The Book Depository What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an by James R. White
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Description: What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an : Paperback : Baker Publishing Group : 9780764209765 : 0764209760 : 01 May 2013 : What the Qur'an teaches about Christ, salvation, the Trinity, and other important topics, and how it differs from the key teachings of the Bible. The Book Depository What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an by James R. White - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780764209765
MPN: 0764209760
GTIN: 9780764209765
Author: Dave
Rating: 5
Review: Readable and enlightening, White's writes a great introduction to the Islamic holy book for Christians expecting something similar to the Old and New Testaments. If you are a Christian with a high view of what scripture can achieve, get ready for the fact that it is competing *hadith* traditions (explaining the basic schisms in Islam) which are necessary to do a lot of the interpretative work of understand Allah's word, not Allah's word itself. The Jewish/Christian idea that "scripture interprets scripture", which even within Christian theology presents a problematic/creative tension for the mind searching for God, seems completely foreign to the way Muslims are invited to read the Qur'an. This means that the tradition of men who come after Muhammed can dictate the meaning of the raw text from God. White should write a follow up book exploring the politics of early Islam in greater detail as the fallings-out and genealogies seem vastly important in explaining modern Islamic sects - but this book is a fantastic start. The divergence in what the two 'holy scriptures' actually do was what struck me the most between. I would buy this book solely because White explores the core of how the two theological systems approach their scriptures, and what this means in the life of the believer. White's book also primes us for the fact that it is Allah's messenger who talks once and finally for Allah, in contrast to the Christian's mini-library of various genres, purposes, and languages comprising a cosmic playbook of how evil was once and decisively defeated in Jesus. In this way, the Bible is like a prism through which a ray of divine revelation can be split into different colours according to the human authors; whereas revelation in the Qur'an is more like a ray of divine light pure white shining straight into our eyes, through the window of Muhammed (after the two blurry abortive rays of the Torah and the Injil (gospel) were given for some reason through the earlier and lesser prophets of Allah). The themes get you thinking about the question of why did Jesus never stop to think of penning his own biography after his resurrection, or an updated authoritative account of scripture by the Son of God himself. Why did the Christian God leave his public relations division in the hands of confusing and confused limited authors with different literary purposes, religious expectations, political agendas and even beliefs? The 35-40 different biblical voices are in contrast to Islam, where you have one authority and voice from God, in the language Allah has from eternity past been speaking (apparently the Arabic of the days of Muhammed and Uthman, and of their precise region, a truly fantastic coincidence). White also looks at the compilation and textual issues of the Qur'an, including mysterious missing verses and the adventures of hungry pet sheep sniffing through leaves of sacred writings during funeral preparations. Indeed, White takes us through a few interesting stories and observations while discussing the Qur'an's genesis. White is good at explaining the relationship that the first two out of three revelations have with on the third and final one, and some intriguing verses in the Qur'an stating that those who believe the first two revelations (Jews and Christians) can be considered true Muslims, no questions asked (as per Surah 2:62, 5:69 and other places). But of course these inclusive verses meet friction with other teachings and commands of Allah within the book, like Surah 5:51 in particular, and 9:73. Also, White's history of Muhammed and the early Muslims is insightful and he makes interesting parallels with the early church, or at least sets you up to think about it for yourself. White writes from a Christian perspective, and readily acknowledges the limitations that go with this. However, having studied both theologies in detail, it is refreshing that White does not play down the differences with a postmodern, saccharine synthesis of the two very different faiths, but respectfully states key areas of difference and agreement and why it matters. One last thing to Christians, atheist etc reading the reviews: bridge the gap! Get this brilliant book right now and learn how your neighbours, comprising a huge chunk of the world's population, think about and interact with their scripture, and therefore with their God. A highly recommended read, especially for beginners like me. What better way to have a new kind of conversation with Muslim friends than to tell them your favourite parts from their own holy book, or a part you would like to know more about?
Author: Rich Clarke
Rating: 4
Review: I've only just started reading this but so far I've already learnt a lot about this key issue. Christians are living in an era where more and more we are rubbing shoulders with our Muslim brothers and sisters and understanding where they are coming from in terms of their holy text is so important if we are going to have helpful conversations. This book aims to help us do exactly that. As other reviewers have mentioned there is a lot of large chunks of the Qur'an quoted which can make for tricky reading but James White does well to explain what key points the reader was supposed to draw from the text. I look forward to slowly making my way through the book
