J.R. Briggs

Christianity & World Religions

April 13, 2010

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This week marks the beginning of the Spring semester at Biblical Seminary where I’m working towards a Masters of Missional Theology. Due to an already overloaded schedule, I’m only capable of taking one class per semester. Yeah. It’s taking me a while (did I hear a niner in there?), however slowly but surely I’m chipping away at it and it looks like I’m scheduled to finish some time next year.

This semester’s course is Christianity and World Religions. (Click here to see the syllabus). I’m really excited initially by the course description because its quite pertinent to my life and my vocation. Much of what I do as a pastor is interact with either (a) people of other religions or (b) people who ask questions about Jesus and Christianity and how they compare with other world religions.

In college I spent a month serving in India visiting several Hindu temples. A few years ago Megan and I visited with some missionary friends of ours in Thailand. We visited several Buddhist temples and participated in a fascinating experience called “Monk Chat” where a local temple places monks sit at picnic tables and tourists are invited to sit and ask questions about Buddhism.

In college I lived and studied in Jerusalem – the birthplace of three world religions and the epicenter of religious controversy for thousands of years. The entire semester – with its experiences and relationships with Jewish Pharisees, Muslim shopkeepers, Palestinian Christians and one of my professors who was a rabbi – was one long question of “Is there only one way to God and if so, how do we know?”

In my role as a pastor at Renew, we host doubt::nights and one of the questions that comes up almost every time is: “So, how do we know that Christianity is the only way to God? What about the other world religions?” It’s a great question our culture is asking and it ain’t going away any time soon…

I also have been having some fascinating conversations with my friend Mohammed, who is the Imam (spiritual leader) of the mosque in our community. We’ve talked on more than one occasion about the Prophet Isa (Jesus) and what it means for him to be a good prophet.

A few months ago I was invited to have lunch with four college students – three of them Muslim – to discuss the basic tenets of Christianity. Over slices of pepperoni pizza we discussed Jesus and Christianity and the similarities & differences between Mohammed and Islam. The main point of discussion during lunch: Is there only one way to God?

I regularly encounter individuals who know that I am a pastor and usually ask a question something along the lines of: “You don’t really think that Christianity is the only way to God, do you? That sounds a bit arrogant to make such a claim, don’t you think? How can you be so certain about that claim?”

I anticipate that this semester won’t be one where I’ll simply be asking the question, “What do I need to do to get a good grade on this paper/project?” I sense that this will run much deeper that mere grades. At least that’s what I’m praying will happen.

Yes, I believe that Jesus is the only way to a right standing relationship with God the Creator, but I want to learn from other people and other world religions in order to engage intelligently, humbly, compassionately and compellingly in the faith conversation. I want this to be a semester of listening and learning – deep learning that goes much farther than the text books.

I’m going to try to blog my way through some of the class notes and material and sharing my own personal reflections on what I’m learning.

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