Abstract
In Psalms, Islam, and Shalom: A Common Heritage of Divine Song for Muslim–Christian Friendship, Eric Sarwar offers musicological and missiological approaches to peace-building between Pakistani Christians and Muslims. By surveying the unproductive polemical encounters, Sarwar demonstrates how Psalms can be instrumental in providing creative and contextual opportunities for Christian–Muslim interactions in the Indian subcontinent. Sarwar argues that music has a missional potential, and despite differing theological standings, the book of Psalms offers exceptional common ground for the followers of Islam and Christianity to pursue peace and harmony with each other. Drawing from these commonalities, Sarwar maintains that the Punjabi Psalter has been an excellent model of engagement with people of other faiths within South Asia’s multireligious and multicultural setting.
The book is divided into three parts, “using the analogy of a classical raga performance, beginning with prelude, then performance, followed by postlude” (8). Part I (13–27) focuses on the colloquium, collaborative, and confrontational encounters that Christian missionaries in the South Asian context have had with Muslims in the past. Part II (28–120) explores the Indic musical system, genres of Islamic art and music, relevancy that the Psalms have with basic Islamic practices, commonalities between the Qur’an and the Psalms, and the prominence of lament in Pakistan’s political and social setting. It further features differing views that Christians and Muslims hold about their sacred scriptures and how important the Punjabi Psalter is for Christian worship in Pakistan. Part III (121–42) concentrates on recommendations for an effective dialogue with the Muslim world through Psalms.
Despite its many meaningful contributions to the study of interfaith dialogue using the Psalms, the book is also not without its limitations. These include (1) the paucity of indigenous Pakistani Punjabi Christian scholarly voices, (2) its disproportionate attention to the Indic musical system, and (3) oftentimes, its generalized statements. The book would benefit from an enhanced referencing of sources, a more developed discussion on the intersection between Christian lament and Shiite forms of mourning, and direct engagement with scholarly materials (such as the Sufi poetic works) compared with mostly relying on information gathered through conversations.
This being said, scholars and students of South Asian musicology, interfaith studies, and missiology are sure to find the text an informative and thought-provoking addition to scholarship on interreligious harmony in Pakistan and the growing field of Christian–Muslim relations.