The Flat World and Scriptural Reasoning

In his book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman writes about the importance of culture as a factor in helping people adapt to the powerful changes taking place in the world. He asks why does one country adapt to the changes with leaders able to mobilize the bureaucracy and the public and another country gets tripped up. (p. 323). Friedman then emphasizes two aspects of culture as relevant in the flat world. One is the outward nature of the culture, i.e., how open is the culture to foreign influences and ideas? The other aspect is the inward nature of the culture, i.e., “to what degree is there trust within the society for strangers to collaborate together” (p. 324). Friedman uses the word “glocalize” to describe the process by which a society develops these outward and inward aspects of culture.

Friedman then goes on to write that many Muslim countries are struggling with the flat world:

“In a world where the single greatest advantage a culture can have is the ability to foster adaptability and adoptability, the Muslim world today is dominated by a religious clergy that literally bans ijtihad, reinterpretation of the principles of Islam in light of current circumstances” (p. 326).

The notion of reinterpretation implies that a previous interpretation has become unquestionable dogma. What does this say about the original sacred text of the Koran? Does it not imply that in and of itself the Koran is an insufficient guide for humanity so that an interpretation is necessary, an interpretation to tell us what the Koran really means? The same is true for the Bible and the Torah. Such a situation devalues the authority of the sacred text and emphasizes the authority of the interpreter. Such a power structure naturally discourages critical thinking, individual information seeking and knowledge production. Such a power structure can only survive on the fear it is able to generate in the hearts of the people who would consider to dissent and think for themselves.

Friedman then writes, “One of the greatest virtues a country or community can have is a culture of tolerance. When tolerance is the norm, everyone flourishes because tolerance breeds trust … Increase the level of trust in any group, company, or society, and only good things happen” (p. 327).

We know that a lack of tolerance and trust are attributes that Christians and Jews share with Muslims. Fear is the basis of religion. Thankfully, there is a voice of good news with the message “Fear not.”

I have a link on this blog to The Children of Abraham Institute, which I stumbled across recently. I encourage you check out this organization. Their purpose is to bring together scholars from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths to build upon the common ground of each descending from Abraham through the practice of Scriptural Reasoning. The ground rules are, one, that each tradition has sacred texts, which record God’s conversation with humanity and humanity’s conversation about God. Two, the purpose of God’s conversation with humanity is for healing. I wish this organization every success and I hope to attend one of their conferences sometime in the near future.