While I agree that it’s dangerous to simply start describing Lent as the Christian Ramadan, I think that precisely the differences between Lent and Ramadan could make such a comparison instructive, in the right context. Imagine a speaker series, perhaps somewhere on a college campus or in some sort of church/bible study group. Lecture 1 might be “What Christians can learn from Ramadan.” Lecture two might contrast Lent and Ramadan, reminding Christians of the penitential aspects of their religious tradition in general and the season of Lent in particular.

Even though it is not precisely correct to say that ‘Lent is the new Ramadan,’ I think that comparing and contrasting the two could be productive. The important thing is to advertise and make these claims in a way that doesn’t let people read “Lent is the new Ramadan” and just stop there, thus assuming that the Christians making such claims are conflating the two or what have you. To properly claim that Lent is the Christian Ramadan, one would have to say that it’s like Ramadan because it’s a season of particular religions intensity, but that it focuses on divine action rather than human responses to that action. So I’m still content with saying that Lent is the Christian Ramadan, as long as it doesn’t just stop there.

Related Posts

1. Lent is the new Ramadan(?)
2. Lent is the new Ramadan(?) (Part II)