Christian Encounters with Iran: Engaging Muslim Thinkers after the Revolution

by Sasan Tavassoli

Overview

The interface between the current Shi'ite landscape and Christian thinking is of the greatest significance for the shifting political and religious dynamics of the Middle East. Sasan Tavassoli here examines Iranian Shi'ite thinkers' encounters with Christian thought since the Islamic revolution of 1979, and provides insight into the cultural and intellectual climate surrounding Christian-Muslim dialogue in contemporary Iran. The literature on Christianity in Iran reveals a wide range of approaches and attitudes, and Tavassoli demonstrates that traditional polemics are giving way to a more descriptive and subjective understanding of Christian thought. He also studies Muslim-Christian dialogue and research conducted and supported by governmental as well as non-governmental organizations, and offers a close examination, with interviews, of the work of three prominent liberal religious intellectuals - Abdol Karim Soroush, Mostafa Malekian and Mojtahed Shabestari.
Placing contemporary Shi'ite thought in the broad historical context of pre- and post-revolution Iran, Tavassoli relates concrete religious, cultural and socio-political realities to the themes and orientations in the latest phase of the Shi'i Islam-Christianity encounter, and offers fresh insight into the dynamism of contemporary Islam and the religious complexities of the Muslim world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857732316
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/30/2011
Series:	International Library of Iranian Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	524 KB

About the Author

Sasan Tavassoli received his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Birmingham. He was born and raised in a Shi'i Sufi home in Iran and is now a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Iran living in the United States.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
A Note on Translation, Romanization and Dates
Chapter 1: Iranian Shi'ite Thinkers and the Christian Faith: A Theological Perspective
Chapter 2: Factors in Muslim-Christian Intellectual Encounters and Dialogue in Contemporary Iranian Society
Chapter 3: Iranian Shi'ites and the Christian Faith: A Survey of Iranian Publications on Christianity
Chapter 4: Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Some Organizational Encounters
Chapter 5: Iranian Shi'ites and Christian Thought: A Look at Three Liberal Religious Intellectuals
Chapter 6: Iranian Shi'ites and the Christian Faith: Where Have They Come From and Where are They Heading?
Bibliography of Works in English
Bibliography of Works in Farsi

Editorial Reviews

"Dr. Sasan Tavassoli has made a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the modern history and emerging contemporary context for religion in Iran. He has placed our understanding of the relationship between Christianity and Iran on a new footing, as he seeks to account for the understanding and image of Christianity in wider Iranian-predominantly Shi'i Muslim-culture and religious thought, and enables us to understand Iranian society as one of the most intellectually dynamic societies in the Muslim world today. While the book is at its most straight forward an exploration of Iranian Shi'i theological engagement with Christian thought since the Islamic revolution of 1979, it also provides important insights, creatively undertaken with curiosity and commitment, into the encounter between the Christian and the Islamic traditions in the modern world." —Anthony O'Mahony, Heythrop College, University of London

"This book will add to our understanding of intellectual currents in present-day Iran. Focussing as it does on what may be called three levels of Iranian Muslim approaches towards Christianity, it offers a series of instructive insights into internal Iranian Muslim thinking, and shows that while public statements may appear to be disinterested in matters western and Christian and dismissive of them, this is far from the case in more reflective circles. With his Iranian background and Christian faith, Sasan Tavassoli is unusually well placed to give an accurate and informed exposition of what has been taking place in Iran in recent decades. His book deserves to be read by a wide readership, and it will hopefully contribute towards improving understanding between Western thinkers and Iranian intellectuals." —David Thomas, Professor of Christianity and Islam, School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham; editor of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

From the Publisher