Nikides and the Bible and the Qur'an

I really enjoyed reading Bill Nikides' recent, and very critical, evaluation of the popular book by Mark Siljander, A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide.

I have not read Siljander's book, but I have read material by Nikides in the past and find him to be a competent and fair scholar. One quote from his article that I really liked follows:

The Qur’an is often unfathomable to Christian readers, just as the opposite is true, because it has no narrative, redemptive story organizing the text. With the exception of its first sura, it is simply organized from longest to shortest suras. It lacks the kind of logical flow we find in the Bible. This makes it difficult for Christian readers to understand the Qur’an, but it also makes it difficult for Muslim readers to adjust to the Bible’s underlying structure and logic.

Nikides' review of Siljander's book can be found HERE, in the April issue fo St Francis Magazine.

Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1697

Thanks be to God for books.google! What a treasure trove of information that is :-)

My never-ending research into the history of Christianity in the Middle East brought me to this book, which was footnoted in a book by Kenneth Cragg, if I recall).



This is the account of one English pilgrim, Henry Maundrell, visiting Jerusalem in 1697 for Easter.

Free Grace Theology?

Someone recently asked me about resources on Free Grace Theology. I don't know much about it. Does anyone have any links for good articles or websites or blogs on the topic?

Please do post your link in the comment section.

--Abu Daoud

Power of prayer and the Muslim world

An old lady opened her atlas and began praying for a city not far from Tehran. Years later, an Iranian came to her church. After the service, she dashed over to him. “Where are you from in Iran?” she asked.

He replied, “You won’t have heard of it; it is an insignificant city,” but shared the name of the town.

“I’ve been praying for this city for thirty-four years!” she blurted out through tears.

“Thirty-four years?” the Iranian brother asked incredulously. “I got saved thirty-four years ago and now lead four hundred believers in the city.”

Read it all at LWP.