Recommended Reading on Christianity and Islam
John R. Rose, 3/2002
Use this list with discretion. A recommendation here means that I have found the material is useful or
interesting, not necessarily that I agree with everything written in it!
Books
Healing the Broken Family of Abraham: New Life
for Muslims, Don McCurry — Recommended by
many in Christian missions as a guide for
understanding and witnessing to our Muslim
neighbors. The best backup guide for Doug
Johnson’s primary advice: “Love them, love them,
love them.” This book is for everyone.
I Dared to Call Him Father: The True Story of a
Woman’s Encounter with God, Bilquis Sheikh,
Richard H. Schneider — Lovely and compelling
story of a 46-year-old Pakistan mother whom Jesus
Christ called to faith. A study in the cost of
discipleship. Recommended by Francisco
Velasquez of Partners International.
Daughters of Islam : Building Bridges With Muslim
Women, Miriam Adeny — Recommended by
Francisco Velasquez of Partners International.
(Forthcoming book; no details on it at present.)
What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle
Eastern Response, Bernard Lewis — A recent book
(written just before last September) by the foremost
American scholar of the Middle East. An amazing
amount of historic, political, and cultural
observation in a small, fast-paced volume.
Discusses the cultural stagnation of Islam in the last
3-4 centuries. This sure-handed historian knows
how to avoid partisan blather and political
correctness. His observations can help us predict
the course of a resurgent Islam that is post-colonial,
post-Marxist, and materially powerful.
Recommended by Francisco Velasquez of Partners
International. If you read history, this is the one to
start with.
Waging Peace on Islam, Christine A. Mallouhi —
Goes to extremes to encourage the Western reader
to see things through the eyes of Muslims and Arab
Christians. This is an excellent exercise even if we
don’t agree with everything our neighbor thinks.
Includes a useful account of the anti-crusade of St.
Francis of Assisi. Many challenging insights.
Recommended by Dr. Robert Blincoe of
FRONTIERS.
Islam Revealed : A Christian Arab’s View of Islam,
Anis A. Shorrosh — Recommended by Doug
Johnson as a “debater’s manual”. Read McCurry’s
work first, because we are neighbors and friends
first, and debaters later, if ever. Contains a very
interesting transcript of the author’s debate with a
leading Muslim apologist, Ahmed Deedat.
Facing the Muslim Challenge: A Handbook of
Christian-Muslim Apologetics, John Gilchrist — A
slim little book with no wasted words, by a veteran
debater and writer. Excellently organizes
arguments and rebuttals. This is the one I’d actually
want in my hand on the front lines.
Answering Islam : The Crescent in Light of the
Cross, Norman L. Geisler, Abdul Saleeb —
Masterly Christian apologetic and debater’s manual.
The second author is a former Muslim. Contains
careful and logical evaluations of Muslim positions
and arguments. Very complete. R.C. Sproul rightly
calls it “a theological masterpiece.”
Selections from the Church Fathers
On the Trinity, St. Augustine
http://www.ccel.org/
fathers2/NPNF1-03/npnf1-03-07.htm
Excerpt: The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate
a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible
equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one
God: although the Father hath begotten the Son, and so He
who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by
the Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the
Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the
Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with
the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the
Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary,
and crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried, and rose again
the third day, and ascended into heaven, but only the Son.
On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius (of Egypt)
(modern translation, with an introduction by C.S. Lewis)
http://www.gty.org/~phil/history/ath-inc.htm
Excerpt: You must understand why it is that the Word of the
Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily
form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature,
far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been
manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the
love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men.
We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with
God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the
renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word
Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency
between creation and salvation for the One Father has
employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the
salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in
the beginning.
“Letter Against Apollinarius” (on the Incarnation)
St. Gregory Nazianzen
http://www.ccel.org/
fathers2/NPNF2-07/Npnf2-07-59.htm
Summary of forthcoming book of the same title.
Good discussion of the Trinity and comparison with
non-Christian ideas of God.
“The Character of God in Bible and Quran: A Study
In Contrasts”
(partial transcript of the Christian side of a debate)
http://answering-islam.org/God/character.html
Excerpt: For that which He has not assumed He has not
healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.
