Christian Prof. of USA evangelical Christian college pulled up for saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God
Dr. Larycia Hawkins, (tenured) Associate Prof. of Political Science at Wheaton College, Illinois, USA, said in her Facebook post on Dec. 11th 2015, https://www.facebook.com/larycia/posts/10153326773658481, "I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God." Note that Dr. Hawkins has stated in the words above that she is a Christian.
This post drew resistance from Wheaton college administrators as they felt it went against their statement of faith, http://www.wheaton.edu/About-Wheaton/Statement-of-Faith-and-Educational-Purpose, and so they put her on administrative paid leave from Dec. 15th 2015, "in order to give more time to explore theological implications of her recent public statements concerning Christianity and Islam". For more see Wheaton College Statement Regarding Dr. Larycia Hawkins, http://www.wheaton.edu/Media-Center/Media-Relations/Statements/Wheaton-College-Statement-Regarding-Dr-Hawkins.
Here's a Washington Post article on the matter, Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? College suspends professor who said yes., https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/16/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god-college-suspends-professor-who-said-yes/, dated Dec. 17th 2015.
And here's another Washington Post article which is an opinion piece by a theologian, and which is strongly critical of Wheaton College's decision, Wheaton professor’s suspension is about anti-Muslim bigotry, not theology, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/17/wheaton-professors-suspension-is-about-anti-muslim-bigotry-not-theology/, dated Dec. 17th 2015.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miroslav_Volf:
Miroslav Volf (born September 25, 1956) is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual who is touted in the preface of one of his books as "one of the most celebrated theologians of our day".
...
Volf currently serves as the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Prof. Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_L._Eck, seems to be supportive of Dr. Volf's article as she tweeted it with the words, "Theological Alert! Two Gods? Christian and Muslim? What is happening to theology!", https://twitter.com/DianaEck/status/677543734851018756.
Ravi: My initial view on the matter is that Wheaton's ENTIRE Statement of Faith, http://www.wheaton.edu/About-Wheaton/Statement-of-Faith-and-Educational-Purpose, seems to have many aspects which do not exactly fit in with the traditional Islamic faith. But then I am not a theologian and my view lacks a nuanced and proper understanding of the matter, especially in the context of Illinois state and the USA as a whole.
This post drew resistance from Wheaton college administrators as they felt it went against their statement of faith, http://www.wheaton.edu/About-Wheaton/Statement-of-Faith-and-Educational-Purpose, and so they put her on administrative paid leave from Dec. 15th 2015, "in order to give more time to explore theological implications of her recent public statements concerning Christianity and Islam". For more see Wheaton College Statement Regarding Dr. Larycia Hawkins, http://www.wheaton.edu/Media-Center/Media-Relations/Statements/Wheaton-College-Statement-Regarding-Dr-Hawkins.
Here's a Washington Post article on the matter, Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? College suspends professor who said yes., https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/16/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god-college-suspends-professor-who-said-yes/, dated Dec. 17th 2015.
And here's another Washington Post article which is an opinion piece by a theologian, and which is strongly critical of Wheaton College's decision, Wheaton professor’s suspension is about anti-Muslim bigotry, not theology, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/17/wheaton-professors-suspension-is-about-anti-muslim-bigotry-not-theology/, dated Dec. 17th 2015.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miroslav_Volf:
Miroslav Volf (born September 25, 1956) is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual who is touted in the preface of one of his books as "one of the most celebrated theologians of our day".
...
Volf currently serves as the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Prof. Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_L._Eck, seems to be supportive of Dr. Volf's article as she tweeted it with the words, "Theological Alert! Two Gods? Christian and Muslim? What is happening to theology!", https://twitter.com/DianaEck/status/677543734851018756.
Ravi: My initial view on the matter is that Wheaton's ENTIRE Statement of Faith, http://www.wheaton.edu/About-Wheaton/Statement-of-Faith-and-Educational-Purpose, seems to have many aspects which do not exactly fit in with the traditional Islamic faith. But then I am not a theologian and my view lacks a nuanced and proper understanding of the matter, especially in the context of Illinois state and the USA as a whole.
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