Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians (Many Mansions Book)

by George Dardess

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557254338
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Paraclete Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

OUR POPE'S CURRENT CALL FOR DIALOGUE WITH ISLAM REQUIRES THIS RESOURCE NOT SPENCER

As our good Pope Benedict infallibly commands us to seek dialogue and compassionate communion with our Islamic brothers and sisters (who unlike our own have not kicked the habit!) we need to read prayerfully the works of our ordained deacon Dardess as a bridge to understanding and union. His other excellent resource Do We Believe in the Same God? builds upon the findings of unity established in the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, and draws areas of agreement with our Muslim brothers. Now this earlier, more philosophical and focussed text as well provides us a means to comprehend what our popular media and war mongering, fear-mongering unChristian books such as Spencer's do not want us to know, to believe, and to trust as one family and even as one faith in the One True God. Deacon Dardess has courageously and carefully and prayerfully studied directly all of the issues involved, the text as well as the people, including learning Arabic to study the texts in the original. What other current theologian can claim as much? He finds he learns more deeply the moral teachings of our own faith through the Muslim mirror. As the Samurai Hagakure speaks: Even hearing of another way only makes us more solid in our own way. We have nothing to fear from learning from other Faith expressions, and we have eternity to gain. As the Rev. Father Teilhard de Chardin taught us: All that rises must converge. By the mystery of parallax we may together percive the Truth and path to peace as one people. Besides, Our Holy Father in Rome instructs us to grow in dialogue with our Muslim brothers, for peace and companionship. We can do no less! Dardess generously gives us at his own self-sacrifice in primary research a place to begin and to carry us through. This is indeed the path to peace which is Jesus Christ. As we follow in these footsteps we follow as well the bloodied bare footprints of Saint Francis of Assissi, first missionary to the Muslim and emissary of Peace, who during the Fifth Crusade travelled to meet in peace unarmed with the Muslim Sultan Malik-al-Kamil, and returned to Assissi unscathed and unterrorized by any Muslim only to discover to his great horror that his own friars had acquired property in his absence and built great convents which he immediately set about to unroof in the opposite of his actions at San Damiano.

What a pleasure to read

I felt that Mr. Dardess gave a true and acurate portrayal of what the religion is about. This is a book that anyone can read and get an acurate understanding of the religion. As a Muslim I felt for the first time, a non-Muslim truely understands what Islam is all about. What a pleasure to read. What a great book and what a great writer.

A positive look at Islam

If you really want to meet Islam this could be one of the books you read but it must be one among many. I give Deacon Dardess two stars for learning Arabic and and two stars for going to an Islamic Center to get a better understanding of his Muslim neighbors. And then sharing the insights he gained from this hard work with his readers. I hold back one star, because the book lacks an index.

Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians ...by a Christian

This review is biased and does not cover all the particular elements of the book. What is written is what I took as grist for the deacon's mill. On one hand Deacon George Dardess takes us on a personal journey of his desire to learn more about the Koran. In another way his new book Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians is a profound exploration of the common threads that can be seen in the banners of the Islamic and the Christian faiths. To think about these common threads, as George points out, opens up an appreciation for the Islamic faith tradition. At the same time, these reflections add a depth of understanding to our own Catholic Christian traditions. George, a linguist by training, uses key Islamic words as the 12 chapter titles. He then appends a Christian Bible theme to the Arabic to make his point. Chapter 3 is entitled "Salat andTaqwa and the Ten Virgins" Salat is literally the bending at the waist that is done 5 times each day as part of the required worship ritual by faithful Muslims. Taqwa is translated from the Arabic as attentiveness and refers to the total commitment of body, mind and heart to the praise of the Lord. These elements of Islam resemble the Mathean story of the Ten Virgins but are more broadly reflected in all the gospel writings about faithfulness and watchfulness. Chapter 4 "Abd and Wali and Martha and Mary" deals with the age old tensions between the active and contemplative life; between the concerns for the self and the community. Abd in Arabic means slave; Wali means patron and they are paired to describe the dual responsibilities that are required of the faithful to look out for members of the community as well as to follow the required individual practices. Chapter 8 "Jihad and Fighting the Good Fight" brings to mind all the violence that is attributed to the fundamentalist Muslims. In fact "Jihad" has a dictionary definition of being a struggle, to strive in a righteous cause. George says that Jihad "rightly conceived, begins with an examination of conscience and a purging, or at least a candid acknowledging, of the self-interest that afflicts many if not most actions, even those carried out in the name of good causes." This explanation strips away the dread of the word. It is easy to relate this explanation to Paul's passion to spread the word, to build Christian communities, and to bring more people into Christ's family. Clearly, George presents us with an unabashed effort to present Islam and its local faithful in a very positive light. In the context of 9/11 and what has followed, George has provided a wonderful beginning for Catholics and Muslims to burrow into our commonalities.

A welcome book

I recently heard a man ask at a public forum how he might approach a mosque to learn about Islam -- could he stop in at a service as he might at a church? Should he call the mosque and ask for the imam? He really could use "Meeting Islam" and the inspiration of George Dardess' candid account of approaching the Islamic Center of Rochester, N.Y. Dardess, a knowledgeable Christian, Catholic deacon and former teacher, thoughtfully and theologically works his way through his encounters with Muslims, their beliefs and practices. His writing is easy to follow, and the personal anecdotes, for example, the trip to a monastery, are memorable. The chapter titles show at a glance which aspects of his Christianity he will reflect upon as he learns certain Islamic teachings. I haven't known many people who decided to study Arabic decades after graduation. This author's journey began this way and the story is truly admirable and delightful. Plus, we benefit from Dardess' love of languages as he explains the meaning and pronunciations Arabic words. This book, in the end, can not only help readers learn basic Islam, but also may help ease the discomfort some Christians have about dialogue with Muslims. A friend calls this book a "healing book."