Writing on Identity

Writing on Identity:

Conflict, Construction, Connection

A Volume of Essays for the Liberal Arts Classroom

Edited by Jean Heimann and Robert Franek

Introduction

Identity is a concept that might appear to defy clear-cut explanation. The Concordia College Spring 2003 Advanced Religion Seminar focused on the topic of "Scripture & Difference." In this seminar a collective effort was made toward forming an explanation of what identity is and how it affects human community. We examined how identities can be sources of conflict, how they are constructed, and how they can be bridges of connection locally and globally. Each seminar participant drew upon these theological and philosophical understandings in writing an essay addressing a particular issue of identity in contemporary society. In this volume we offer you, the reader, perspectives on identity applied to seven specific topics.

Joe Halvorson’s introductory essay, entitled Who am I?, delves into some fundamental principles of identity formation. Building off of these principles, the next essay by Jean Heimann, Narrative and Universal Reinterpretation, discusses the role of narrative in forming religious identity and in conflicts. Elizabeth Lerohl’s essay, Identified through Destruction: Violence in the Fabric of Women’s Everyday Lives, expresses how narratives that direct violence against women, such as the Apocalypse, create a social context where violence is presumed to be an integral part of women’s identity. In Speaking Peacefully, Joshua Wopata warns against making the assumption that Islam can be generalized into one category. He entreats his audience to learn about the many groups within Islam and to identify them properly through correct terminology. Levi Bjork’s essay, In Search of a Muslim-American Identity, deals with the multiple identities of Muslims in the United States and the challenges to identifying oneself as both Muslim and American. In "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself," Joy Lipe interprets the meaning of neighbor and love as narrated in the Bible and proposes a Christian perspective on interfaith dialogue. In the final essay of the anthology, entitled Baptism: What Difference Does it Make?, Robert Franek discusses the identity of a baptized Christian and describes what responsibilities such an identity entails. Part of that identity, he asserts, is a response to the violence against women illustrated in the earlier essay by Elizabeth Lerohl.

In this anthology, Writing on Identity: Conflict, Construction, and Connection, we do not exhaust the definitions and perspectives on "identity," but we do hope to impress upon the reader the effects of identity on the personal, as well as religious and national levels. Identity is a complex and dynamic force at work in human lives. These essays illuminate the intricacies of identity in search of a better understanding of who we are and how to live.

Acknowledgments

The seminar participants wish to offer special tribute to Gregory L. Glover, Ph.D., editor at Westminster John Knox Press, who provided inspiration and technical guidance at the launching of this project.

Sister Irene Nowell, OSB, PhD., Old Testament Book Review Editor of Catholic Biblical Quarterly, instructed seminar participants on writing book reviews. Among the scholarly works cited in these essays are books reviewed by seminar participants.

Special thanks is expressed to the Concordia College Religion Department for providing an advanced seminar class to enhance the community of scholars among religion majors and to provide opportunity for advanced level work in the field of religion.

Table of Contents

Who am I?

Joe Halvorson

Narrative and Universal Reinterpretation

Jean Heimann

Identified through Destruction: Violence in the Fabric of Women's Everyday Lives

Elizabeth Lerohl

Speaking Peacefully

Joshua Wapata

In Search of a Muslim-American Identity

Levi Bjork

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

J. Joy Lipe

Baptism: What Difference Does it Make?

Robert A. Franek