I've just finished reading James
White's newest book, What Every Christian Needs to Know About the
Quran. James White is director
of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a reformed protestant apologetics
ministry, and is an elder of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church of
Phoenix, Arizona. I'll admit to being something of a “fan” Pastor
White; on the many issues on which he and I agree I frequently find
his work incredibly helpful; on the issues where he and I disagree I
generally find his arguments among the most challenging to overcome
and argue against. This book falls, largely, into the first category
and certainly is one that I found very helpful and which, I imagine,
I will be returning to many times in the future.
One
note that should be made, the book's intended audience is made clear
in its title. If you are a non-Christian considering reading this
book, you should realise that it is not really written for you. This
is not to say that such a reader will get nothing out of this book;
if you are a Muslim wishing to understand why Christians reject what
you believe to be God's word or if you are neither a Christian nor a
Muslim but have an interest in inter-religious debate, then you will
almost certainly find this book of interest. Such readers, however,
should be aware that they are not the target audience of this book.
(Although, keep in mind, this advice comes from an adult male whose
current favourite T.V. show has a target audience of pre-teen girls.)
It
should be added, if you are looking for a neutral or “dispassionate”
discussion of the Quran, you should look elsewhere. This is not to
say that the book is dishonest or unscholarly, but it is very much
the work of a Christian apologist whose aim is to make the case, to
Muslims, for the claims of
Christianity
and to assist other Christians in doing the same.
I'm
aware of a review of the book on Amazon which argues that the book
would be more accurately called “What Every Christian Scholar
Should Know About the Quran.” In this person's opinion, the book is
too complex for the average lay reader. I disagree. I think a
reasonably intelligent person without any scholarly background in
religion should be able to understand what is being said. Having said
that, I will give this warning, White does expect his reader to be
able to follow an argument over the course of a chapter; if you are
one of those people whose response to any argument longer than a page
is “tl:dr” then this book is probably not for you.
The
first three chapters give a brief introduction to the Quranic text
and the history of the Quran's being written. The real polemic begins
with chapter four. In this chapter, White looks at the Quran's
handling of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. White's argument
is clear and, it seems to me, compelling: the author of the Quran
seems to have believed that the Trinity meant worship of Allah, Jesus
and Mary as three separate Gods. By the time of Mohammed, the actual
Christian teaching was well defined and, even assuming this doctrine
to be erroneous, one would expect God to know what that doctrine was.
From this, we can reasonably conclude that the Quran is not the word
of an omniscient God.
The
next several chapters consider a number of different subjects but
all make arguments similar to that advanced in chapter four. These
chapters consider topics such as the crucifixion of Christ, the
relationship of the Quran to the Gospels and the alleged prophecies
of Mohammed in the Bible. In each chapter, White argues that the
Quran makes claims about history, Christian belief and the Christian
scriptures which simply will not stand up to scrutiny.
At
this point, I should mention one place where the differences between
Catholicism and Protestantism substantially effect the argument.
Chapter seven deals with the question of salvation in the Quran. This
is not really the place to go into the long standing differences
between Protestant and Catholics over soteriology but I will say
this: White lays out what he calls the arbitrary role of God in
pardoning whom he chooses in Islam, and contrasts this with the
Reformed Protestant view of God pardoning the elect because Christ
has been punished in their place. White argues that Islam gives no
grounds on which a holy God can forgive sinners while still allowing
His justice to be satisfied. As I said, this is not the place to go
into such question in depth but I must add that I think, to many
readers, it will be less than obvious that justice is truly satisfied
in the punishment of an innocent, even if willing, victim.
The
final two chapters deal with the alleged perfection of the Quran.
Chapter ten examines the evidence that the Quran, contrary to
orthodox Islamic claims, was influenced by apocryphal Jewish,
Christian and even gnostic legends while chapter eleven gives a brief
over-view of the early history of the Quaric textual transmission. I
found chapter eleven one of the best parts of the book and think
White did an excellent job showing how many difficulties are raised
in claiming, with any degree of certainty, that the Quran we
currently posses is what Mohammed originally wrote.
All
told, I think this is a fine book which I would recommend to any
Christian seeking to better share his or her faith with Muslim
neighbours.
