The Quran with Christian Commentary:
A Guide to Understanding The Scripture of Islam
Zondervan Academic, 2020
Gordon D. Nickel
There has been centuries-long engagement between Christianity and Islam, and there have been many ways of both belief-faith traditions doing their best to make sense of one another. There has been the “conflict tradition” in which differences are held high and discord dominates. There has been the “dialogical tradition”, so near and dear to interfaith types, in which some form of unity and concord is the ideological bent (neither side wanting to offend one another in an era and ethos of pluralism). The approach to both traditions can be to focus on the founders or the history of these heritages (and a comparison and contrast between them). There are those on the political right who mostly see Islam as a religion of violence and terrorism. There are those on the progressive left that only seem to see the moderate and peaceful side of Islam. Needless to say, both tribes go cherry-picking with the facts they chose to bring forth as evidence. There is, also, an approach that compares and contrasts the two sacred texts (Bible and Quran). It is this approach that is used by Gordon Nickel in The Quran with Christian Commentary.
The study of the Quran, like a study of the Bible, can be done in two ways: uncritically devotional or textually critical. The textually critical (the Christian Tradition has lived with this approach for a few centuries) can lead to a dismissal of the text as interesting yet irrelevant or illuminate how the text can be read in a more informed and nuanced manner. The devotional approach is often quite uncritical (and when legitimate questions are asked, the questioner is seen as the problem).
Gordon Nickel (who has spent much of his mature life studying both the Quran and Islamic history with some of the best scholars in the world) brings to his study of Islam and the Quran both an appreciative yet critical reading of the 114 Suras. There is a tendency, by Christians, to either focus on the negative verses-suras in the Quran or, as some Muslims and Christians do, ignore and subordinate such verses-suras through the use of “abrogation”. Nickel’s, to his thoughtful and informed credit, walks a judicious middle way, between textual demonization and devotional hagiography. The close reading of the 114 suras (with many thoughtful comments and reflections) highlights contentious texts within the Quran (that Muslims grapple with and attempt to interpret and apply) and those suras-verses in the Quran which seem to deliberately misread and misinterpret both the Jewish and Christian sacred texts. The fact that Nickel’s consciously examines and probes both dilemmas makes The Quran with Christian Commentary a tome worthy of many a meditative and challenging read.
It is only in the last few decades that North America has had to deal with Islam. Most in North America have virtually no understanding of the origins of Islam, the Quran, Islamic history and the diverse forms of Islam in the world today. The fact that Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world has a significant presence in the world (increasingly so in North America) means that deliberate ignorance of both the Quran and Islam is a sort of cloistered virtue, a putting of the head into the sand, an ignoring of a growing cultural reality that will continue to be a pressing issue ever more so as we move forward into the future. The fact the Quran is the foundation and authoritative text for Muslims means that any minimal engagement with Muslims means a thoughtful read of the text is imperative. Gordon Nickel has provided both such a text (using the translation by A.J. Droge) and, more importantly, his multiple reflections and commentaries are pure gold. Gordon, as any good thinker should, walks the judicious middle way between a negative approach to the text or a devotional one—the attempt is to truly understand what the Quran is saying and, at times, ask critical questions about what is said (and the implications of it).
The Bibliography at the beginning of this almost 700-page tome is more than worthy of note and significance. Those who are serious and seek to mature in a thoughtful Christian and Jewish engagement with Islam and the Quran will find some of the finest books offered to them in the Bibliography. I might add that Gordon has published a variety of articles and books on Islam, his most recent books being The Gentle Answer to the Muslim Accusation of Biblical Falsification (2015) and Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur’an (2011). I might add, by way of conclusion, I have had Gordon speak in some of my classes in lower-upper levels of Islam (often more Muslims than any others in the classes). Gordon’s lectures, insights and answers to Muslim queries went step for step with many of the objections of Muslims from both Sunni and Shia backgrounds (none of the students knowing Classical Arabic and the Quran in the depth and detail Gordon did).
There can be no doubt that The Quran with Christian Commentary is a sura by sura thoughtful portal into facing the text and possible interpretations of it. Such an approach is both willing to face the difficult passages but do so in a gentle yet honest and responsible manner. This is a book one and all should have as a mentor of sorts into Quranic studies. If Gordon’s approach were followed, a more meaningful encounter between Christians and Muslims would shape the future dialogue.
Ron Dart
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