Program & Event Highlights:
2008
Seminarians Uncover
Sensitivities in Dialogue
In January the AAC was privileged to again have
students from Western
Theological Seminary (USA) visit Oman. Their level
of theological curiosity
was matched only by their interest in engaging in
dialogue. Through their
interactions, they discovered themselves in conversations
that touched upon
one of the stumbling blocks in inter-religious encounters.
It is when a
person of another faith represents your beliefs in
a way that
mischaracterises you. This is made all the more difficult
when they believe
that they have a better sense of what you believe
than you do. Islam, coming
after Christianity, has an Islamic understanding of
Christianity. Americans,
because of the attention given to Islam in the media,
have a Western view of
Islam. Sometimes conversations get entangled when
we let our view of
another¹s faith and practice obscure what another
actually believes. There
is an adage in the phenomenological study of religion
that 'the believer is
always right.' As we engage each other as people of
faith, one of the
ground-rules for constructive dialogue is to always
'seek first to
understand,' then we can proceed to 'be understood.'
Beyond the Danish
Cartoons
In February a group from Copenhagen visited the
Centre. They are leaders
from a congregation that ministers to the youth of
the city--and are doing
so with great success. They desire to build bridges
to the growing Muslim
population around them; thus they came to the AAC
for a firsthand experience
of the Middle East. Ironically, they were in Oman
when the Danish press
reprinted the less than flattering cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammed. Against
this backdrop, it was inspiring to see the enthusiasm
and vision of these
young leaders, and for those in Oman, it was good
for them to see another
face of Denmark.
HonouredGuests
Visit Al Amana
We have many guests come through the doors of
the AAC, but we had very
special visitors this February. The Thoms family and
Nancy Rouwhorst came
back to check in on the work they helped establish
many years ago. Dr. &
Mrs. Sharon Thoms, both doctors, arrived in Oman in
1909. In 1939, their
son, Dr. and Mrs. Wells Thoms arrived in Oman. And
their sons, Norm and
Peter, both physicians, also served for a period in
Oman. To have members of
the Thoms family visit, along with Ms. Rouwhorst,
who had worked with the
mission school, was a great opportunity to reminisce
about the past. One of
the highlights of their visit was a reunion with eighty
Omanis who had
worked with the mission hospital or attended the mission
school. It became
very evident during this event that the Omanis took
great pride in the work
they had accomplished through the mission. But there
was something more to
it. Through embrace after embrace one could see the
love and esteem all had
for one another. An outsider would have thought it
to be a family reunion.
It represented well how we are called to live with
one another.
More....... |
