22AR27-22

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AR 27:22 - Philosophical concern about the next century

In this issue:

ISLAM - "missiological wisdom" or an "unapologetic polemic"?

NEW TESTAMENT INTERPRETATION - the influence of its "Jewish roots"

PHILOSOPHY - the decline of classical liberalism and the enduring influence of Christ

Apologia Report 27:22 (1,575)
June 16, 2022

ISLAM

The Qur'an and the Christian: An In-Depth Look into the Book of Islam for Followers of Jesus, by Matthew Aaron Bennett (Missions and Theology, Cedarville University) -- as Kregel Publications describes it, "Bennett blends the insights of Islamic believers, secular Qur'an scholars, and missionaries to Muslims, making The Qur'an and the Christian like no other resource for Christian ministry to Muslims. Combining these perspectives in one guide better equips Christians to communicate the biblical gospel to friends and neighbors who are adherents to Islam - both in and out of majority-Muslim cultures. ... This book will help Christians learn how to explore Islamic faith with missiological wisdom and biblical precision."

The table of contents is also worth a look. Bennett addresses:

* - How the Qur'an came to be, including Muhammed and the Qur'an's textual precursors

* - The major themes of the Qur'an and how these shape the practice of Islam

* - The presence of Bible characters, Jews, and Christians in the Qur'anic text

* - Whether and how a Christian should read the Qur'an

* - Avoiding miscommunication with Muslims when Qur'anic and Christian teachings seem to overlap <www.bit.ly/3tG0DUe>

An (unhelpfully) unnamed Publishers Weekly reviewer (Mar 14 '22) finds that Bennett "offers a flawed conservative Christian critique of the Quran. Though Bennett exhorts Christians to read the Quran as an act of 'neighborly love' and 'for understanding, communication, and comparison,' this volume forgoes neutrality and empathy for dubious analysis emphasizing the 'fundamental dissimilarity' between the religions. One of the central differences, Bennett posits, is that Muslims please God through the act of ethical living while Christians can only please God after accepting Jesus as their savior. The author engages in biased readings of Islamic scripture and tradition, such as when he distorts the definition of the Sunnah (the traditions and practices of the prophet Muhammad) or reductively frames Islamic obligatory prayer (salat) by its divergence from Christian prayer. Bennett does provide some insight into the structure, arrangement, and rhetorical features of the Islamic holy book (noting, for example, its use of inference and rhetorical questions to impart its teachings), but the end result is a narrow-minded, error-ridden take on the Quran that many Muslims will neither recognize nor appreciate, and will leave Christians with an incorrect impression of the text and faith." <www.bit.ly/3zC0V1Z>

So what's behind the conflict here? Is it simple bias? If so, are both at fault? Either way, to what degree? Then again, is PW just grousing after reading someone else's mail?

Worth noting: Bennett is also the author of 40 Questions About Islam (Kregel Academic, 2020) and a reviewer for The Gospel Coalition (see, for example, his December 30, 2020 appraisal <www.bit.ly/3OjWOf0> of A Concise Guide to the Qur'an by Ayman Ibrahim.)

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NEW TESTAMENT INTERPRETATION

A Handbook on the Jewish Roots of the Gospels, Craig Evans and David Mishkin, eds. <www.bit.ly/3N3skOo> -- Hendrickson Publishers' promo explains: "Scholarship in the last fifty years has been greatly enhanced by the recognition of the Jewishness of both the historical Jesus and the life and teachings of the apostle Paul. But the Gospels themselves, the texts that preserve the words and deeds of Jesus, have not been subject to the same level of consideration in this regard. Until now. This book surveys the historical, theological, and practical issues that arise when the Gospels are read as Jewish literature." The Handbook "is split into five sections: Textual Roots Intertextual Roots Narrative Roots Theological Roots Intercultural Roots Written by an international group of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus as Messiah." Contributors include Daniel M. Gurtner, Darrell Bock, Sheila Gyllenberg, Craig L. Blomberg, Eckhard J. Schnabel, Catherine Sider-Hamilton, Mark L. Strauss, and Michael L. Brown.

