Time for a long deep breath

What do we actually know about Islam?

By David Daniels and ChristianWeek | November 15, 2010

Now that the media frenzy around Florida Pastor Terry Jones has dissipated—remember his world-mesmerizing threat to burn copies of the Qur'an on September 11?—we should all take a slow, deep breath and reflect upon what it is we actually know about Islam.

According to ReligousTolerance.org, Islam garners the allegiance of 23 per cent of the world's population—that translates to 1.57 billion people. For Christians committed to the Great Commission, "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), this demands a sane, balanced approach to engaging Muslims around the world.

Three recently published books provide background and counsel for effective Christian engagement with Muslims, as well as explaining many facets of Islamic belief and practice.

Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East: Ambassadors of Christ or Culture? (Peter Pikkert, WEC Canada, 2008), is an excellent historical study of nearly two centuries of Muslim-Christian engagement in the Middle East. Pikkert is uniquely positioned to write this history, having spent more than 25 years living and working in Middle Eastern countries as a teacher, translator and writer.

Pikkert believes effective Christian engagement with Middle East Muslims requires a big picture view of Muslim-Christian conversation. He provides that picture by tracing Muslim-Christian interaction through the 19th and 20th centuries, paying close attention to the politics, social norms, beliefs and practices of those respective eras. The first four chapters explore defined periods, each chapter concluding with an assessment of the missiological implications arising from what took place. In too many cases, Christian outreach in the Middle East was heavily burdened by western cultural baggage. The fifth and final chapter discusses the way forward, calling for a "Church-centred New Testament Spirituality."

Regarding the importance of this big picture, Pikkert writes: "Although missionaries to the Middle East may not perceive themselves as heirs of a troubled legacy, the people to whom they seek to minister do (author's emphasis) see them in that light."

Pikkert's meticulously written history, available through Amazon.com, deserves careful study by all who would endeavour to bring the gospel into conversation with Muslims. It is a valuable resource for understanding the foundation and background to current Muslim-Christian relationships. It is, in my view, the starting place for any Christian intent on knowing how to engage Muslims in Christian conversation.

Muslims, Christians, and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships (Carl Medearis, Bethany House, 2008) is a popular level look at Islam. Major areas explored include Islam's "Pillars of Faith" as practiced by contemporary Muslims, what the Qur'an says about women, how Muslims view Jesus and the Christian Bible, and effective ways Christians might engage Muslims in spiritual conversation.

Medearis, who has extensive life experience with Muslims (he lived in Lebanon for 12 years), successfully helps readers understand major parts of Islam, encouraging a healthy respect for Muslims. This is an admirable goal, but I suspect more than a few conservative Christians will find it disconcerting that none of the author's examples of sharing Christ with Muslims involves one coming to an unqualified commitment to the faith as revealed in the New Testament. And while the author rightly contends that the new birth is a miracle of the Holy Spirit, readers may come away wondering whether or not Medearis thinks an unqualified exclusive commitment to Jesus alone is even an issue of concern.

Between Allah & Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims (Peter Kreeft, IVP, 2010) is a novel approach to explaining how Christians can benefit from Muslim beliefs and practices. Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, uses fictional dialogues between a pious Muslim and various Christians to help explain major points of Islamic theology and ethics.

As a Catholic teaching at a Catholic institution, Kreeft's Christianity is a Roman Catholicism that is "neither left nor right, neither liberal (or modernist) Christianity nor fundamentalism." It is important to keep this in mind, for Kreeft's Christianity will not always match the expectations of evangelical Christians.

Through skillfully developed dialogues readers explore Islamic views of religion, western culture, Jesus and Mohammad, morality and theology, surrender, loving and fearing God, who goes to heaven, liberals and conservatives, sexual morality, politics, war and pacifism, Jihad, evolution, abortion and compassion.
"As a Christian," writes Kreeft, "I say Islam crucially lacks the Cross, and Christ, and his radical love. But as a Christian I also say Islam has great and deep resources of morality and sanctity that should inspire us and shame us and prod us to admiration and imitation."

According to Canada's 2001 census, there were 579,740 Muslims in Canada, just under two per cent of the population. In 2006, the Muslim population was estimated to be 783,700 or about two and a half per cent [Wikipedia.org]. As the world's fastest growing religion, and now the second largest world religion, Islam is in Canada to stay. Canadian Christians must be willing and able to effectively and respectfully engage their Muslim neighbours.