If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and
saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it
must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten,
and so be saved as a whole.
Five points, supported with excellent evidence:
According to Christian theology, God’s intimacy
with us, His suffering, His love to all, the
knowability of His character, His holiness.
Contrasted with Muslim theological suppositions
about God, of masterful solitude, aloofness from
grief, conditional love to the righteous,
transcendantly final incomprehensibility, arbitrary
forgiveness of sin.
“Letter to the Ephesians” (chapter 7)
Ignatius (of Antioch)
http://www.ccel.org/
fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-16.htm
“Our Approach to Islam: Charity or Militancy?”
John Gilchrist
http://answering-islam.org/
Gilchrist/charity.html
Excerpt: But our Physician is the only true God, the
unbegotten and unapproachable, the Lord of all, the Father and
Begetter of the only- egotten Son. We have also as a
Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the onlybegotten Son and Word, before time began, but who
afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For `the
Word was made flesh.’ Being incorporeal, He was in the
body; being impassible, He was in a passible body; being
immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became
subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death
and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to
health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked
lusts.
Makes the case against answering Islam in kind
with violent militance. Sets a truthful foundation
for Christian apologetics toward Muslims. “There
is no need for a militant approach towards such a
people when the majority of them will warmly
respond to love, kindness and compassion.” Deals
carefully with the “God == Allah” problem.
Ignatius, bishop at Antioch, was martyred in Rome
around A.D. 100.
Articles and Resources on the Web
The Day That Death Will Die
Yusuf Abdallah (?)
http://injil.org/Kalimatullah/deathsday.html
Clear presentation of the Gospel for devout
Muslims, starting from principles and authorities
they recognize, and proceeding (without trickery) to
the New Testament. An example of the sort of
Bible study material that is winning converts in the
Islamic world. The whole web site is a remarkable
example of transcultural Christianity.
“Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?”
Timothy George
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
ct/2002/002/1.28.html
“Study of the Word “Love” in the Quran”
Farid Mahally
http://answering-islam.org/
Quran/Themes/love.htm
Excerpt: While we certainly concede that God is indeed
[One], we contend with the Muslim in asking for a definition.
“One what?” Their reply would be “One God, for God is
unknowable except through His will. We can know nothing
about the nature of God except through the command He has
given through His prophet. We can only do His will, we
cannot know Him.
Here is where the strongest point of difference is most
pronounced between Christianity and Islam. The Quran is a
revelation of God’s will that is to be obeyed by His creation.
The Bible is a revelation of the Person and character of God. It
is here where we find what God is like and what that means in
our relation to Him. God is Spirit, God is Light, God is Love,
are all statements of the revelation of God’s person and
character.
Noteworthy Books — Use Discernment
http://www.submission.org/islam/memo.html
Among the Believers
V.S. Naipaul
A noble exercise in moral sanity.
Beautifully written traveler’s account of four
modern Muslim cultures, as experienced “on the
street”. This Nobel laureate writes strongly of
Islam’s mingled fascination and rejection of
modernity.
The Koran Interpreted : A Translation
A. J. Arberry (Tr.)
Recommended by Don McCurry. An appropriately
“poetic” translation. Dr. McCurry advises reading
the Koran not as a way of engaging in debates
(probably fruitlessly) with Muslims, but as a way to
love them better by understanding the theological
origins of their world view.
Jihad in the West : Muslim Conquests from the 7th
to the 21st Centuries
Paul Fregosi
Reasonably balanced and complete history of
military conflicts in the West involving Muslims.
Irreverent and crude at times. Not suitable for
theological apologetics, but excellent for gaining
perspective about one of the West’s all time favorite
self-flagellations, the Crusades.
Why I am Not a Muslim
Ibn Warraq
A freethinker’s manifesto in the tradition of
Bertrand Russell’s Why I am Not a Christian.
Unlike Russell’s book, encyclopedic in scope and
elaborately documented. Contains plenty of
positions repugnant to both Christians and Muslims,
but sometimes helpful with research. The man
shows a lonely resolve to do what he can to resist
today’s fascist movements; sadly, he has given up
on monotheism altogether.
