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Baptist Scholar of Islam Preaches Cooperation
by Carissa Rice
Philosophy Professor Kathy Meacham with Charles Kimball
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Charles Kimball, religion department chairman at Wake Forest University, spoke on "Hope for the Perilous Journey Ahead" at the Crossroads gathering February 25 in Broyhill Chapel.
The message related to all peoples of different nations, ethnic groups, and religious backgrounds as it concerned today's global issues, the mayhem of religious corruption, and the hope for a better tomorrow.
Kimball is the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants but was raised a Christian. After going to college in Oklahoma, he became an ordained Baptist minister and earned a doctorate in History of Religion from Harvard. He became involved in inter-religious dialogue and studied Islam and Middle Eastern politics and culture.
Kimball was trusted by the U.S. government and revolutionary Islamic leaders to negotiate with students who took Americans hostage during the 1979 religious and political revolution in Iran.
In the 1980s, he was director of the Middle East office of the National Council of Churches in New York City. He later became an associate professor of religion at Furman University in the early nineties, and there he began the International Education program.
In 1996, Kimball came to Wake Forest University where he specializes in Islam.
After the events of September 11, 2001, a publishing company contacted Kimball and asked him to write a book about what happens when people do destructive things in the name of their religion. Since publishing When Religion Becomes Evil, he has been speaking around the world.
"Whatever religious people may say about their love of God or the mandates of their religion, when their behavior toward others is violent and destructive, when it causes suffering among their neighbors, you can be sure the religion has been corrupted and reform is desperately needed."
--When Religion Becomes Evil,
During Kimball's presentation Tuesday, he told of a rabbi who told a convention audience, "The next ten years will be the most difficult. They always have been."
However, Kimball said, in the aftermath of the events of September 11, the next ten years - with the possibility of war - will be the most difficult. "We are at a distinctly different time of history. We are all keenly aware of our vulnerability."
He spoke of weapons of mass destruction and the uncertainty of a safe future due to the twisting of religion to justify devastation and ruin. "It doesn't take very many people to wreak havoc, literally, on a global scale."
He explained the importance of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all "people of faith" uniting in the name of peace. Still, he described how "it is not easy" for people of different religious creeds to work side by side.
Kimball warned of "the perilous journey that lies before us," but said a message of hope is "lodged in the sacred text of the Bible." In Genesis, for example, "In the wake of repeated and sometimes catastrophic human failures, God continues to provide new beginnings and new opportunities."
Jesus promised His followers "not an easy path, but a perilous journey… involving taking up one's cross and following Him," Kimball said.
Recalling words from the book of Hebrews, he added, "So let us run the race that has been set before us…We are by no means alone through this perilous journey into this uncertain future."
Kimball recalled the powerful story of Peter and Cornelius, the association between a Jew and a gentile, found in Acts 10. God calls Peter to go to the house of Cornelius, making him uncomfortable, as it was not acceptable for a Jew to visit with a non-Jew.
But Peter grows in his "understanding of God," Kimball said. He compared Peter's new outlook to the way we should think today, reading aloud Acts 10: 34-35, "So Peter opened his mouth and said: 'Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.'"
Kimball also spoke of a Southern Baptist minister who finds it essential for people of all faiths to work together. "God is the one who decides and judges and determines God's relationship with everyone else," he said to Kimball.
There is "no blueprint" or "detailed map" for us to follow today, Kimball said. But he does believe that the Bible acts as a guide, and we all have a compass to help us through our walk through life, "with God as true north."
Kimball added that God uses faith, hope, and love to lead us. "Hope can sustain us when immediate circumstances are less than ideal," he said. He also says hope is found in Scripture and can direct us even in the 21st century. "Hope calls people of faith to action in pursuit of a better future."
Kimball closed the Crossroads service with a simple prayer, "Now may God of all creation empower us and strengthen us in faith, hope, and love for the perilous journey we see ahead."
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