Understanding Islam and Christianity: Beliefs That Separate Us and How to Talk About Them

Do you want to know what each believes, teaches and lives?There are some fascinating misconceptions that many adherents of Islam think that Christians believe such as that God married Mary and that Jesus was the result of that union. Other beliefs that Islam teaches about Mary, the Holy Spirit and the gospel are also gone into in detail.The background, basis and beliefs of Islam are also gone into. How the Koran is organised (by length of its chapters), how the chapters are named, when Islam started and how and when Mohammad's words were recorded and gathered into the Koran.This book is a good foundation for speaking to each other without having to first iron our the common misconceptions each holds about the other.May God guide you as you study to make yourself approved by God.

Understanding Islam & Christianity is a great 101-level read if you are a Christian and want to know more about Islam. Josh McDowell is no stranger to these sorts of works, as he has made a great career out of defending Christianity. I must first point out that about 50% of this book's content is basically "The Case For Christ" (Lee Strobel) and the classic "More Than A Carpenter" (Josh McDowell). Although the content is woven in context with Islam, the "meat" of it is basically a reprisal of those previous apologetic works. That being said, the other 50% of this book takes a hard look at Islam from a historical-critical perspective, no different from modern day secular criticism of Christianity. The final two chapters offer a deeper theological perspective of Islam from a Christian point of view, by analyzing the message of the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad to see if they are coherent and consistent with the Bible and the life of Jesus. If you are looking for ammunition against Islam, this book has plenty - though I would urge caution because I think this book really needed two more key areas of valuable content to really make it top notch:1. A chapter about inter-religious protocol for Christians. In a friendly inter-religious dialogue, it can be very easy to offend the other if precautions are not taken to avoid pejorative understandings of religion. Parts of this book I'm sure would therefore quickly offend a Muslim if you were to start off by saying "Muhammad is a False Prophet because the Bible says so". Rather, the best way to speak to a Muslim is to see Islam from their perspective: it is a religion that enables them to submit to the will of God by practicing key tenets (the Five Pillars) and reciting the Quran.2. More citations of the Quran. Only until the ladder parts of this book does it really get into the Quran with proper citations. In the first parts, the authors merely say what they think the Quran says or what other scholars have interpreted it to say without giving a proper citation. The general flow of the book is more establishing a defense of Christianity first, then criticizing Islam, but if you spend an entire chapter on the Quranic version of Jesus and don't list verses from the Quran to show what the Quran says, it puts the reader in a difficult position to simply take the author at their word.I'm willing to bet money that 99% of the Christians who read this book also haven't read nor own a Quran, and so if you really want to engage Islam, go to the source material and read it for yourself... THEN read this book if you have questions/doubts/concerns regarding the defense of Christianity in light of the Quran.

This book is an outstanding apologetic on some basic tenets of the Christian faith, especially the Trinity, within the context of how it compares to the Muslim faith. It is written to answer many of the basic questions that Muslims may have about Christianity and Jesus, as well as what the Quran says about People of the Book (Christians). Christians should read this, just so they have a better understanding of why they believe what they do.Chapter 3 covers the relationship of the Father and the Son and is worth the price of the book alone! McDowell and Walker do an excellent job of explaining and articulating Jesus’ relationship with the Father. One of the best I’ve ever read! And Chapter 8 on Muhammad is also very enlightening (to Christians and Muslim’s alike) as to what the Quran and Bible clearly say or do not say about him. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to everyone as a great foundational approach to the comparison of Christianity and Islam. The authors hit a home run with this!

I would recommend this book to anyone with a desire to share the Injil (Gospel) with Muslims. Fantastic resource. This book quotes the Quran and the Hadith. All three are helpful for learning to reach a group of people God Loves!

I have personally met Josh years ago, when I was 1st introduced to his book "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" and many others like "More than a Carpenter." These are great resources, this book in particular is a reflection of the personal knowledge he has gained in evangelizing to Muslims and contrasting it against the truth of Christianity.

A great book to read if your looking to evangelize those that are muslim.

Josh is answering questions he had and shares the answer with the reader. Seven more words required is why I don' review most items.

I found that the Muslims have much to be thank full for, but fail to be completely Christ like in their thinking and actions toward their fellow beings!