PRESENTATION
After training in history and political science, Adrien Candiard joined the Dominican order in 2006. An Islamologist, he lives in the Cairo convent in Egypt. He is the author of several books and is a member of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies.
“God is at work beyond the visible borders of the Church and God does not does not belong to me.”
In this interview conducted in September 2021, he talks about his experience of Islam. He shares his knowledge with us and opens several chapters on the relationship to the law, on our vision of God and the truth, on what produces fanaticism and on the importance of studying to enlighten one’s faith. It ends on a note of hope.
SUMMARY
Questions and themes raised during the conversation between the director and her guest are listed below.
IMMERSION IN THE LAND OF ISLAM: A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE?
Muslims, moderate believers?
Classical Islam, what is it?
Islam, different families, different tendencies: a great diversity.
“Islam”: submission or abandonment to God?
How to reduce 14 centuries of mutual incomprehension?
Friendship and risking sharing to disarm mistrust and reduce violence.
Together seek the truth.
THE LAW IS NOT GOD.
It is an element to go towards God, the only absolute.
Fanaticism: the absence of God.
The commandments of God are means to lead the individual conscience towards Christian morality.
STUDYING TEXTS, A DUTY
Theology to advance on many elements of our life.
Consider the talk about God.
The Fatwa, a 14th century charter. And in the 21st century?
Rationality as “an open vision of God” to be able to talk about it.
GOD DOES NOT BELONG TO ME
The Spirit of God at work beyond the visible borders of the Church.
I don’t own the truth.
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS AND GOD
Do we have the same God? A question that produces misunderstandings.
God’s point of view, man’s point of view.
Christ and the Koranic revelation do not say the same thing about God.
The spiritual life: light for a dialogue?
Go beyond your deep and legitimate concerns to achieve something else interesting.
A COMMON LANGUAGE: REASON
Should theology be rehabilitated in our societies?
The reason: the common language to live in a common world.
Stop making faith an indisputable identity: everything is debatable.
Have intellectual tools to talk about faith.
Theology, a rational weapon to avoid rejecting faith in the pure irrationality and being in danger.
CHRISTIANITY AND FRENCH SOCIETY
Christianity is dead, not Christianity.
Christ did not come to create Christianity. He came to light a fire on the earth.
Faith: this is what we have to transmit.
Today’s world, a chance for our spiritual life.
SOURCES
Of fanaticism, when religion is sick (Le Cerf ed, 2020),
Ending tolerance? Religious differences and the Andalusian dream (Puf ed, 2014)