GroshLink

A friend passed along an introductory reading recommendations for followers of Christ seeking to understanding the Islamic faith given by a friend who is currently having many converations with Islamic scholars and students.  May you find the list a blessing as you share your life in Church across faith and culture.

1.  For a single volume I would recommend Colin Chapman's Cross and Crescent which is being re-released in February (IVP). I have the '95 edition, and I'm not sure what is new, but this volume strikes the right tone between information and witness and concentrates on proper attitude, which is so important. Must reading at the introductory level. After every chapter it also has recommended reading if the student wants to go deeper [Note: An InterVarsity Press (IVP) book tops the list!]

2.  Then, probably Michael Nazir-Ali's Islam: A Christian Perspective (Westminster Press) is good especially for history of Islam.

3. A shorter classic is by David Shenk in conversation with a Muslim, Badru Kateregga in A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue. David is very successful partly because he takes a very irenic approach (owing to his Mennonite background) . . .

4. Kenneth Cragg. He's probably too intellectual for most, but anything he has written is worthwhile. He's now about 97 years old but still lecturing from time to time at Oxford, his mind keen as ever, although he now gets around in a wheelchair. Call of the Minaret is still a classic and useful. He is writing from the Christian perspective, but gets into the emic side of Islam like few others, and most Muslims find he understands Islam better than they. Extraordinary.

Previous posts which relate to Islam-Christianity include:

June 8, 632
London: Muslim Gateway to the West
Prophet Muhammed in the Context of the Abrahamic Traditions