This may leave people looking for something to supplement the above for the rest of the New Testament. The spring 2022 publishing cycle also includes the Thomas Nelson trade paperback release of Mysteries of the Messiah: Unveiling Divine Connections from Genesis to Today, by Jason Sobel <www.bit.ly/3LUyije> (founder, Fusion Global). <www.bit.ly/3wUe1F3>

Sobel is credited as ordained by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations; with a B.A. in Jewish Studies from Moody; and an M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Southeastern Seminary. Apart from his role as a regular "prophetic" contributor on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Sobel is perhaps most widely known as a Spiritual Advisor for "The Chosen" TV Series. The publisher's promo for Mysteries of the Messiah emphasizes that the book:

* - uncovers connections between the Old and New Testaments

* - connects the dots for readers with details about Jesus, the Torah, biblical characters, and

* - is written with the unique perspective of a rabbi with an evangelical theological degree

Would that the above Handbook included an annotated bibliography which fills the gap, although the promotional material doesn't appear to suggest this.

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POLITICAL THEORY

Writing for The Gospel Coalition on May 10, Trevin Wax calls attention to commentary about the book A World After Liberalism, by Matthew Rose. <www.bit.ly/3xanJDq> New York Times columnist Ezra Klein reviews the book with this headline: "The Enemies of Liberalism Are Showing Us What It Really Means" (Apr 3 '22) <www.nyti.ms/3HlRIgb> (paywalled).

Wax observes that Rose "claims liberalism (the shared assumptions of human dignity, universal rights, individualism, and democracy) is on the decline...." No argument there. "This new form of anti-liberal critique is multicultural, celebrating cultural difference, seeking to preserve the uniqueness of various peoples, and rejecting sentimental, globalist pieties. Some of these critics of liberalism find Christianity to blame, at least in part, for the current malaise. ...

Klein describes the anti-liberal critique of Christianity, describing the counterintuitive appeal: 'Christianity ... gleams with a light it often lacks in today's politics, and even in its pews: Here is a religion that insists on the dignity of all people and centers the poor and the marginalized. [Anti-liberals] fear Christianity because they fear it cannot be tamed; even when the leaders they admire try to subvert it for their own purposes, it infects their societies with a latent egalitarianism, setting a trap that will inevitably be sprung.'"

Wax responds that Klein "is right to note that the liberal order often leads to a warped view of the past, one that constantly confronts us with the failures and deficiencies of previous generations, as if we alone are morally enlightened. ...

"You cannot fit Christianity comfortably into the vision of 'moral and intellectual progress' at the core of the Enlightenment experiment. Its vision of the future is altogether different."

Back to Klein: "What I, as an outsider to Christianity, have always found most beautiful about it is how strange it is. Here is a worldview built on a foundation of universal sin and insufficiency, an equality that bleeds out of the recognition that we are all broken, rather than that we must all be great."

Wax points out that Klein's is a "profound description of the beauty and strangeness of Christianity. Klein is right to see the emphasis on universal sin and insufficiency, and he's right to desire the equality that bleeds out of the recognition that we are all broken.

"And yet Christianity is stranger and more beautiful still. ... The foundation is not sin and insufficiency, but grace and salvation.

"There's a reason why liberal democracies have risen first and foremost in places suffused with Christian assumptions and presuppositions (see Tom Holland's Dominion <www.bit.ly/3xq5Z72> for an overview) and why the attempts to build nations in the Middle East and elsewhere have run into significant headwinds. Our liberal democracy takes for granted Christian assumptions.

"The more our society veers away from those assumptions, the harder it becomes to sustain the liberal project. We are, as Os Guinness has said, 'a cut-flower civilization.' We've cut ourselves off from the roots of truth, dignity, freedom, and equality, hoping that the fumes of our Christian heritage will sustain a new secular order without the moral and metaphysical underpinnings that gave rise to this worldview in the first place. It won't work."

Wax concludes that "whatever may happen in the next century, I can rest assured that the church will still be around, surviving and thriving...." <www.bit.ly/3Q7CjE3>

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