https:\/\/acmcu.georgetown.edu\/announcements\/john-louis-esposito-1940-2026\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nJohn was an avid runner and aged well; he finished his race on Julyl 15, at the age of 86.<\/p>\n
I will be forever grateful to and for John Esposito, a scholar, a peacemaker, a leader, and friend.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/brianmclaren.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lg.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
If you knew John or read any of his works, or if you are curious to know more about him, I recommend these words from his wife, Jean, spoken at the end of his funeral mass, shared here\u00a0 with Jean\u2019s permission:<\/p>\n
Looking back on his life, I believe it\u2019s true to say that John had always been<\/p>\n
religious and spiritual at his core. Choosing to enter a strict monastery at<\/p>\n
14 and continuing his studies and prayer as a Capuchin Franciscan until<\/p>\n
age 24 gave him a deep experience of God and Spirit that would inform his<\/p>\n
life\u2019s work forever after.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
During his doctoral work at Temple University, grad students were required<\/p>\n
to study all of the world\u2019s great religions. As a result, John became<\/p>\n
fascinated with Islam, which is the second largest religion in the world,<\/p>\n
after Christianity. He discovered that Muslims are monotheists; they honor<\/p>\n
the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, including Abraham and Moses and in the<\/p>\n
New Testament Muslims revere Jesus, John the Baptist and the Virgin<\/p>\n
Mary. They also believe in Angels, Heaven, Hell and the Day of Judgment.<\/p>\n
Looking back on John\u2019s life and career as a scholar of Islam reminded me<\/p>\n
of a short ancient prayer, The Sarum Prayer, which comes from a liturgical<\/p>\n
rite dated as early as 1527. This prayer\u2019s focus is on God who dwells within<\/p>\n
us. I\u2019d like to share it with you.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Sarum Prayer is a Meditation that you can say over and over to<\/p>\n
deepen your conscious contact with the Spirit who is always with us.<\/p>\n
It goes like this:<\/p>\n
God be in my head \u2013 and in my understanding<\/strong><\/p>\nGod be in my eyes \u2013 and in my looking<\/strong><\/p>\nGod be in my mouth \u2013 and in my speaking<\/strong><\/p>\nGod be in my heart \u2013 and in my thinking<\/strong><\/p>\nGod be at my end \u2013 and at my departing<\/strong><\/p>\nThis first line, God be in my head and in my understanding,<\/strong> reflects so<\/p>\nmuch of John\u2019s life\u2019s work. We usually link the word \u201cunderstanding\u201d to<\/p>\n
thinking, but instead having Divine presence in our head requires<\/p>\n
something different. We need to think of what it feels like to be truly<\/p>\n
understood by someone. To ask God to be in my head and in my<\/p>\n
understanding is to be willing to understand someone or something from a<\/p>\n
different vantage point. It makes me remember the quote in Isaiah \u201cYour<\/p>\n
thoughts are not my thoughts\u201d or Jesus saying in Matthew, \u201cJudge not, lest<\/p>\n
you be judged\u201d. Throughout his long career as an Islamic scholar John\u2019s<\/p>\n
emphasis has been on helping us to see from a different vantage point, to<\/p>\n
better reach our goal of Muslim-Christian Understanding. This is a focus<\/p>\n
that John worked for most of his life and which, I believe, if taken seriously,<\/p>\n
would truly change our world.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second line of the Serum Prayer, \u201cGod be in my eyes and in my<\/strong><\/p>\nlooking\u201d<\/strong> reminds me of what John saw as he studied the interaction of<\/p>\nChristians and Muslim, past and present. John looked at the Muslim world<\/p>\n
and Muslims not from a narrow, frightful, hostile lens but from a wide<\/p>\n
perspective, within a broad context and then what he saw were the<\/p>\n
complex interactions and connections, positive and negative, of Christianity<\/p>\n
and Islam throughout history. And he communicated what he learned with<\/p>\n
humor and passion in classrooms, public speeches, interviews and<\/p>\n
writings. John was a talented communicator.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the third line of the Sarah prayer \u201cGod be in my mouth and in my<\/strong><\/p>\nspeaking\u201c<\/strong> I see that what came out of John\u2019s mouth was designed to<\/p>\ncounter fear, hatred and prejudice. John created a comfortable space for<\/p>\n
understanding, using humor and always giving us the context to deepen<\/p>\n
what we need to know about Muslims and the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the fourth line of the Sarum Prayer, \u201cGod be in my heart and in my<\/strong><\/p>\nthinking\u201d<\/strong> I think that true understanding kind of requires humility, being<\/p>\nconscious that we don\u2019t know everything and wanting to know it better.<\/p>\n
To ask for understanding is to ask for a different vantage point from our own.,<\/p>\n
to be willing to think with our heart. As Nader Hashmi said in his recent<\/p>\n
tribute, John \u201csought to understand and interpret religious politics not from<\/p>\n
the perspective of empire, but rather from the vantage point of the<\/p>\n
downtrodden, the occupied and the oppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Muslims worldwide have greatly appreciated John\u2019s understanding of their<\/p>\n
faith, but many wondered how someone who knew their religion so well did<\/p>\n
not become a Muslim himself. From another vantage point, John, as a<\/p>\n
spokesman for Islam, was in a unique position \u2013 he was a believing<\/p>\n
Christian, an outsider, who could represent Islam and Muslims to others of<\/p>\n
different faiths or no faith. He could present the truth fairly and objectively,<\/p>\n
without being accused of being biased or defensive and this is what he was<\/p>\n
created to do.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so we move to the last line of the Sarum Prayer \u201cGod be at my end<\/strong><\/p>\nand at my departing\u201c.<\/strong>I believe that God has always been with John and<\/p>\nespecially when John was leaving this world, I envision God holding him<\/p>\n
close and saying to him, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was writing my 2011 book on Christian identity in a multi-faith world (Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?), I came across the work of Dr. John Esposito. In many ways, John epitomized the message of the book: that it is possible, desirable, and needed for more Christians to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7045315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[207824,3201,12866],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7045312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-esposito","tag-john","tag-tribute"],"yoast_head":"\n
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