Noteworthy Items on the Web — Use
Discernment
Your best source for ISLAM (SUBMISSION) on
the Internet
http://www.submission.org/home.html
Well-organized, moderate Muslim instruction and
apologetic site. Prominently displayed a clear
condemnation of Daniel Pearl’s killers (3/02).
“A Memo to American Muslims”
M. A. Muqtedar Khan
Excerpt: I am writing this memo to you all with the explicit
purpose of inviting you to lead the American Muslim
community in soul searching, reflection and reassessment....
The worst exhibition of Islam happened on our turf. We must
take first responsibility to undo the evil it has manifest. This is
our mandate, our burden and also our opportunity.
“Yes, This is About Islam”
Salman Rushdie:
http://www.faithfreedom.org/
this_is_about_islam.htm
A call from a famous Muslim writer for “the
restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal,
its depoliticization.” Good description of the nontheological “mulch” of ideas and practices which
nurture the Muslim world-view. Note: His relations
to Islam are fragile; he was put under an Iranian
death sentence for disrespect to Islam.
“Is Islam a peace-loving religion?”
http://answering-islam.org/
Terrorism/peace-loving.html
Adequately debunks the now-popular equation
“Islam = peace”, using the foundational Islamic
documents (Quran and Hadith). Explains the key
interpretive (exegetical) concept of “abrogation”,
which renders inoperative the “peace-making”
verses of the Quran.
“My View of Islam”
Franklin Graham
http://www.covenantnews.com/graham.htm
Excerpt: While as Christians we disagree with Islamic
teachings, if we obey the teachings of Jesus we will love all
Muslims.... But I decry the evil that has been done in the
name of Islam, or any other faith--including Christianity. I
agree with President Bush that as a country we are at war with
terrorists, not with Islam. But as a minister, not a politician, I
believe it is my responsibility to speak out against the terrible
deeds that are committed as a result of Islamic teaching.
“What We’re Fighting For: A Letter from America”
David Blankenhorn et al., 2/12/2002 (manifesto in
Propositions)
http://www.propositionsonline.com/
Latest/Fighting_For/fighting_for.html
Sixty scholars make the moral case for the war on
terrorism, using the natural law tradition and the
ideals of “just war” and “civil society”. A careful
and hopeful exercise in moral discrimination and
bridge-building.
“The Palestinian Vision of Peace”
Yasser Arafat, 2/2002 (op-ed in Jordan Times)
http://www.middleeastwire.com/
palestine/stories/20020204_meno.shtml
Reaffirms P.A. position of record for Oslo Accords
and against terrorism.
“Thoughts about America””
Edward Said, 2/2002 Al-Ahram Weekly (Cairo)
http://www.ahram.org.eg/
weekly/2002/575/op2.htm
Objections to the “sermon” of Blankenhorn at al.,
and fears of a new McCarthyism among his fellow
intellectuals.
Mr. Said is a distinguished Palestinian man of
letters, educated at Harvard and Princeton. His
Christian ethnicity is sometimes mentioned by
Muslims who cite him as an ally. His positions
seem to be typical of a secular intellectual of the
Left, for whom the world is most threatened by
Western global hegemony, and who excuses all
other aggressors with a rhetoric of moral
equivalence. He is famous in some circles for
arguing that Western academics like Bernard Lewis
cannot study the East objectively.
“Declaration by The Coalition for the Defense of
Human Rights Affirming the Dangers of Radical
Islamism and a Call to Recognize the Historical
Oppression of Religious Minorities Subjected to
this Racist-like Practice.”
http://www.dhimmi.com/declaration.htm
The title says it all. Clearly spells out the past and
present oppressions of the “Radical Islamists”, and
takes issue with their theology of jihad.
Islam: The True Religion of God
Osama Abdallah
http://answering-islam.com
Small pro-Islam web site placed to attract visitors to
answering-islam.org. Contains a tribute to the
“misunderstood hero” Osama bin Laden. Noted
here for its similarity to http://answering-islam.org/.