THE SOUL OF EUROPE
HOPE IN A DARK TIME
LECTURE BY THE REVD DONALD REEVES
TUNIS JANUARY 17 TH 2007
In December 2004 I was invited to present a paper at the conference set up under the auspices of the Ben Ali Chair for promoting ‘dialogue of civilizations and religions’.
At the end of the paper I quoted some words from the Bible. They are from St Paul’s letter to the small struggling Christian community in Rome: ‘This God on whom Israel believes gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.’ (Chapter 4 Verse 17)
As a Christian, alongside my Jewish and Muslim friends I rest in the promises of God. The Bible confesses more than it understands and claims more than can ever be explained.
For ancient Israel the Bible tells story after story of a God who makes promises and keeps them in the most difficult situations. Thus St Paul’s words which I have just quoted refer to the story of Abraham and Sarah so old she could not have children, and yet…. Well, you know what happened. I rest in wonder and amazement at these stories of promise. ‘This God in whom Israel believes gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.’
This lecture explores the vision of ‘calling into existence the things that do not exist’. It will shape the contours of that hope for the world today, and hopefully illuminate those words of St Paul: a light piercing the darkness, heralding a new dawn.
Our dark time is best characterised as one of considerable economic, political and social turbulence – in two ways in particular.
The first has to do with the effects of climate change. A former World Bank economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, has recently published a study which warns the world that it faces multi-trillion pound costs if it does not more urgently act on climate change. The report argues that climate change will affect those least able to adapt. Africa is likely to be most affected. By 2080 estimates indicate falls in agricultural yield of up to 12%. (1)
This will increase the number of people at risk of starvation by tens of millions. It will trigger migration of an unimaginable scale towards other parts of the world. Europe is already beginning to experience the effect of such migrations.
This scenario presents Europe with a dilemma. There are already many questions being raised about ‘who these people are’ and ‘how many of them are among us’, questions which become pressing when it comes to the allocation of limited resources for education, health care and welfare. Such issues present a challenge to modern nation states which consider themselves sovereign and stable with a containable and accountable population. Global warming not only affects climate, it is changing the political, economic and social order of the whole world.
This scenario is not inevitable, but it, or something like it, is inevitable unless there is the will to address the underlying reluctance of the major economies in the world to move from competition to collaboration.
The second characteristic of turbulence emerges in our reaction to the events of 9/11 and then Madrid, Istanbul, London, Nairobi, Rihadh, Jakarta, Casablanca and Bali, not forgetting the 21 people who died in Djerba in April 2002 in this country.
The phenomenon of suicide bombers has been analysed frequently. Here I want to draw attention to the cumulative effect of their actions. They create a palpable fear of small numbers. Who are these people? We ask. Who arms and supports them? Where are they hidden? What do they want? What will happen next? Our fear is matched by a sense of their power. Far from being an injured, humiliated and angry minority, they perceive themselves as the vanguard of the entire Muslim world. (2)
Given those considerable threats it should be no surprise that new incentives for cultural purification could arise. The days of nationalism are by no means over. The gloomiest predictions for the future point to the possibility of everyday life being organized around the prospect of violence.
I realize as I share these thoughts with you that I am using very broad strokes. I know that there are many qualifications to be made. For example, there could be a challenge to what I have implied about the inexorable descent into chaos. History, mercifully, is full of surprises.
I realize too that purveyors of bad news are never popular, but I have tried to describe what many writers, analysts and commentators are saying.
Inevitably the instinctive reaction to what I am describing is to withdraw. Survival of our own community, those who are like us, in race, religion or culture, becomes the primary objective. Protecting our own is the most basic human instinct. I am sure we will see much more of this in the next few years.
So everything needs to be done to cherish the counter culture of dialogue. There is now a substantial body of experience and wisdom in the art of dialogue, particularly among those who have been involved in peace building, mediating and reconciliation. But dialogue is, at its heart, a simple yet difficult human activity. It means respectful listening, a willingness to stand in the shoes of the other and to understand what he or she is saying.
There was a poster about the work of The Children Society in the UK (a charity for the care of children). It shows a young person in great distress. The caption read: ‘What I need is a good listening to’. I am reminded of the saying that ‘change happens when those who do not usually speak are heard by those who do not usually listen.’
Dialogue means opening the door, building bridges, reaching out to the other.
