Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community (

by Deanna Ferree Womack

For a long time, American Christians have been hearing a story about Islam. It's a story about conflict and hostility, about foreigners and strangers. At the heart of this story is a fundamental incompatibility between the two religions going all the way back to their original encounters. According to that story, the only valid Christian response to Islam is resistance.

But it's time to tell a different--and truer--story. Christians and Muslims have not always fought or lived in fear of each other. Christian communities in majority-Muslim countries have coexisted with their Muslim neighbors for centuries. More importantly, Muslims have been part of the American story from its beginning. And like their Christian neighbors, Muslims want to make the community in which they live a better place for all citizens. In Neighbors, Deanna Ferree Womack lays the groundwork for members of the two religions to understand, converse, and cooperate with each another. With models for cultivating empathy and interfaith awareness, Christians can move from neighborly intention to real dialogue and common action with Muslims in the United States.

180 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 2020

Reviews

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a Christian, as I am, what do you think of Islam as a religion and Muslims as followers of that religion? What do you know about Islam? Where do you get your information? Do you know any Muslims? If you do Muslims, do you consider them to be friends? When I was growing up, as far as I remember, I didn't have any personal encounters with Muslims. Muslims were foreign, different, maybe even scary. Being a sports fan I, of course, knew about Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. But for the most part, my views of Muslims were based on stereotypes. I wasn't alone then, and my experiences are still common. Although the number of Muslims in America is rising, still great numbers of American Christians have had little or no contact with Muslims. That means that many Christians form their opinions about Muslims based on TV, movies, and political rhetoric. Muslims are considered dangerous. They're terrorists who are trying to infiltrate our country. Over the last two decades of come to develop friendships with Muslims, and thus my views have changed dramatically. I'm still learning, but I'm grateful for friends who have taught me much about Islam and friendship.

If we're to build relationships with persons of a faith different from our own, we need to understand that faith. We need good resources that can help us prepare for these encounters. Deanna Ferree Womack offers us one such resource in her book "Neighbors." Womack is a Presbyterian minister and assistant professor of history of religion and multifaith relations at Emory University. She has created a thoughtful, informative, fact-based, book that can be used by congregations who wish to understand Islam, its place in the United States, and find ways of building relationships with Muslims. While this book focuses on the Christian-Muslim relationship, it can serve as a primer for other interfaith encounters. The guidance she offers here about understanding history, culture, and religious beliefs and practices will work just as well in preparation for encounters with Hindus and Buddhists. You will have to go elsewhere to get information about those faith traditions, but the approaches described here will work elsewhere.

I appreciate the fact that Womack mass a distinction between interfaith/interreligious and multi-faith. Interfaith speaks to relationships between faith/religious communities. We do interfaith dialog, for instance. We live, however, in a multifaith society. It might be a majority Christian nation, but Christianity is not the only religion present in the United States. When it comes to dialogue, she understands this to be a practice of positive "relationships through face-to-face interaction" (p. 3). While book knowledge is helpful, the goal of the book is to move Christians toward face to face encounters.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 is composed of three chapters focusing on "when our neighbors have a different religion." Chapter 1 offers an overview of religious diversity in the United States. Chapter 2 suggests that "God calls us to engage with our Muslim neighbors." We are called to be Christ's witnesses, so how might we go about this? Part of this conversation has to do with our fears. Chapter 3 focuses on changing our minds about other religions. Here she wants to move us from the old model of confrontation to collaboration. That requires doing some historical work and then discovering something about these other faiths. What doe they believe and what do they practice? For Muslim-Christian interaction, how do we differ and what might we share in common? In fact, as Abrahamic religions do we worship the same God? One thing that is important here is that progress requires us to not only look at where we are the same but also where we differ.

Part 2 helps us move forward on this path. Here she focuses on Christian-Muslim Encounters. There is a chapter on Christian life in the Islamic Middle East. Yes, there are Christians living in the Middle East, and while things have gotten difficult in the past several decades there is a long history of Christian-Muslim relationships in the region. There is another chapter (chapter 5) that takes us on a tour of the "deep roots of Islam in America." It's good to remember that Islam has been present here since the earliest days of colonization. The majority of early Muslims were slaves from West Africa. Their religion was suppressed, but it was present. There is a long history of Islam within the African-American community. There were immigrants from Syria early in the 20th century, and since 1965 immigration laws have allowed Muslims from around the world to move here. They might be from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and many other nations. Part 2 closes with a chapter on American Muslims Today. You might find the section on the Muslim Ms. Marvel illuminating. The important thing here is to understand that Islam, like Christianity, isn't monolithic. There are different branches and different cultural contexts. Some women wear the hijab and others don't.

