Brilliant, careful, challenging (but long) reflective article on Islamism here, by Colin Chapman.
Colin is a Christian scholar of Islam with first-hand experience of living in the ME.
UPDATE: my friend Steve Bell weighs in on the question whether Islam is "the problem"?
6 comments:
Hi Peter
While Colin’s analysis is useful as far as it goes, it is of no practical use to Governments or decision makers in dealing with the reality of Islamic Jihad at home.
We can agree (or disagree) with Colin’s analysis, and there is much he says that I agree with. However, we no longer have the time for academic papers on this issue, we need Godly, just practical solutions. At the very least we need solutions that take into account the security concerns of Europeans whose children are now being slaughtered on the front line.
There is the danger of Christians demonising ALL Muslims - for what they see as the Muslim tendency towards violence. We only have to look back in history to see the very reverse of this during the Crusades.
'Handsome is as handsome does' - as the saying goes. For instance: the internecine religious conflicts in the former Yugoslavia are still freash in the minds of some former citizens I know, personlly, whose roots have been in different camps in those terrible days. They are now grateful to be able to live together in peace in N.Z.
We have to be careful that our 'religious' opposition to Muslims, per se, does not create a similar situation in New Zealand. I take hope from responsible religious leaders in Britain and Europe who meet together with the deliberate intention of peaceful co-existence. I cannot help thinking that tyhis might be what Jesus wants.
As a former Franciscan, I have in mind the meeting of St. Francis of Assisi with the Caliph in the time of the Crusades. Peace was able to beget peace; a Gospel initiative
Peter,
Re your Update:
The glaring omission from Steve Bell’s analysis is any focus on the teaching and example of Islam and Christianity’s founders.
When Christians have killed and slaughtered innocents in the name of Christ, they did so in violation of Jesus teaching and example. When Muslims engage in violent jihad and slaughter against the infidel, the apostate and the heretic, they do with the endorsement of Mohammad’s teaching and example.
Mohammad was a man who personally beheaded captives, took sex slaves and engaged in violent jihad. You could not separate his actions from those of ISIS today.
This difference between Jesus and Mohammad’s teaching and example cannot be ignored as Steve Bell has chosen to do, as it provides the context for the Manchester bombings, Paris, Brussels, Boston, London, and more, much more.
Expanding on Brendan’s comments. I have had the good fortune to meet and talk with the likes of Max Warren, Michael Nazir Ali, Kenneth Cragg, Stephen Neill, and even Colin Chapman when he came to Wycliffe Hall once, and have read a number of their books, notably on Islam. For all that, one of the very best reads for my money is this: Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (Zondervan, expanded ed. 2016).
For at root, there’s the simple matter of the truth. Either Jesus is (only) a Prophet as Islam claims, or he is as Christianity claims: God in the flesh, as a human being, fulfilling the covenants Yahweh made with Israel. Of course, there is a third logical option: Jesus was neither of these ... And if that is one’s conclusion, then a whole lot of other stuff demands - yes, demands - an explanation ... Again, for truth’s sake.
I can agree, I read Nabeel's book at Bryden's recommendation some time back and it is very helpful for gaining an understanding of Islam. I think he has also put out another book on Jihad.
Brendan--
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/world/middleeast/cia-iran-dark-prince-michael-dandrea.html?
Bowman Walton
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