Customer Reviews

Do We Worship the Same God?: Comparing the Bible And the Qur'an

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Dardess begins by explaining that until the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church held that the God worshipped by Muslims, who do not believe Jesus is God, is not the same God as Catholics worship. Two documents from Vatican II, however, found enough commonalties in the two faiths to reverse the earlier position, stating that the Muslim God is the same as the Christian God. The question took on new significance on September 11, 2001, when the media and some religious leaders declared that the Christian God is one of peace and love, and the god of Muslims is one of war and violence.

In the years since, Dardess has studied the Arabic language and the Qur'an at a Mosque in his home town of Rochester N.Y., and worked with the city's Muslim-Catholic Alliance and Commission on Muslim-Christian Relations. From those experiences, he wrote Do We Worship the Same God?" to help readers decide for themselves from textual evidence how the God Catholics and Muslims worship may be the same or different.

The book follows a simple format, starting with two chapters of clearly written background, then presenting 18 short chapters using quotations from the Bible and Qur'an to explain the beliefs of Christians and Muslims on issues such as creation of the universe, war, and God's judgment. Each issue is framed in an introduction and followed by questions for discussion, often with additional details to help readers understand more fully.

The author provides suggestions for group study and expresses the hope that the sessions will lead members to invite a local Muslim group to join them in the discussion. He motivates us further with the story of his own experience in such a dialogue, which has led to joint presentations in the community and rewarding personal friendships.

I would recommend this book to Christians who want to gain insight into the faith of others.

Over the past three years my husband and I have become very close with our neighbors who are Muslim. Their children and our children are all the same age and have a wonderful relationship with each other. The parents always seem to know when our religious holidays are and are very respectful of our beliefs. I really wanted to reciprocate that kindness but did not know where to start. As a Catholic with a degree in theology and a familiarity with the Bible, the catechism and the teachings of my own church I was embarrassed about how little I know about the Muslim faith and the Quran. This book was a good starting point, written in a very respectful tone. The author does not draw the conclusions for you - although sometimes it seems as though he has strong "leanings" , he does leave the ultimate conclusions to the reader. The only thing I did not like about the book was the author's need to put things in the context of "Post 9/11 America." These references seem like an afterthought and the book would probably read better without them. I would recommend this book to other Christians hoping to gain insight into the faith of others.

George Dardess has taken a complex and sensitive subject and presented it in a highly readable, and comprehensible text. The author has taken each contentious issue, given his assessment, backed his assertions with a side-by-side comparison of the Bible and the Quran, and then posed a list of questions to his Christian readers. The questions are meant to challenge, but more so, to draw the reader out of the traditional mode of thinking and appreciate the similarities in the sacred text.

The simplicity with which he unravels complex theological issues is remarkable. But more than that, his rationale is convincing. It is a reading that is intended to enhance interfaith understanding, to foster respect, and to heal the divide. And it does that remarkably well. It is a book that both Christians and Muslims will find illuminating.

Deacon Dardess's tendentious rendering of the Quran in this book will not help Catholics seeking to understand where the truths and worldviews contained in the holy books of Christianity and Islam converge and diverge.

The reason is that he is far too enamored of the type of interreligious diologue that held sway in the United States during the confusion that followed the Second Vatican Council. The Council itself warned against this, cautioning Catholics to avoid "a false conciliatory approach."

Catholics seeking a more balanced guide to the differences and similarities between their faith and Islam are advised to purchase "Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics" by Robert Spencer and Daniel Ali, an Iraqi convert to Christianity from Islam. The end of the Ali/Spencer book contains a useful table of passages from the Bible and Quran concerning a range of topics.