Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community, by Deanna Ferree Womack.

Abstract

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community comes at a pivotal moment as the year 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001. Since those devastating attacks, anti-Muslim hate crime has continued to burgeon, and tensions between Christians and Muslims have escalated to new heights. This has led Islamophobia to dictate and distort American Christians’ views in misunderstanding and mistreating their Muslim neighbors. As author Deanna Ferree Womack puts it, “lives are at stake” (2). She calls to Christians in the United States that now is the time “to be the neighbors Christ called us to be, to start building Christian–Muslim community” (xi).As such, Womack presents a guidebook for American Christians of diverse backgrounds who desire to learn more about their Muslim neighbors in the local, national, and global community. Neighbors is an intricate combination of historical, theological, and practical approaches that reflect on the story of how Christians and Muslims have related to one another in the past, confront the ongoing struggles in the present, and envision a better future for Christian–Muslim relations. Not only does her work aim to provide book knowledge on Islam, but also her pedagogy encourages readers to be proactive by approaching religions as living faiths, to be self-reflective, and to take steps in supporting Muslim neighbors. Womack undertakes this task in three sections: “When Our Neighbors Have a Different Religion,” “Christian–Muslim Encounters,” and “From Neighborly Commitment to Working Together.”The first section begins by providing a reality check about the growing multifaith society of the United States, which is projected to grow dramatically by 2050. “American Christians,” Womack writes, “should expect more opportunities to meet people of other faiths” (13). In addressing this pluralistic reality, Womack proposes that Christians should reflect on the notion of being Christ’s “witness” in pursuing meaningful interfaith engagements, as doing so indicates someone who “points to what they understand to be the truth” (24). Womack also highlights three models of interreligious engagements and argues that in today’s context interreligious dialogue prioritizes differences and pursues deeper intellectual engagement than just simply emphasizing commonalities.The second section explores the history of Christian–Muslim relations in the Middle East and takes a deep dive into understanding Islam in America. Womack problematizes the common stereotype that Christians and Muslims have always been in conflict by highlighting Christian–Muslim collaborations throughout history, for example, how Christian, Muslim, and Jewish intellectuals “worked interreligiously to spur social development within the wider Syrian community” (62) during the Arab Renaissance. In retracing the history of Islam in America, Womack argues that Islam is not a recent phenomenon, but rather it is an American religion that has been present since before the Civil War and has also evolved as a platform in voicing the racist injustices of African Americans. Consequently, the growing diversity among Muslims has also led to different ways of being Muslim in the United States, from the “social activists” who envision Islam as a source of addressing social inequalities to the “homeland homesick” who form small ethnic Muslim communities.Section 3 emphasizes the participatory praxis of interreligious dialogue through cultivating interfaith awareness. Womack utilizes an ethnographic approach in examining the lived experiences of Muslims today and the challenges that negative media representations of Islam and misconceptions about Muslim women have had on Christian–Muslim relations. In this section, Womack’s model of interreligious awareness is noteworthy, as it can be used as a framework for reflexivity to identify how one responds to religious differences and to “move toward higher stages of interreligious awareness and away from confrontational responses” (120). The closing chapter offers resources, such as the “Dos and Don’ts” in Christian–Muslim dialogue, and steps for fostering positive interfaith relations.Neighbors offers a compelling vision for dialogue and promising partnership between Christian and Muslim communities. The afterword by Roshan Iqbal, a female Muslim scholar, speaks volumes as she writes that this book is not only relevant for Christians, but “important to me personally and to my whole community as well” (146). Womack, with her extensive knowledge and expertise in Christian–Muslim initiatives, has created a guide jampacked with a wealth of information and the right tools for interfaith communication. Along with the reflection questions at the beginning of each chapter, readers should utilize the resourceful group discussion guide at the end. With this book as their guide, readers—whether they are a church layperson, pastor, and other Christian—will be better equipped to engage in deeper interfaith reflections and meaningful interreligious dialogue with their Muslim neighbors.