I am sure you will know this story. Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is sitting under a tree in the heat of the afternoon. On the horizon he notices three people coming towards him. As they approach, he sees they are strangers. He bows. He invites them to his home and his wife prepares a feast. During the meeting he realizes that one of his guests is none other than Abraham’s God.
In other words it is the stranger, the ‘other’ who provides intimations of the divine and thus new opportunities and hope.
Let me give an illustration. Over the last year as director of the Soul of Europe I have been working in north west Bosnia. Mittal Steel, the industrialist, acquired a run-down iron-ore mine in Omarska near Prijedor. During the Bosnia War this mine had been used as a killing camp, where all non-Serbs, the majority being Muslim, were taken to be exterminated. Mittal Steel’s acquisition of the mine was the signal for the survivors to demand a memorial to those who had been murdered. The Serbs did not want a memorial, because it reminded them of a crime they cannot face up to. The Soul of Europe was invited to sort out this problem. During the process of mediation we discovered young Serbs who were prepared to support the Muslims in their demands for a memorial. In spite of opposition from their families, these young Serbs insisted on standing shoulder to shoulder with Muslim friends. As one young Serb told us: ‘My family did wrong. I want to do right’. In bringing these Serbs and Muslims together we discovered an unexpected solidarity. For the Muslims (and for the Soul of Europe) those Serbs represented the ‘stranger’ the ‘other’. Their active participation in the project provided impetus and hope for the future of their community.
I am trying to stress the urgency for dialogue. But what does dialogue between cultures and religions look like?
What are the contours of hope ‘calling’ into existence the things that do not exist.
In a moment I will be offering some ideas for your consideration.
But I want first of all to remind you of a tradition now long forgotten and that is summed up in the Spanish word CONVIVENCIA. Technically, convivencia is used to describe those Spanish polities existing throughout the Middle Ages and beyond which were ruled by Christians but showing tolerance for Muslim subjects. (3)
I would like to enlarge its meaning. The word convivencia has attractive overtones of conviviality and celebration. Thus it could be used to describe anywhere in the Mediterranean and European contexts where Muslims, Christians and Jews have got along together more or less, whoever happened to be in power.
Our collective memories recall jihad and crusades. Certainly the root of what sometimes seem to be an incurable islamophobia in the West goes all the way back to the crusades, along with the West’s rampant anti-semitism. This bigotry has a long history. It often seems that the martial music of trumpet, clashing cymbals and side-drum is all that can be heard. It is impossible to ignore the vicious rivalry between Islam and Christianity: the battles and massacres stretch across the entire Mediterranean world – Yarmuk and Poitiers, then Manzikert, Hattin and Las Navas de Tolosa, Jerusalem and finally in Constantinople and Malta. But at the same time and in different places other sounds can be heard like a quiet but persistent chord of harmony, a perpetual ground bass, too frequently drowned by the martial music. These quieter sounds have to be heard as well and be acknowledged as part of our collective memory so they can be an inspiration.
Here is a lightning tour of Cordoba in Spain, Palermo in Sicily (so close to here), then Constantinople and finally Bosnia.
From 750 CE, Cordoba enjoyed a multi-cultural society where Jews, Christians and Muslims more or less flourished for some 300 years.
Convivencia had its limits. The Muslim conquerors allowed Jews and Christians freedom to worship provided they paid higher taxes, and there were restrictions, such as Christians not being allowed to ring church bells whenever they liked. But gradually Jews and Christians were absorbed into the diplomatic service and public administration.
Over many generations Muslims brought their knowledge, experience and wisdom from the East to Cordoba: irrigation systems and horticulture, paper making, medicine and an astonishing intellectual curiosity. By 950CE Cordoba was the major city of Western Europe. Most city libraries in Europe might boast 400 books. Cordoba had 400,000.
Palermo . In 1072, the Norman French rulers on their way to conquer Italy stopped at Sicily. What they saw was astonishing. They discovered a society which far outstripped their own in sophistication, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together, a cosmopolitan and eclectic society. For some sixty years Palermo was as inspiring an example of convivencia as could be found anywhere.
Constantinople . In April 1453 the eight week siege of Constantinople began heralding the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was sacked. Mehmet II, now Fati the Conqueror, rode into the city. He arrived at the entrance of the Haggia Sophia and pronounced the building to be a mosque. He performed the thanksgiving on the great altar where the eucharist had been celebrated just days before. He climbed up the celebrated dome and looked out over the ruins of Byzantium. Deeply moved by the desolation this normally reserved young military leader, who was to show a rare magnanimity in the government of his empire, recited two lines of Persian poetry which speak of the fate of kings and all people: The spider has woven his web in the Imperial Palace,And the owl hath sung her watch song on the towers of Afrasiab.
