Building Respect, Seeking Truth
History of Muslim-Christian Dialogue
January 16th - April 3rd 2023
Course leaders: Dr Ida Glaser, Ustadh Motaz Al-Thaher, Dr Martin Whittingham
This 3 credit hour course will have classes on Mondays at 0800-1000 Houston time. Students will be expected to spend 4-6 hours per week in private study and group study. The out-of-class work will be at least as important as the in-class work. Each student will be expected to make a class presentation. Students taking this course for credit will also be required to take a short-answer quiz and to write a 4,000 word essay.
The course cost is $400, reduced to $150 for majority world students.
Students who wish to obtain CMCS Houston credit for this course are usually required to do the first four modules of our 'Research and Writing for Muslim & Christian Studies' prior to the start of the course. This course may be begun at any time - students are advised to begin as soon as possible.
CMCS Houston has some full and half-scholarships available. To apply for a scholarship, email a letter of application together with your c.v. and contact details of two referees to ida@cmcshouston.org
You will find this one of the best courses for building respect and seeking truth in today’s world.
Naseer John, Pakistan
This course introduces students to the long history of Christians and Muslims writing about each other and discussing with each other, using both focused study of primary sources and broader readings and lectures on different historical periods.
The course is particularly suitable for graduate students with an academic interest in Muslim-Christian relations, and for final year undergraduate students majoring in history, or in the study of Islam or of Christianity.
This is a rich course with amazing content, rich resources and great teachers.
Tahmina Maryam, Bangladesh
Specialist lecturers will include:
Dr David Coffey (CMCS Houston)
Dr Charles Ramsey (Baylor)
Dr Rana Abu-Mounes (CMCS Oxford)
Students give class presentations on each topic
Ideas and questions are discussed in small groups
Syllabus
Topic 1: Muslim-Christian Dialogue in the time of Muhammad
Topic 2: Early Christian responses to Islam
Topic 3: The development of the debates
Topic 4: Interactions in Spain
Topic 5: Hope during the Crusades: St Francis and the Sultan
Topic 6: Ottoman times
Topic 7: Mughals and Jesuits
Topic 8: The Sokoto Caliphate and European missionaries
Topics 9: Revival and reform in 18th century India
Topic 10: 20th century developments
Dialogue is not only verbal.
These are images from our unit on the Jesuit visits to the Mughal emperors in the 16th century
The Muslim-Christian Dialogue discourse which I studied during the online course will help us craft a new course for our seminarians on Muslim-Christian Dialogue, to promote tolerance among the would be ministers.
Simbarashe Munamati, Murray Theological College, Zimbabwe
Don’t do it unless you enjoy the subject being offered and can be sincerely and fully engaged and devoted. . . . . I’m a self-proclaimed nerd and loved every second of discussion, lecture, presentation, and reading.
Usmon Shaikh, University of Houston
The course is very practical and relevant for the contemporary situation. It opens a window where students can express their opinions - not polemically but in a peaceful environment. Students may have different opinions, but respect towards each other is carefully maintained.
Sujit Sarker, ICL, Bangladesh
I think, this course will serve as a mile stone for those students who are interested in the history of Muslim-Christian Dialogue.
Urfa John, Forman Christian College, Pakistan