Book Review: The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross
Monday, July 6, 2009
While the message of the gospel never changes, there is wisdom in communicating it in a way that hearers will be open to receiving it. Yet this elementary principle is often not practiced.
Dr. Nabeel T. Jabbour’s book The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross speaks of the ineffectiveness of the Church to share the love of Jesus to the world’s Muslim population. It is a straightforward book written for Christians (particularly American, but relevant for other multi-religious societies) who have difficulty deciding & understanding how best to relate to them.
Reflecting on his own experiences of relating to Muslims and living in the Middle East, he breaks the book down into 3 sections, the setting, message, and receiver.
From the outset he challenges the reader to expand his perceptions of Muslims as people, and to rethink the assumptions often made in sharing Christ or doing Church in the western context.
This is one of his major themes, as can be seen throughout the book, and the rhetorical challenge is the book’s strongest focus. I will not reveal too much, but one example is the discerning what is absolutely essential for a non-believer to become a follower of Jesus – the gift, as he calls it; from the wrapper or non-essentials that is helpful in one context but inappropriate or even harmful in another.
Nabeel first uses more abstractions to help us understand behaviour, followed by the gritty operational aspects of relating to Muslims, such as the selection of words & actions and use of conceptual frameworks they are familiar with. He offers wise and reasonable observations on working with Muslims.
It is a simple book, not a teach-all. But a teach-all would not be possible to write without being overly judgemental and rigid. It feels incomplete even, perhaps because the last section of the book is made available only via email (for free) in the form of an addendum. But it does serve its purpose of giving an introduction and context for Christians to start working learning more and witnessing from.
It is a quick read, and I found the reflection questions found after most chapters to be genuinely helpful to check both by understanding and self. These are question that I suspect will facilitate reflection even if you have worked with Muslims for many years.
If you live in a multi-religious society, or work with Muslims, you may find this book a relevant read.
Posted by yipeng 6:21 PM
Labels: Book Reviews
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