Everything that Womack presents in parts 1 and 2 are leading us to the practical focus of Part 3, which takes us "From Neighborly Commitment to Working Together." This is the action part of the book. Chapter 7 is titled "Opening Our Ears to Muslim Neighbors." Here the focus is on getting to know our neighbors. This involves changing our minds about our neighbors, about getting the facts straight, about addressing biases and assumptions. Chapter 8 focuses on "Cultivating Interfaith Awareness." In this chapter, she lays out the foundations of dialogue. She notes that one model is confrontation, but it is polarizing. Instead, she suggests we look at collaboration, exploring differences, and sharing a world view. These are more productive models that can help lead to interfaith sympathy. Another way of putting this is moving from a monoreligious mindset to an interreligious mindset. This involves moving from denial/avoidance, defense/confrontation on to minimization of difference (collaboration/sympathy), and then more productively to acceptance of differences and building empathy, onward to adaptation (empathy) where we can move naturally in more than one religious context (such as participating in the religious services of another religion, such as Friday prayers, and finally to integration (the interreligious self). This last stage is difficult to get to as it essentially involves religious hybridity. Nevertheless being in the zone from minimization to integration is, according to Womack the "zone of positive engagement." the final chapter in this section is titles REsources for Building Community." She offers a series of next steps that focus on building relationships. She offers examples of dialogue initiatives and a series of dos and don'ts (that's always helpful). She addresses common questions such as what happens if you get something wrong. The key is to prepare beforehand, but apologize if you get things wrong! There are recommended readings and a listing of organizations that offer opportunities for interfaith and Muslim-Christian engagement. It's not a complete list, but its a start.

The afterword is written by Roshan Iqbal, a Pakistani-American woman, and professor of Islamic studies at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. Iqbal provides a helpful concluding word to the book, offering a Muslim perspective. In this afterword, she addresses the idea of "Orientalism" that Edward Said identified years ago, a perspective that tends to bias views of Islam and the Middle East. She reminds us that not all brown people are the same. She also recommends doing two things, if you can -- participate in an iftar dinner (I agree) during Ramadan and to attend Friday prayers, doing so will give you a better sense of what Muslims are up to! Iftar dinners are especially great opportunities to build relationships.

The book offers a helpful glossary of Arabic terms and a timeline of early Islam and Islamic empires. Most helpful is a study guide that can be used by congregations to work through the book. Again, the goal here is not mere book knowledge, but preparation for building community between Christians and Muslims. Since I believe strongly in this task, I believe this book can be of great assistance in that project. In our day, when Islamophobia is on the rise, this is very important.


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[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick glance between my name and the author of this text will tell you just about all you need to know on the surface. Deanna is my wife or perhaps more appropriately, I am her husband. But this fact doesn't diminish my review. Yes, I have a bias here but just read her book on building community with our Muslim neighbors and you'll agree with my rating.

Deanna spends the first several chapters explaining the history of Muslims in America and our historical interactions as a foundation for understanding Muslims in America today. She then goes on to offer examples of everyday Muslim life (spoiler alert, it's not much different than yours or mine) and then leaves severals chapters of guidance on how to most helpfully build relationships. It's great writing and thoughtful. It causes the reader to reflect inward with the goal of reaching outward.

The final personal note is this one: My wife is the kindest and most thoughtful person I know. She truly cares about building community and breaking down walls. She wrote this book because she has the largest heart one can possibly have. I hope you will get the chance to meet her after you read her book. You'll love her (and the book!), too.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this (my professor’s) book for my A-Term on Christian-Muslim Dialogues. Very easy to read, infinitely practical, with some thought-provoking elements of self-reflection built in to the text.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community by Deanna F. Womack is a valuable book I will likely pass on to friends and families to read. It provides helpful background information and tools for Christians interested in developing or strengthening Muslim-Christian relations. The book is divided into three parts. The first part gives readers reasons why Muslim-Christian relations should be something Christians pursue. The second provides a relevant history of Muslims in America and sets the stage for what life is like now for Muslims in America. In the third part, Womack offers practical tools and guidelines to begin building positive relationships with Muslim neighbors. Throughout the book, she highlights the importance of moving from seeing Muslims as statistics to seeing them as neighbors and friends.

