As is well known, in our post-modern world, which has become a "global village" where religious and cultural pluralism seem an inescapable reality, we are witnessing the beginning of a new age in relationships between Christians and non-Christians in general and Muslims in particular. A number of significant factors have contributed to this development, among them an explosion of knowledge in the West about non-Christian religions, developments in the scientific study of religion, and personal contacts between Christians and non-Christians due to travel opportunities and massive immigration from East to West.1 

The religious life of mankind from now on, if it is to be lived at all, will be lived in the context of religious pluralism. This is true for all: not only for humankind in general on an abstract level, but for each as individual persons. No longer are people of other persuasions peripheral or distant, the idle curiosity of travellers’ tales. The more alert we are, and the more involved in life, the more we find that they are our neighbours, our colleagues, our competitors, our fellows. Confucians and Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims are with us not only in the United Nations, but down the street. Increasingly, not only is the destiny of our civilisation affected by their actions; but we drink coffee with them personally as well.2 

 

- If God is the Creator and Father of all, can God have provided true religion only for a chosen minority?3 

Parallel to these official developments, more and more leading individual Christian thinkers have begun to be interested in the relationship between Christians and non-Christians in general and Muslims in particular. Their studies have focused both on the leading figures and teachings of non-Christian religions, and on the relationship between Christians and other religions. Some have gone as far as to say that a Christian theology which develops without taking into account the challenge of world religions will no longer be a credible theology.4 

The topic for this study is Western Christian theological understanding of Islam in the post-Vatican II period. Our primary aim as a Muslim student of dialogue is to study and evaluate the Western Christian dialogue initiatives both institutionally and individually. In so doing, we also pursue the question of whether a meaningful and productive theological dialogue between Christians and Muslims can be possible. By the term theological dialogue, we mean how Christians may seek officially and individually to explain the contemporary meaning of their own religious traditions in relation to the intellectual and theological challenges made by other religious traditions in the process of dialogue.5 

There are a number of reasons for choosing this topic. The first is that we have noticed that almost all researchers who have been interested in this topic have studied either only the official dialogue initiatives of the major churches6  or the pattern in Christian theology related to other religions by classifying these patterns into theological types.7  None of them has studied the issue by taking into account both the official and individual dialogue initiatives of Western Christians.

The second reason is that in a situation in which the future of our world depends on "peace among the various religions"8  in general and on establishing better relations between Christians and Muslims in particular, Muslims are still hesitant with regard to the nature of dialogue. Although there are a number of reasons for this uncertainty,9  it seems that the main one is that as far as we know there is no study from the Muslim side which examines Christian dialogue initiatives. By carrying out this study, we want to encourage Muslims to study and evaluate Christian dialogue initiatives more deeply in order to get to know their dialogue partners. We believe that this is the best way to remove Muslim hesitancy and create an equal dialogue environment between Christians and Muslims.

With regard to the scope of our study, as the title indicates there are three main intentions. Firstly, our research covers the period from the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1964, to the present day. The reason for taking this as a starting point is that, for the first time in the history of Christianity, in this Council, non-Christian religions were officially considered as entities which Christians should respect and seek to discover. Secondly, we focus our attention on Western Christian perceptions although we are aware of the different attitudes among Africans and Asians. Thirdly, we concentrate upon documents, statements and reports published by the official bodies of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, and the published writings of leading individual thinkers. Fourthly, we limit our discussion in the Second Part to three particular issues, the status of the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad and the person of Jesus. The reason for this is that although there are other theological questions which need to be studied and discussed in order to reach a deeper harmony and comprehension between Christians and Muslims,10  these topics have been among the leading subjects of Christian apologetics and polemics with regard to Islam from the advent of Islam to the present day. There is also a language limitation. In our research, we have restricted ourselves to examine only those sources produced in English. The reason for this is that most of the major sources are available in English and English translation, and so permit this study to be carried out with ease.

As a Turkish Muslim student of dialogue whose government wants to be a member of the European Union, we believe that the study of Western Christian perceptions of Muslims has special importance. As is well known, after the collapse of the Cold War, Islam has often been portrayed as a new threat to the West. For example, the civilizational approach of the American analyst, Samuel P. Huntington, divides the world into the "West" and the "rest".11  His presentation of Islam as a new threat for the West draws parallels with the Crusades, and latches onto a vision of the mad Muslim already etched in popular minds.12 

In this respect, when Turkey applied to join the European Union, the medieval image of the Turks reappeared in the minds of some Western people who argued that Turkish people have no place in Europe because of their Islamic identity and culture. However, some circles in Europe and Turkey consider this Islamic background of Turkey as an advantage, since the Turkish Islamic mentality could be a means for peace between Muslims and others.13  In subscribing to this last point we suggest that by accepting Turkey into the European Union, the Christian West might show its own sincerity about entering into dialogue with Muslims. In this context, we believe that this study will help to show Muslims that the European Union is not necessarily a Christian club, and that they should not fear that they may be excluded because of their religious persuasion.

In carrying out this study, we are well aware that there are many ways of causing offence to the dialogue partner. For example, it can be argued that such terms as "non-Christian", "non-Muslim" or "people of other faiths" cause offence to the dialogue partner because they identify others in terms of what they are not.14  However, although we are aware of this risk, we do use these terms because they have been widely used in the documents, statements and writings which we have considered.