Choosing Faith (P/B)

The book is called Beyond Mere Christianity for two reasons. First, in response to C.S. Lewis’ influential 1952 work, Mere Christianity, which stands as a masterpiece of Christian apologetics. The second reason, perhaps less obvious, is that a case can be made, based on current, responsible Gospel scholarship, that Jesus was calling his people to the Salvation that lies beyond the worship of the merely created, the Salvation that relies instead on the direct worship of the Creator. I believe emphatically that the authentic words of Jesus invite us to move beyond what is conventionally understood as Christianity for this Salvation.

Jesus and Muhammad lived in different times and in different contexts. An absolute comparison of the careers of these two men is not a satisfactory method in understanding the similarities and differences between their teachings. This book approaches this topic from a different perspective. The time that Muhammad preached in Mecca is compared to the time Jesus spent preaching throughout Palestine. This improves the similarities in contexts between them and makes a comparison more valid. The number of similarities outweighs the number of differences when looking at the four books of the Gospel and the chapters of the Qur’an revealed in Mecca. On issues related to prayer, the Oneness of God, charity, the Hereafter and forgiveness the teachings in these two books are practically the same. A number of core theological issues surfaced in the Book of John do clash with Qur anic teachings about the person of Jesus. These differences and the possible reasons for them are explored in this book. The conclusion of this book is that Muslims and Christians have more shared values and even theological similarities than differences. It is recommended that Muslims and Christians should spend more time understanding these commonalities.”

1996 expanded and revised edition. This book examines Jesus as a prophet teaching the Unity of God, and the historical collapse of Christianity as it abandoned his teaching. The author sketches the dramatic picture of the original followers of Jesus who affirmed Unity. What emerges is that “Christianity” is the fiction that replaced their truth. A work that covers the Gospel of Barnabas, the Gospel of Hermes, the Shephard, early and later Unitarian Christians, Jesus in the Gospels and in the Qur’an and Hadith. The author clearly shows the idea of Jesus as part of a Trinity was a Greek Pagan idea adopted by early Christian mission-aries to gain converts among the Greek, and did not become a widely accepted Christian doctrine until after the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.