In December 2023, H defended his PhD thesis on Raymond LIull’s method of reaching Muslims in the 13th century and his contribution to modern interfaith dialogue.
LIull can be considered the first Christian to develop a complete approach to mission based on unique principles of communication that are still used today. For 50 years he devoted himself to proclaiming the gospel to Muslims (and Jews). His theory of mission may be summed up in three parts from which we can learn sound practical lessons:
1. First LIull stressed the need for a thorough knowledge of the culture and language of Muslims.
He wanted to provide better language study and improved teaching about Islam for trainee mission workers. To that end he wrote several works promoting to Christians the idea of mission to Muslims, a remarkable fact considering that the ‘Christian’ world in the 13th century generally did not like Muslims or seek to understand their beliefs. LIull himself was aware of the spiritual struggles he would face and he did not feel ready. He decided to prepare himself first, spending nine years learning Arabic and studying Islam. He also travelled widely to attempt to persuade universities and popes to establish courses in which Islamic language and culture would be taught to future mission workers.
2. His second theory of mission involved the establishment of a philosophical and educational system to persuade Muslims of the truth of Christianity.
LIull compiled a kind of ‘logical machine’ in which, through careful reasoning, he set out the Christian faith in the form of circles, squares, triangles, and other geometric figures. One controversial weakness was that he often placed philosophy ahead of revelation in attempting to explain certain key mysteries of faith – such as the Trinity and the Incarnation. LIull strongly believed that human reason could be used to learn about the triune God, sometimes forgetting that only the Holy Spirit can convince men of the truth. Samuel Zwemer, an early 20th century missionary to Muslims, comments, ‘In the age of scholasticism, where many trivial questions were seriously debated in the schools, and philosophy was anything but practical, LIull proposed to use the great weapon of his age, dialectics, in the service of the Gospel and conversion of the Saracens.’ 1 Muslim thinkers of Lull’s time had developed their own system of philosophy and he recognised the important need to ‘meet people where they are’.
3. LIull’s third criteria was for mission workers to be willing to give their lives in witness to Christ.
LIull lived this out himself at a time when many Muslim countries enforced the death penalty for those caught proclaiming the Christian message. He sailed to Islamic countries three times to proclaim Christ and reason with Ulama (Islamic scholars). His conviction was to teach by example.
In his discussions with Islamic scholars, LIull often concentrated his argument against Islam on one major point – the doctrine of God. He sought to show the lack of harmony in the attributes of the God of the Qur’an. How can someone obtain forgiveness from a God who is at the same time merciful yet also holy, loving yet also just? Imagine a man who has lost an arm: he is still a man and his human nature has not changed, even though one side of his outline is lacking something. But it is not so with God. If we remove just one of his attributes – his holiness or justice, for example – we cannot say he is God with something missing! No, his whole being is affected by this loss. LIull insisted that it was vital to understand this because we can easily create a false picture of God.
The case of LIull presents areas of light and shadow. Certain aspects are likely to please or displease, depending on the extent to which we look at them through a modern perspective on political, cultural and religious issues. Our hope is that a better understanding of LIull’s contribution to interreligious encounters will help to promote better relations with Muslims and provide lessons for effective ministry amongst them today.
1. Samuel Zwemer, Raymond Lull: First Missionary to the Moslems, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1902, pp. 33-34.
H & E (and family) serve in France in church and evangelistic ministries