A number of years ago a student asked me, “Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?” That is a question that has lingered with me over the years and so I turned with interest to this book in which Miroslav Volf explores the same question and the implications of how we answer it.
An important thing to understand about this book is that it is not written in the vein of the “all religions are pointing to the same truth” or that Christianity and Islam are different paths leading to salvation. What Volf, who would answer the question by saying “yes, with different understandings of the God we worship” is interested in are the implications of our answer to this question for Muslim-Christian relations in this world. Volf points to the fact that figures as diverse as Nicolas of Cusa, Martin Luther, and Pope John Paul II have all taken this position. He points to our common belief that God is One, Creator, Sovereign, a God of love and justice, to whom we owe our absolute allegiance, that he commands love of neighbor, and that given that all of us will face a reckoning, we ought live in the fear of the Lord. He also observes that the objections to the idea of the Trinity in Muslim teaching are in fact things Christians themselves would disavow concerning the Trinity — these are not three gods, Jesus is not God’s associate, etc. [Read more…] about Book Review: Allah: A Christian Response