Muslim-Christian Friendships and Religious Change - by Torstein Try (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book explores how authentic friendships between Muslims and Christians can cross religious boundaries and encourage deeper mutual understanding.

Book Synopsis

This book explores how authentic friendships between Muslims and Christians can cross religious boundaries and encourage deeper mutual understanding. Drawing on qualitative interviews in southern Norway, Torstein Try examines how interfaith relationships shape religious self-awareness, influence perceptions of the "other" faith, and challenge participants' faith practices. The book illustrates how friendships rooted in empathy and openness foster a more dialogical approach to religious and cultural differences, promoting reflective religious change rather than insistent conversion efforts. The author reveals that while participants often upheld strong faith commitments, their interfaith friendships prompted a shift from confrontation to relational influence, allowing distinct religious identities and genuine friendships to coexist in a dynamic and respectful balance. Through rich personal narratives and thoughtful analysis, the book demonstrates how interfaith friendships cultivate an environment where love, hospitality, and theological reflection flourish, providing a valuable perspective on fostering coexistence and dialogue in increasingly diverse societies.

Review Quotes

"This book on interfaith friendship is of interest to lay people, academics, researchers, and students in the field of religious study, especially interreligious dialogue in general, and Christian-Muslim dialogue in particular, in today's religious and ethical pluralistic world. It shows how indispensable mutual respect among believers of different faiths is for reciprocated understanding and tolerance in religious conflict resolution and prevention of religious prejudice and hostility in the community and the world." --António Barbosa da Silva, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Health Care Ethics, Ansgar University College, Kristiansand, Norway

"In Muslim-Christian Friendships and Religious Change: Transformative Relationships, Torstein Try offers a timely and empirically grounded exploration of how interfaith friendships shape religious self-understanding and practice, challenge prejudice, and foster mutual understanding. Drawing on personal narratives and in-depth interviews in Norway, this rich and nuanced study demonstrates how everyday relationships and friendship between Muslims and Christians become creative spaces for dialogue, empathy, and spiritual growth. An insightful and hopeful contribution to interreligious studies, this book is essential for anyone interested in religious dialogue, diversity, and the transformative power of friendship." --Kari Storstein Haug, Professor, VID Specialized University, Norway

"We 'know' that friendship with a person unlike ourselves will affect the prejudice we have towards the group that he or she belongs to. In this book, Torstein Try does serious fieldwork-based research to demonstrate the real-life impact of friendship on our understanding of the 'other.' He is not promoting a silver bullet solution for solving social problems but rather offering a nuanced analysis of the case studies he observed. I believe it is a very important work for our time's theology." --Martin Bellerose, Director of Protestant Theological Institute of the United Church of Canada (IPTEUC) and Theological Education in French United Church of Canada

About the Author

Torstein Try is Associate Professor at Ansgar University College in Norway specializing in interreligious and intercultural studies.