Mehmet II then moved his capital to Constantinople, and renamed it Istanbul. He ordered thousands to move to the city. He began 300 years of convivencia. In Istanbul, Jews Christians, including Armenians, Catholics and Greek Orthodox found their home again.
Bosnia . Eleven years after the fall of Constantinople the Franciscans of Bosnia pleaded with Mehmet II to be allowed to keep their monasteries and worship their God. (4) An astute politician as well as a successful military leader, Mehmet II, having expanded his empire into Christian Europe understood the importance of keeping those he conquered onside. He issued the Ahdnama, what has now become recognized as the first Bill of Rights. This is what it says:
I, THE SULTAN MEHMET - KHAN INFORM ALL THE WORLD THAT THE ONES WHO POSSESS THIS IMPERIAL EDICT, THE BOSNIAN FRANCISCANS, HAVE GOT INTO MY GOOD GRACES, SO I COMMAND:
LET NOBODY BOTHER OR DISTURB THOSE WHO ARE MENTIONED, NOT THEIR CHURCHES. LET THEM DWELL IN PEACE IN MY EMPIRE. AND LET THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME REFUGEES BE SAFE. LET THEM RETURN AND LET THEM SETTLE DOWN IN THEIR MONASTERIES WITHOUT FEAR IN ALL THE COUNTRIES OF MY EMPIRE.
NEITHER MY ROYAL HIGHNESS, NOR MY VIZIERS OR EMPLOYEES, NOR MY SERVANTS, NOR ANY OF THE CITIZENS OF MY EMPIRE SHALL INSULT OR DISTURB THEM. LET NOBODY ATTACK, INSULT OR ENDANGER NEITHER THEIR LIFE NOR THEIR PROPERTY NOR THE PROPERTY OF THEIR CHURCH. EVEN IF THEY BRING SOMEBODY FROM ABROAD INTO MY COUNTRY, THEY ARE ALLOWED TO DO SO.
AS, THUS, I HAVE GRACIOUSLY ISSUED THIS IMPERIAL EDICT, HEREBY TAKE MY GREAT OATH.
IN THE NAME OF THE CREATOR OF THE EARTH AND HEAVEN, THE ONE WHO FEEDS ALL CREATURES, AND IN THE NAME OF THE SEVEN MUSTAFAS AND OUR GREAT MESSENGER, AND IN THE NAME OF THE SWORD I WIELD, NOBODY SHALL DO CONTRARY TO WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN, AS LONG AS THEY ARE OBEDIENT AND FAITHFUL TO MY COMMAND.
These are glimpses into the times where at least the possibility of convivencia was present and at times came into being through pragmatism, wise and generous leadership, self-interest and intense curiosity about the ‘ other’, ‘the stranger’.
More can be said on these issues, which historians can show to be far more complex than I have indicated. However for the purposes of this lecture, I offer these few glimpses into an alternative history that needs to be honoured and celebrated, especially in our present dark times.
I began by describing the ‘dark time’ we are living in, then paused to highlight the significance of dialogue for our day. In commending the idea of convivencia I reminded you briefly of the experiences of those societies which, at a time of intense rivalry between Islam and Christianity, managed to get along more or less together, with Jews as well. However faded and nuanced the convivencia experience was in places like Cordoba, Toledo, Istanbul and in Bosnia (and at different times and places throughout the Ottoman Empire) their stories need to be told alongside the collective memories of jihad and the crusades.
I am sure you are all familiar with the tradition of convivencia.
Therefore I propose: is the time not ripe now for a centre arising out of these traditions to be established in this country?
Could you consider developing a centre celebrating convivencia. You would be an example to us all in Europe and the Mediterranean.
It is certainly not for me to say what activities such a centre here would support and promote.
We in the West are simply not in a position to dictate to anyone what should happen. I am particularly conscious that as a European standing on this soil I have to speak with especial humility and caution.
So hare are some ideas – no more. Perhaps some of these ideas will resonate with you. Perhaps not.
These then are outlines of the ‘contours of hope’ I referred to earlier.
