biblical argument for “dialogue.” It is an argument that should appeal to both Christians and Jews. For, argues Fentress-Williams, embedded in the structure of the Hebrew Bible narratives is a commitment to different viewpoints in conversation. Given that explicit commitments to “pluralism” and “dialogue” are not found in the Hebrew Bible and Christian scriptures, it is striking that the use of biblical criticism creates a resource that is so important. Both Agosto and Fentress-Williams have begun the task of helping the faith traditions (in this case Christian) to find resources, within their own traditions, for a positive attitude to the other.

Ian Markham takes up the theme of “dialogue” in his essay. He argues that September 11 illustrates the need to move from “surface” dialogue, which involves a polite interchange, to the “science” of dialogue, which involves a more rigorous examination of world perspective, cultural presupposition, and the various explanations for disagreement. He suggests that if you look at reactions to September 11 in the United States most fall into one of four positions: the first is the mainstream American interpretation – a struggle between democratic pluralism and totalitarian Islamism; the second is a pro-Jewish interpretation that stresses the parallels between September 11 for America and the continuing problem of terrorism within Israel; the third is a pro-Arab interpretation that concedes that nothing justifies September 11 but says that the context that evoked such anger needs to be taken into account; and the fourth is the fundamentalist, religious interpretation.

In the third section, “Broader Issues,” we start exploring the broader issues. At moments like this, the issue of the collection of data is especially important. We are already aware that our recollection of that vivid sense of shock is being displaced by the more mundane worries about the demise of big companies and the looming recession. Jack Ammerman provides a strong argument that there is an obligation on libraries to start “collecting ephemera,” otherwise such moments are not documented accurately. Even though the task of selecting appropriately is difficult, it is essential to try. Heidi Hadsell explores the particular problem of terrorism and civil rights. Mindful that many other parts of the world have not managed to get this balance, Hadsell provides a warning that it is important that Americans do not make the same mistake.

It is perhaps necessary to stress that no one of us represents Hartford Seminary. Each contributor is simply expressing his or her own views. We are all very aware of the differences among ourselves, but these are differences that we believe are important to articulate and explore together. We are inviting you to get annoyed with some contributions, agree, perhaps, with others, but most important of all, participate in taking seriously the issues that are so important as we learn to live in a world changed by September 11.

Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi‘ and Ian Markham

Editors