Scriptures in Dialogue

In April 2003, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a group of twenty-five leading Christian and Muslim scholars for three days of theological dialogue. Scriptures in Dialogue presents a record of this seminar, held in Doha at the invitation of the Amir of Qatar. The focus of this gathering was the intensive study of passages from the Qur'an and the Bible. Combining scholarship at the highest level with commitment to the practice of their faiths in the modern world, the participants addressed questions such as discernment of the Word of God, the place of women in their believing communities, and making space for the religious 'Other'. -The texts displayed on the cover both relate to Abraham. The Quranic text is from serrat af-Bacpra; the New Testament text is from St Paul's letter to the Romans. At a time when the world's attention was fixed on the conflict in Iraq, this inter faith gathering was also a hopeful sign of the deepening of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims which is so important for both faith communities today. Scriptures in Dialogue is a successor volume to The Road Ahead (Church House Publishing, 2002), the record of an earlier Christian-Muslim seminar held at Lambeth Palace in January 2002.