Jesus - From National Icon to Interreligious Dialogue

The time when Jesus was portrayed exclusively as a salvation figure in Christianity and as a symbol for the West and European nationalism is gone. Christians in the West are surprised to learn about the role that Jesus plays in Islam, and ideological criticism challenges the picture of a mono-cultural Jesus.

Images of Jesus as mirrors of religious and national identities are now challenged by cultural complexity. Can the image of Jesus become a symbol for interreligious dialogue with Islam?

Time and place: May 20, 2010 7:00 PM, Nedjma, Litteraturhuset, Oslo

These are questions for discussion of the recently published Jesus beyond Nationalism. Constructing the historical Jesus in a period of cultural complexity. (Eds. Halvor Moxnes, Ward Blanton and James G. Crossley, Equinox, 2010.)

Participants: The Norwegian authors of essays, Halvor Moxnes, Peter Normann Waage, Thomas Hylland-Eriksen, and Oddbjørn Leirvik. Leirvik’s contribution is based on his Images of Jesus Christ in Islam, (just published in 2. ed. by Continuum).

Comments by Jeanette Sky, scholar of religious studies, and Dr. Faruk Terzic, Chairman, Imam Committee of Islam Council, Norway.

Moderator: Marianne Kartzow, research scholar, Jesus in Cultural Complexity.

Introductions and comments will mainly be in Norwegian, Oddbjørn Leirvik’s presentation, Dr. Terzic’s comments and the following discussion will be held in English.

Published Jan. 6, 2010 12:56 PM - Last modified May 3, 2010 2:08 PM