St. Mark's United Church

Three major world religions all trace their origins back to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  You would think that shared history would foster mutual understanding, but as we know all too well, that’s not always the case. 

Brown’s book tries to further understanding between two of these religions (Christianity and Islam) by comparing their holy books.  For example, did you know that humans are considered superior to the angels in Islam?  Free will, it seems, is more valuable to God than being compelled to do good. Did you know that Muslims consider Jesus the Messiah?  They do, except for that bit about dying on the cross for our sins (he survives according to the Qur’an).

The main strength of Brown’s book is his description of similarities and points of reconciliation between the holy books of the two faiths. He also explains an interesting difference that may account for some of the discord between Jews, Christians and Muslims: the Christian and Jewish traditions generally describe people in their holy texts realistically; warts and all. By contrast, the Qur’an idealizes the prophets, holding them up as role models for us to follow.  The passion behind recent riots about a Danish cartoon of Muhammed makes sense in this context.

Where I struggled with this book, and was tempted to skip passages, was in the lengthy opinion pieces Brown includes about how various stories in the Bible and Qur’an apply to the modern world.  If he acknowledged that these passages are based on personal opinions they might not be so irritating, but he does not. For example, The Tower of Babel is seen as a symbol of American greed and world domination, and likened to the Twin Towers in New York.  What about the simpler interpretation of the story: that when you focus on worldly goals and ignore God, miscommunication and strife ensues? There are many interpretations to these stories, and by insisting on his own Brown sometimes diminishes the potential meaning to be found in the scriptures. 

A second point to remember is this: faith traditions consist of more than their holy books.  People can read similar books and have very different religious practices.  Some of the history of how the two faiths’ respective practices evolved might have been a helpful addition to the book.

If you are interested in comparative religion, or intrigued by the idea of getting a different take on familiar Bible stories though, this book is certainly worth a look.  So who was Noah’s other son?  You’ll just have to read the book to find out.