Allah

A Christian Response

Talking Points

From one of the world’s foremost Christian theologians—co-teacher, with Tony Blair, of an acclaimed Yale course on faith and globalization—a timely and provocative argument for a new pluralism between Muslims and Christians, one that examines and reconciles competing understandings of God to build a future without violence. Volf has the academic expertise and the international savvy to approach this topic from a particularly global perspective. This is a book for fans of Stephen Prothero and those with an interest in world religion.

Description

Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? 3.6 billion people-the majority of the world’s population-profess one of these two faiths. And while it has long been an uneasy coexistence, the post-9/11 world has seen tensions rise as leaders and the faithful on both sides of the divide seek either to see only differences or to unduly emphasize these traditions’ similarities. Volf reveals the hidden agendas and meanings behind today’s news stories as he thoroughly considers the words of centuries’ worth of religious leaders, and parses text straight from the Bible and the Qur’an.

Allah offers a constructive vision for a new pluralism. The claim that Muslims and Christians worship the same God yet have different understandings of that one God is an expression of just such pluralism. If a “clash of civilizations” is good for fighting each other, this new pluralism is good for building a common future together.