This is an instance when the author of a book is uniquely qualified to write it: Christopher Leighton is the retired founding director of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, Jewish Studies (ICJS) in Baltimore, Maryland, a position he held for 33 years.
The Baltimore Institute has been a leading institution in the United States for Jewish-Christian relations for a half-century. In the second half of the book, Leighton tells the story of how, after 9/11, it evolved from a focus on Jewish-Christian relations only, to encompass all three of the large Abrahamic traditions.
PBS watchers who remember Bill Moyers will enjoy chapter 10 recalling his “Genesis Project.” Rabbis, interfaith scholars, and all who are passionate about Jewish-Christian relations will appreciate the retrospective of chapter 11, “The Jewish Scholars Group and Dabru Emet,” about a publication signed by 220 rabbis and first published in September 2000. Leighton recalls, for instance, how “several Orthodox rabbis … were particularly at odds with the first affirmation of this statement: 'Jews and Christians worship the same God.' … [They] were scandalized by an assertion suggesting Christians also worship the God of Israel.”
Perhaps most importantly, starting in chapter 14, Leighton chronicles the evolution of the Baltimore Institute he led as it responded to America’s need for a broader interfaith understanding after the 9/11 attacks. As Leighton puts it, “Ignorance of Islam in America created a vacuum that distrust and hate quickly filled.”
This is a book about religion in the public square and the necessity of not just friendship but serious conversation between people of religious differences. This is what Leighton means by “sacred argument.” His book is full of theological subtleties and dialogues, missteps and even insults, and most of all, invaluable institutional memory. It should be essential reading for anyone convinced that religion is not going away and retains the power to divide us more than ever before.
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