Map is Not Territory (part three of a three-part series)

Grad school at the University of Chicago found me wading through Jonathan Z. Smith’s essays on religion titled, Map is Not Territory. I can only remember a handful of its articles, but the title of the book stuck with me.

Smith’s title reminds us that our sacred texts are maps, maps that point to a reality beyond their descriptions. The Bible that we revere paints a picture for us of the God who created, sustains, redeems, and desires a relationship with us. Always, though, the words of the Bible point beyond them-self to One who calls us to Himself.

A few years ago, I learned the hard way that maps matter. My wife and I planned to meet across town at a restaurant that, while off-the-beaten path, promised to be well worth the search. Setting out from different sides of town, she wisely plotted the course on her smart phone using the app ‘Google Maps’, while I asked Siri to take me there via ‘Apple Maps.’

After a wild goose chase concocted in an evil conspiracy between Siri and ‘Apple Maps’ I didn’t arrive at the restaurant until an hour later. Had I not turned off Siri’s cheery voice and shifted to Google Maps, I might never have arrived.

Christians and Muslims may seek the same God, the same ultimate destination for their life’s and faith’s journey, but they have different maps to get there. For Christians, our map is the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For Muslims, their map is the Qur’an interpreted through the traditions of the Hadith.

We Christians believe our map is right, divinely inspired, infallible. Muslims believe the same thing about theirs. Our maps are different, and our maps are important, for they determine our understanding, our behavior, and ultimately our destination. But at the end of the day, our maps are not God; our maps are not territory. There is a God who is the destination of our desires and devotion. In our desired destination, Muslims and Christians may seek, desire, and even worship the same God, but it doesn’t mean we are on the same path.

Just as my wife and I sought the same ultimate destination, and pursued it with equal determination, so too Muslims and Christians may desire the same God. What separates us is not a different God, but different maps. We can disagree over maps, without attacking one another’s motives or ultimate desire to worship God.

This is why Christians must share the gospel, because it is in the gospel that God has revealed to us His way of salvation, His pathway to relationship. This is the map, the gospel map, that God has given to us. Following its pathway has introduced us to Jesus Christ, to God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation, and through Him the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. For whatever good or bad or ultimate desires Muslims may have, their map does not include these indispensable elements of the gospel map that we follow.

This is not to say that Muslims do not desire or seek the same Destination as us. Their faith and desire may seek the same God that we worship. The God of all creation is evident to any and all of God’s creatures.  As the Apostle Paul reminds us, creation is a pretty good map: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).

Creation itself points Muslims, and all mankind, to the one true God. Just because creation is deficient and doesn’t reveal to us the Trinity, or the Incarnation, or the gospel, we don’t dismiss the unknown Creator as a different god, do we?

To know God as Savior, Redeemer, and Friend – that requires a gospel map. A gospel map is God’s gift to Christians, and is the responsibility of Christians to share with all humanity. This is why our map remains vitally important. It reveals aspects of God that we could never acquire apart from it.

If our map has brought us to salvation, then this is no credit to us. For truly it was given by grace. God didn’t give us this map because He loves us more than He loves Muslims. God gave us this map, so that we would share it with Muslims who may desire a relationship with that same God, yet lack the map that we possess, the map that would lead them to life eternal.

David Garrison, PhD
Executive Director, Global Gates