The former Wheaton professor who sparked controversy at the Christian college by saying Muslims and Christians share the same God will take a new job — in a position named after a Muslim historical figure.
Larycia Hawkins will be the Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow at the University of Virginia, the state university announced.
Hawkins was the only black female tenured professor at Wheaton, one of the nation’s most prominent evangelical universities. But in December, she angered officials at the Christian school with a Facebook post.
She snapped a picture of herself wearing a hijab and said she would wear it to support Muslim women throughout the Advent period. “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” Hawkins wrote on Facebook. “And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”
To her great surprise, the college administration placed her on administrative leave and started the process to fire her. The college said in a statement that it had theological differences with Hawkins: “While Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic, we believe there are fundamental differences between the two faiths, including what they teach about God’s revelation to humanity, the nature of God, the path to salvation, and the life of prayer,”
Students protested, alumni wrote letters, and faculty members voiced their support for Hawkins.
Eventually, the college said that it would not fire Hawkins, but that they had mutually agreed that she would leave.
And now she has landed a job in Charlottesville.
So much for thinking that both Christianity and Islam traced back to Abraham and his two sons, Issac and Ishmael. Who is the God of Abraham? Why on earth would someone be fired over that? Do people just want to stir stuff up?
The world has turned upside down. Help me understand why this woman was asked to leave. I just don’t get it.
Claiming to be “People of the Book” hasn’t helped Christians in the Middle East very much. They have the wrong book.
Good point. That’s a tough place to be a Christian. Removing Christianity from the middle east, what on earth was that church’s real position? I simply didn’t get it.
Don’t both Islam and Christianity go back to Abraham? Isn’t that where the three religions meet? Maybe I missed a few vital Sunday school lessons.
According to Genesis, Issac and Ishmael, both sons of Abraham, would be the fathers of separate peoples, peoples who wouldn’t get along. The difference is, as the later prophesies would point, the Christ would come from the line of Issac.
Both Judaism and Islam deny Christ as the son of God. To deny this is to deny the trinitarian nature of God, as revealed in the New Testament. The Jews view Jesus as a blasphemous rabbi, and Muslims view him as a lesser-prophet. Christians believe Jesus to be “God made of mortal flesh”, the fulfillment of old testament prophesy.
As an evangelical Christian, I look to the warnings Christ left his church, against false prophets who would come after him, and would spread a false gospel. Anyone who preaches against Jesus as The Way, is a deceiver, and those who follow are deceived. Also, according to the Gospels and the Epistles, the Holy Spirit is also the third personage of God…and the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy/rejection of the Holy Spirit.
So, to deny Christ, and the Holy Spirit, is to deny two-thirds of God. I will stop short of claiming Jews and Muslims don’t worship the same God of Abraham. I believe the Jews and Muslims aren’t worshiping the fullness of God.
One more thing, and I believe I am on pretty firm scriptural ground here: If Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and Muhammad claimed to have received a prophecy that states otherwise, 600 years after Christ rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, this prophesy is not to be believed.
So, an evangelical university dismissing a professor over fundamental theological differences, is perfectly within the realm of its responsibilities. However, justice should be tempered with mercy, teaching and correction. Rather than dismiss her, maybe requiring her to defend the assertion in a theological debate setting, would have been a better course, considering the educational mission of the school. Were I the dean, that is what I would have proposed. Defend your assertion, win or lose, you keep your job. Refuse and you can resign or be dismissed.
Well, that explains it. That really left me scratching my head.
Arguments over the Trinity get many folks up on their back legs.
Me? I have always sort of seen it like Mormons do, after MY Mormons from next door explained to me why some people say they aren’t Christian. I sure miss those people.
I am fairly compartmentalized in my thinking, rightly or wrongly, when it comes to the Trinity.
But seriously Steve, thanks for taking your time to explain it all to this old lapsed protestant.
@MoonHowler
As you know, I have a Mormon family member. He and I have had those deep theological discussions, peeling away the “sprinkle vs. dunk” differences, to get to the core. Having done so, I do believe that Mormons are Christians, regardless of differences I might have with some of their tangential beliefs, as I am sure they disagree with mine. Have had similar discussions with some of my Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox friends as well.
People worship the God they want. If one is narrow-minded and authoritarian so is their God. If they are inclusive and forgiving, so is their God. We have several historically-based traditional spiritual roadmaps that all trace back to Abraham. Nonetheless, even those who believe that the Bible is the only source of God’s divine wisdom are prone to interpret it to mold God into their own likeness. The Bible is full of people with different versions of God in the same way that everyone who has seen visions of Mary see her through their own cultural viewport.
With the observation no one shares a God…just a worship style, the question whether Allah and Jehovah are the same is immaterial.
Today I helped a large group of Christians and Muslims package meals for shipment to hungry families in Turkey. When 2 or 3 are gathered to help the vulnerable of humanity, God is in their midst. Today a group of Muslims and Christians shared a God.
Great tribute, Ed. Thanks for sharing.