Earth, Empire and Sacred Text: Muslims and Christians As Trustees of Creation

Having served as a pastor and teacher in Algeria, Egypt, and the West Bank for over 15 years, Johnston (Near Eastern languages and civilizations, U. of Pennsylvania) interprets and reflects on the ethical imperatives arising out of the creation accounts in the Qur'an and Bible, against the backdrop of humanity's global reality at the beginning of the 21st century CE. He expands the common theological ground between Muslims and Christians on the nature and calling of humanity and its relationship with creation by building on the idea of God's empowering the human person as His trustee on earth. In sections on our postmodern situation, Muslim and Christian interpretations of human trusteeship, and toward an applied Muslim-Christian theology of trusteeship, he discusses such topics as postmodernity and the double wall of social injustice and destruction of the earth, Qur'anic data on Adam as God's khalifa, a biblical trusteeship of humanity, and widening the circle of dialogue. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

David L. Johnston is currently an adjunct lecturer in the Religious Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania and in the Theology Department of the St. Joseph's University, both in Philadelphia. He lived for fifteen years in Algeria, Egypt and the West Bank, where he served as a pastor and teacher. He then completed his PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) in theology and Islamic Studies; continued his research and taught part-time at the Religious Studies Department at Yale University. His published articles and essays have mostly focused on the intersection of theology and law in contemporary Islam (Islamochristiana, Islamic Law and Society, The Maghreb Review, Die Welt des Islams and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion).