Salaam Project Offers Some Reading for Summer

The Salaam Project, the Christian Reformed Church’s ministry to Muslims, is offering a list of books and resources for those who may be looking for some serious summer reading on the topic of Christian/Muslim relations.

Several books and resources are presented in a list with Internet links and then there are a few book reviews.

The reviews range from a short assessment of a book chronicling the history of the downfall of the Ottoman Empire as well as a review of a book tracing a geographic and spiritual fault line separating Christians and Muslims and running through countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Another review offers an overview of a book that describes how there are currently many Muslims being drawn to and falling in love with Jesus. Another review checks out a book describing the experience of a United Nations' diplomat who was kidnapped and imprisoned by Al Qaeda terrorists.

There is also a book, used by the Salaam Project, that describes how to go about the process of inter-faith dialogue.

Here are some of the books:

• My Season in Hell: My 130 Days in the Sahara with Al Qaeda, by Robert Fowler. Robert Fowler is an experienced Canadian diplomat who was kidnapped by Al Qaeda militants along with fellow Canadian, Louis Guay, and their Nigerien driver, Soumana. Fowler was in Niger as a UN representative tasked with negotiating a peace agreement between Tuareg rebels and the government of Niger.
• Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims are Falling in Love with Jesus, by Jerry Trousdale. The title "Miraculous Movements" refers to the increasing number of Muslims in the world who are coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
• No god, but God, by Reza Aslan. Reza Aslan explains why conservative radical movements exist within Islam and strongly advocates for a reformation of Islamic thought and practice – adding in historical precedents to support his arguments.
• The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power, by Sean McMeekin. A history describing the roots of current day Middle East religious conflict in light of German and the diplomatic power-posturing during the First World War.
• The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, by Eliza Griswold. Eliza Griswold travels the tenth parallel of latitude through countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, documenting the historic and contemporary struggles between Christianity and Islam along this line.
• A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue, Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk. One of the three tracks that Salaam Project is committed to pursuing is inter-faith dialogue. This book goes a long way in helping us to envision what inter-faith dialogue can look like. In the book, both Badru Kateregga and David Shenk openly describe the beliefs that they follow in their respective religions.