A Convivencia Centre could be a place of meeting, reflection and inspiration.
The Centre could develop programs of debates, seminars, lectures and conversation in the following areas:
- LISTENING TO HISTORY. Christians, Muslims and Jews share a history of faith and conflict but each finds it difficult to recognize their own history as told by the others. We need to be able to listen to different stories of shared historical events.
- COMMON CONCERNS. Different faiths can discover common ground on matters of common concern: the environment, the family, education and health care, etc. Moreover, the Abrahamic faiths have a shared interest in resisting the pervasive influence of materialism and secularism.
- MINORITIES. The difficulties of some minorities in Europe and Mediterranean countries are well documented. Here the question arises: what sort of advocacy and solidarity is appropriate?
The Centre would be a doorway into the imagination of the Abrahamic faiths by creating opportunities to celebrate the visual arts, music and poetry of Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Let me give you an example, not as a practical proposal, but to show how something along these lines is happening in England. It is called: THE TENT
St Ethelburga’s Church in the City of London was destroyed by the IRA two decades ago. It has since been reconstructed and has become a centre for reconciliation and peace. (5)
St Ethelburga’s describes the Tent as ‘a new type of space for a new type of conversation between the faiths’.
The Tent is a sixteen sided construction, covered in woven goat’s hair, like a Bedouin tent, in which twenty people can sit in a circle on a low comfortable dais. It is a space that recalls the desert from which many faiths have emerged. It employs the ‘universal languages’ of geometry, mathematics and harmony, recalling the architecture of the period of convivencia.
Outside the tent is a garden inspired by Islamic designers.
The Tent is a private place where people can meet as equals. Such a space, small and intimate, will be an important part of a Convivencia Centre.
Two activities can take place within this space:
- SCRIPTURAL REASONING. Scriptural reasoning is a new phenomenon, but growing in many parts of the world. Balanced groups of representatives of Jews, Christians and Muslims share what their scriptures say on a particular subject. The conversation is rooted in the heart of each faith’s tradition, rather than just on the opinions of individuals. Each person is helped to ‘inhabit another room’ while rooted in their own tradition. (6)
- EXPERIENCE OF THE SACRED. At its heart, a person’s experience of God transcends all religious traditions. Opportunities for prayer, meditation and contemplation can be offered so as St Isaac the Syrian, a Church father, said: ‘You can enter eagerly into the treasure home that is within you and you will see the things that are in heaven.
It is not necessarily appropriate to copy the design of the Tent, but there is a strong case to be made for some sort of private space where conversations and meetings can take place as part of the Convivencia Centre.
The work of the Convivencia Centre could be accessible to all, particularly to women and young people and to the many who may consider themselves Muslim or Christian but who do not attend the mosque or the church regularly.
The Centre should aim to attract participants to their programs from other Mediterranean countries and from Europe. The mix of these cultures is particularly valuable.
A thirteenth century poet, Al-Shaqundi vividly described the fall of Cordoba as ‘the breaking of the necklace and the scattering of the pearls’.
Now the necklace can begin to be reassembled as the pearls of convivencia are formed in centres around the Mediterranean and across the whole of Europe.
Perhaps what I have outlined could be the shape of the first convivencia pearl: in this city and in this country, as a model for others to follow, each in its own way and its own situation.
The Soul of Europe would regard it as a great privilege to help bring to birth such a centre.
Thank you for your attention and I would like to thank once again Ambassador Alan Goulty and Professor Fanter for giving me this opportunity.
The Revd Donald Reeves MA MLitt
NOTES
- Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change available via HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, UK, web site
- Fear of Small Numbers – an Essay on the Geography of Anger, Arjun Apadurai, Public Planet Books. ISBN-0-8223-3863-7. An important contribution to the debate on the ‘war on terror’. The author describes the difficulties liberal democracies have in dealing with small subversive groups.
- Sea of Faith – Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, Stephen O’Shea. ISBN 08027 14988. I have drawn extensively on the author’s accounts of Convivencia.
- The Soul of Europe has been the initiator and catalyst for the reconstruction of the Ferhadija Mosque in Banja Luka as a sign of Muslim/Christian collaboration – a modest example of Convivencia in contemporary Bosnia.
- St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG www.st.ethelburgas.org.uk
- Journal of Scriptural Reasoning Forum. The best introduction to scriptural reasoning. See website under ‘scriptural reasoning’.
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