In Common Words in Muslim-Christian Dialogue Vebjørn L. Horsfjord offers an analysis of texts from an international dialogue process between Christian and Muslim leaders. Through detailed engagement with the Muslim dialogue letter A Common Word between Us and You (2007) and a large number of Christian responses to it, the study analyses the dialogue process in the wake of the Muslim initiative and shows how the various texts gain meaning through their interaction. The author uses tools from critical discourse analysis and speech act analysis and claims that the Islamic dialogue initiative became more important as an invitation to Muslim-Christian dialogue than as theological reflection. He shows how Christian leaders systematically chose to steer the dialogue process towards practical questions about peaceful coexistence and away from theological issues.

In Common Words in Muslim-Christian Dialogue Vebjørn L. Horsfjord traces the international interreligious dialogue process between Islamic and Christian leaders that followed in the wake of the Muslim dialogue letter A Common Word between Us and You (2007).

A letter printed in the pages of The New York times in 2007 acknowledged differences between Christianity and Islam but contended that "righteousness and good works" should be the only areas in which the two compete. That letter and a collaborative Christian response appear in this volume, which includes subsequent dialogue between Muslim and Christian scholars.

C. Why have there been in the last decade many discussions held between Christians and Muslims about their beliefs? M. I think because we both have several things in common. We believe in the One Creator Who sent many Prophets and in Jesus as the Messiah as well as the Word of God who was denied by the Jews. Our Holy Qur'an mentions in Surah 3:45: [Remember] when the angels said: 'O Mary! Verily Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name will be Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and in the hereafter, and of those who are near to Allah....' Dialogues have been held everywhere in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia. Even the Vatican has participated: discussions were held between Vatican theologians and Egyptian Muslim scholars in Rome in 1970 and in Cairo in 1974...

This book was written by a Muslim author who believes "that in the Bible, Jesus never claimed to be God; that Jesus did not die on the cross; that the miracles performed by Jesus were also performed by many other prophets, and even disbelievers; and that Jesus prophesied the advent of the Prophet Muhammad. All of this and much more is detailed from the clear passages of the Bible."

Linked by a common geography and claim to the true religion, Christians and Muslims had a long history of interreligious discourse up to the Crusades. These faith communities composed texts in the form of dialogues in light of their encounters with one another. This book surveys the development of the genre and how dialogues determined he patterns of conversation. Each chapter highlights a thematic feature of the literary form, demonstrating that Christian and Muslim authors did not part ways in the first century of Islamic rule, but rather continued a dialogue commending God's faithful believers.