Islam and Global Dialogue: Religious Pluralism
and the Pursuit of Peace

Roger Boase, ed.
Ashgate: Hants, 2005

If there were ever a time that a book on religious pluralism and peace ought
to be required reading for politicians, public intellectuals, policymakers, and
the media, as well as a general audience, that time is now. Conceived as a
response to the excoriation of Islam after 9/11, Roger Boase has put together
a remarkable book on the need for interreligous dialogue as the only way to
“lay the foundations for a more peaceful world (p. xviii).” This need rever-
berates through each chapter, be it written by a Jewish, Christian, or Muslim
scholar. This means that, as in a symphony, even though each scholar writes
grounded in his/her own faith tradition (instrument), their collective voices
chorus the same song. It makes for very powerful reading.

The book is divided into three parts, with a foreword on the importance
of bridge building between cultures by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal, the
former crown prince of Jordan, a preface and an introduction by Boase, and
a postscript by author Wendell Berry on the failure of war as a way to secure
peace. After initially considering inviting scholars from all faith traditions to
contribute, Boase decided there was not space in a single volume to do this
in an adequate way. Therefore, the book focuses on contributions from
scholars from the three Abrahamic faith traditions: Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. He rightly says that this gives the book a tighter focus. Given the
importance of the West/Islamic civilizational divide these days, it is impor-
tant to have a book that focuses on these faith traditions. From a wider,
global perspective, though, this may limit its potentially positive impact
about the need for interreligous dialogue only to those readers who identify
with one of the three Abrahamic faiths. Muslims in China, for instance,
would need to appeal to whole different discourses in order to establish the
need for constructive Sino-Muslim dialogue for peace.

Part One, “Defining the Issue,” has articles from three scholars who try
to set the terms of the discourse: John Bowden talks about the Enlighten-

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ment’s ever-present backdrop and how its rational and critical approach to
religion has affected and engendered a modern need for religious dialogue.
On page 23, Diana Eck defines the different responses to the reality of reli-
gious diversity: exclusivism (our tradition is the one and only truth, excluding
all others), inclusivism (there are many traditions, but ours is the culmination
of or superior to all others), and pluralism (no one tradition has a monopoly
on truth, and we can learn from each other without giving up our own com-
mitments). Muhammad Legenhausen, a convert to Islam, theorizes a non-
reductive approach to religious pluralism from an Islamic perspective.

Part Two, “Islam and the West: Clash or Dialogue,” features three Mus-
lim and five non-Muslim scholarly responses that address, either directly or
indirectly, Huntington’s infamous “clash of civilizations” theory and the
tragic events of 9/11. Their overarching theme is that there is no essentialized
clash between “Islam” and “the West.” The concluding remarks of Robert
Dickson Crane, a convert to Islam, are echoed throughout by the various
authors: “Only through mutual self-understanding in interfaith dialogue can
we undergo the mutual transformation that expands our own identity, and
only through such transformation can we successfully promote mutual coop-
eration as a catalyst for justice (p. 177).” Part Three, “Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim Responses to Religious Diversity,” features two Jewish, two Chris-
tian, and four Muslim responses exploring what it means to be committed
adherents to their own faith tradition while seeking to respect those of other
faith traditions or how, in the words of Anglican vicar Marcus Braybrooke, to
“learn to see members of other faiths as fellow pilgrims” while remaining a
“witness to one’s experience of divine mercy (p. 225).”

Thirteen of the twenty essays are reprints from earlier publications or
lectures. In general this works well, although I felt that the section on “Islam
and the West” had too many reprints. A lot has happened since those essays
were first published, and I had a sense, albeit ever so slight, that some of
them were dated, especially those that were originally written in the imme-
diate aftermath of 9/11 – an event that, incredible as it may seem, five years
later has subsequently been overshadowed by other crises, such as the war
on Iraq, the 2006 Danish cartoon controversy, and the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon, to name but a few. 

Having said that, I can see how hard it would have been for Boase to cut
any chapter. As I read each chapter, I thought to myself that “this is the best
chapter of the book.” Dealing with religious pluralism, a topic that touches
the most important facets of life (e.g., the big questions about “Why am I
here?” and “What’s it all about?”), the book has a depth to it that is profound
and moving. And given that Islam has become widely perceived as a reli-

Book Reviews 121



gion of hate and intolerance, a volume such as this one, which highlights
Islam’s positive contribution to interfaith dialogue, is exceedingly important. 

Katherine Bullock
AJISS Editor

Missassagua, Ontario, Canada

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