In the first part of this book, Womack introduces Muslim-Christian relations and the significance of such relations in American society today. She presents the reader with reasons why Muslim-Christian relations are necessary and important for Christians to pursue in America today. Womack backs this view up from both a secular and Christian perspective. The first chapter discusses diversity in America and emphasizes the necessity for positive Muslim-Christian relations. The second chapter, however, provides biblical reasoning for why Muslim-Christian relations should be pursued by Christians. She closes the section by exploring how Christians have viewed Muslims throughout history and discussing various views on interfaith relations.

The second part of the book provides readers with a deeper understanding of Muslims, particularly Muslims in America. In this section, Womack debunks common stereotypes about Muslims. She also makes an important distinction between Muslims’ religion and cultural/ethnic background. This is an important distinction to make when discussing American Muslims because of the diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds of American Muslims.

The third and final section of Neighbors discusses ways for Christians to build positive relationships with Muslim neighbors. The three basic steps Womack suggests are (1) change your thinking about religions from abstract principles to individual people of different faiths; (2) consider your attitude, be self-reflective and open to learning from people of other faiths; and (3) take action, build interfaith friendships, and find ways to support Muslim friends. Within each of these categories, Womack equips the reader with strategies to effectively master each step. Overall, this book is an excellent tool for Christians to learn more about Muslims in America and how to build positive relationships with Muslim neighbors.

In regards to Muslim-Christian relations, this book highlighted to me how much work has to be done within individuals before even going out and meeting Muslims. There is a lot of self-reflection and skill-learning involved before the relationship-building. This is important to recognize as an interfaith leader especially. It is a reminder that there is a significant amount of intrafaith work that is necessary for effective interfaith work. Muslim-Christian relations have a long way to go in America, but this book is a good start for Christians to begin to develop the desire and the skills necessary to building positive relationships with Muslims. Overall, Neighbors is a tool Christians should utilize to help prepare them to develop positive relationships with their Muslim neighbors.

[Debra Southern]

In the Introduction the authors writes; “We Christians and Muslims in the United States find ourselves at a turning point. We can either talk to and learn from one another, or we can slide into yet more fear, distrust, and division. Positive things have come from the increasing diversity of our country, things like conversation about what we share as worshipers of the God of Abraham.” The author goes on to identify the multiple religions. Their historical impact on America, starting from the beginning up until recently. It is filled with historical and geographical details, of the Muslim, Islamic, Jewish, and Christian religion. But it’s important to understand our commonalities and differences in order to appreciate each other’s culture and to get along. In the beginning of each chapter, there are questions to answer (for personal insight), so you may form a connection with the information ahead. This book is not an fast easy read. There is much to absorb.

[Israa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. This book is a prime example of what unbiased, balanced, factual, reflective, and helpful education should be. It targets an audience of all denominations of Christianity in America, but I can even recommend this book to Jewish and Muslim leaders of houses of worship across America. I was happy that the book is not heavily laden with quotes from holy texts. It IS heavy on history, facts, and discussion needed to determine the causes of Islamaphobia and hate. This book is full of overcoming fears, hope, peace, and above all, love. The statistics are references, well-researched, timely, and relevant. The added graphs and maps are helpful, albeit black-and-white. The self-reflection questions for each chapter can easily be role-switched, so anyone of any faith can use them and examine any self-bias. All houses of worship should have a copy, so that as a nation, we can make American neighborhoods places of progress and freedom of religion.

[Nate Duriga · Rating 3 out of 5]

For an American context, this has lots of practical advice on how to get started Christian-Muslim dialogue, and presents the range of ways this can happen according to the people and communities involved. It also provides helpful perspective on historical and contemporary Muslim presence in the U.S., debunking some stereotypes.

Evangelical readers like me will find it thin on theological grounding for engaging in Christian-Muslim relations, with arguments at times bordering on pluralism. Since Evangelicals generally aren't motivated without a strong biblical/theological basis, the book pretty much missed that audience, which is disappointing.