Dialogue with Islam

Stratford Caldecott has an interesting article that sheds the light on this issue of God as Logos vs. Will. The Sufi tradition (the mystical tradition) very much recognizes the "orderliness" of God based on the attributes of God. The aesthetics of who God is lends themselves to God having order, in the Sufi view. Unfortunately, most of this tradition is not standard Islamic canon, apparently. In this, Christianity and Islam are not that far apart.

"The cause of fanaticism, whether in Christianity or Islam, does indeed lie in the separation of Will from Intellect…" - Christians also have a bloody history..

So what of the recent violence? Stratford says that modernist and especially Wahhabi Islam (thought to be the first from of modern extremists) has suppressed much of the Sufi traditions.

Again the call to the Muslims: " We must encourage and assist moderate Muslims to raise their voices and speak on behalf of Islamic traditions that may be more ‘rational’ than we [as Christians] suppose."