by Nabeel Qureshi and Lee Strobel
( A few paragraphs from a Book Review)
...M- Main ArgumentsThroughout the book the reader is treated to a thorough education of Islam and the various sects therein. This reviewer was also surprised to learn the difference between Eastern Muslim thought and Western thought when it comes to the issue of authority. As Qureshi writes:
"People from Eastern Islamic cultures generally assess truth through lines of authority, not individual reasoning. Of course, individuals do engage in critical reasoning in the East, but on average, it is relatively less valued and less prevalent than in the West. Leaders have done the critical reasoning, and leaders know best. Receiving input from multiple sources and then critically examining the data to distill a truth is an exercise for specialists, not the common man." [p. 79]
This proved to be a hurdle that the author had to jump before he was able to properly investigate the questions of Jesus' deity and the historicity of His resurrection from the dead. This reviewer was very impressed with the author's ability to effortlessly weave issues of historical methodology and philosophical argumentation, such as inference to the best explanation, into his personal narrative.
Arguments and questions dealt with in the book are many:
- The historicity of Jesus' death on the cross
- Jesus' deity
- Jesus' resurrection from the dead
- Does the Trinity make sense?
- The reliability of the Quran vs. the Bible
- Does the atonement make sense?
- and more!
One of the many instructive points of the book for this reader was when the author explained why one cannot assume that the Quran is the Islamic equivalent to the Bible. Qureshi writes:
"If you can imagine God's mystery and wisdom, His power, depth, and perfection, His divine mandates and prophecies, all synergistically inhabiting the physical pages of a book, vivifying it with the very essence of God, you will begin to understand how and why Muslims revere the Quran...For Muslims, the Quran is the closet thing to an incarnation of Allah, and it is the very best proof they provide to demonstrate the truth of Islam. The best parallel in Christianity is Jesus himself, the Word made flesh, and his resurrection. That is how central the Quran is to Islamic theology." [p. 228]...
For the whole article of this book review, please click the link below.
No comments:
Post a Comment