Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians »

George Dardess—author of this wise and inviting guide—believes that Jesus' injunction to "Love your neighbor as yourself" means that serious Christians should engage with Islam and come to know their Muslim neighbors. Dardess invites readers to explore some of Islam's key facts, chief concepts, and practices, using his own failings and successes as a guide. He shares his own experiences as a deacon in the Catholic Church in Rochester, New York, seeking to build bridges with the local Muslim community, and how his own faith has been expanded and enhanced by the relationships and understandings that have resulted. At times humorous, questioning, and warm, Meeting Islam is an engaging guide to the rewards (and the dangers) of venturing outside the boundaries of one's own faith. Dardess is sympathetic to Muslim claims to truth, and analyzes them in the light of similar, Christian claims. Each chapter ends with a theological reflection on how a particular facet of Islam may enhance (rather than detract from) our own Christian self-understanding.

Publishers Weekly

Dardess, a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church and an English professor, describes in this brief book his own study of Islam, which began in 1992 and has included learning Arabic so he could understand the religion better. Although he remains steadfast in his own Catholic beliefs, he applies Islamic teachings to understand both Islam and his own religion better. He has a philosophical view of Islam, sometimes leading to dense descriptions, sometimes producing profound insights. Dardess poignantly recognizes the Islamic belief that all people are meant to be thankful and devoted to God and are born wanting to be good. He understands the Qur'an as a practitioner of the faith would, having studied it in the original language with Muslim teachers at his local Islamic center. He writes: "The Qur'an is so deeply imbued with moral challenge that it's impossible not to turn every remembered phrase in it into a mirror on one's conscience." This brief book provides some introductory information about Islam and is excellent reading for Christians who are curious about one of the world's fastest-growing religions. Dardess is both deeply religious and open-minded, a pleasant and surprising combination. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.