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The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization Paperback – February 1, 2006

by Richard Bulliet (Author)

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Conventional wisdom maintains that the differences between Islam and Christianity are irreconcilable. Pre-eminent Middle East scholar Richard W. Bulliet disagrees, and in this fresh, provocative book he looks beneath the rhetoric of hatred and misunderstanding to challenge prevailing―and misleading―views of Islamic history and a "clash of civilizations." These sibling societies begin at the same time, go through the same developmental stages, and confront the same internal challenges. Yet as Christianity grows rich and powerful and less central to everyday life, Islam finds success around the globe but falls behind in wealth and power.

Modernization in the nineteenth century brings in secular forces that marginalize religion in political and public life. In the Christian world, this simply furthers a process that had already begun. In the Middle East this gives rise to the tyrannical governments that continue to dominate. Bulliet argues that beginning in the 1950s American policymakers misread the Muslim world and, instead of focusing on the growing discontent against the unpopular governments, saw only a forum for liberal, democratic reforms within those governments. By fostering slogans like "clash of civilizations" and "what went wrong," Americans to this day continue to misread the Muslim world and to miss the opportunity to focus on common ground for building lasting peace. This book offers a fresh perspective on U.S.-Muslim relations and provides the intellectual groundwork upon which to help build a peaceful and democratic future in the Muslim world.

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Editorial Reviews

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Richard Bulliet's The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization re-examines most of the pieties of the West about the Muslim world and Islamic politics (and about the West itself) and finds them not only wrong but wrongly conceived.... He argues that modern European and Muslim history are deeply intertwined and that one cannot be understood in isolation from the other, thereby launching a profound challenge to teachers, historians and policy-makers. (Juan Cole, University of Michigan The International Journal of Middle East Studies)

[An] insightful book about Islam and Muslims that actually provides hope for the future.... this book is a quick, informative, and encouraging read. (Publishers Weekly)

A clearly written book, aimed at the general reader...requires a place on the library shelf (Steve Young Library Journal)

Presents a persuasive case for viewing Islam and the West... [a]brilliant new book (Emran Qureshi Toronto Globe and Mail)

Seeks to bridge a gap between Islam and the West... His solution is to try to patch things up by emphasizing all that Islam and Christianity have in common. (Daniel Lazare The Nation)

As Bulliet writes... there is a far better case for 'Islamo-Christian civilization' than there is for a clash of civilizations. (Washington Monthly)

Offers a rich lode of penetrating insights. (L. Carl Brown Foreign Affairs)

A positive and challenging proposal, underscoring the importance of the phases we use in defining our world. (Future Survey)

Obviously, this is an important book with the important proposal to familiarize everyone with the term "Islam-Christian civilization". Let us take heed. (Murad Wilfried Hofmann The Muslim World Book Review)

It deserves the widest possible readership, addressing as it does with wit and insight one of the most freighted issues of our times. (Malise Ruthven Times Literary Supplement)

About the Author

Richard W. Bulliet is professor of history at Columbia University. A former director of the Middle East Institute and executive secretary of the Middle East Studies Association, he is the author of Islam: The View from the Edge, The Camel and The Wheel, and editor of The Columbia History of the Twentieth Century. He lives in New York City.

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press; Revised edition (February 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0231127979
ISBN-13: 978-0231127974
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 18 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #148 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > History
- #148 in Books > History > World > Religious > Islam
- #303 in Books > History > World > Religious > Religion, Politics & State

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Matthew Smith

Very interesting

February 20, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a very nuanced approach at analyzing the evolution of these two religions. What makes the author's approach so interesting is that it looks at both religions together and juxtaposes the two so that the reader can see how both shaped and were shaped by history, culture, geography and each religions own idiosyncrasies that came with the growth of both religious movements. This method shows the reader that neither was isolated, but both were actually in constant contact which influenced the growth of both movements. Whether it was Chistianity (and Judiasm) laying the ground work by acclamating peoples to the idea of monotheism which eventually allowed for Islam to make a smooth transition within its eventual spheres of influence, or whether it was the technological inovations that helped lead Europe into the enlightenment, both movements have greatly influenced each other.

The author's discussion of the differences between each religion's approach to governance actually goes a long way in explaining the differences between the two. Whereas Christianity directly confronted and faught wars with the political elites, Islam generally refrained from direct confrontation with the political establishment preferring an imperfect ruler to the potential anarchy of a civil war between the religious elite and the political elite. This meant that Europe was racked with the very anarchy and devastation that Islam's more acquiescent stance avoided in the Middle Ages. While Europe was languishing during the Thirty Years war, the areas under Islamic influence were flourishing. Of course later on these destructive wars helped Europe to centralize and create the first modern states later on that helped Europe to eventually move into ascendancy.

On the other hand Islam has not decided its course, and instead their is an uneasy wedding of corrupt regimes propped up by religious legitimacy. The problem being that the religious elites lose their legitimacy by condoning these despotic and corrupt regimes, and since Islam lacks the centralization of religous authority, Islam is seeing a crisis of authority.

The author looks at Middle East scholarship as well. He makes the case that most experts tend to look at the Middle East and Islam through the Western point of view. This often times has lead Western scholars to see only what they wanted to see from the beginning. The problem is this doesn't take into account that these societies have a different set of values and a different trajectory in their evolution. A Western-centric approach sees the Western style as the ideal and presupposes that Muslims will see this as well, and therefore will seek to emulate the West. This approach fails to understand that they may not see us as the ideal, but instead may seek to incorporate their own values and ideals into a synthesis with those Western ideals they find virtous. This means that, while Islam and societies with Islamic majorities are moving, the direction in all likely hood will not be the same direction as the West.

In the end this is only one way to look at these two religious movements, and what I really like is that the author is honest in his approach. In the very title the author makes clear that this is not the only way to analyze these movements. The author is simply making a case, and his case is quite compelling. I highly recommend this book.

2 people found this helpful

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June 6, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is an important reality check on all the fear-based BS being said about Arabs and Islam.

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Anne Roth

A different viewpoint

September 30, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This Middle East scholar has offered a different view of how we might perceive the dialogue/wrangle between Islamic countries and "Western" countries based in a religious background. I agree with his understanding, since so much of the political rhetoric about Islamic countries has utterly ignored the bedrock of their faith tradition.

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January 17, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Excellent

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Lee L.

Admirable attempt, but comes up short

February 9, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

While on one hand extremely sympathetic to the goals Richard Bulliet aspires to in The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, I can nonetheless find a significant number of problems with the book on the other. To begin with, this is not a cohesive or well-organized argument. The first of four chapters fits the title of the book as Bulliet makes his argument that an Islamo-Christian civilization does exist. The following chapters have little to do with this theme, and seem like components of an entirely separate work.

Beginning with this first chapter, Bulliet attempts to rebut Samuel Huntington's A Clash of Civilizations, but he never once quotes Huntington or includes the book in his bibliography. While a lot of criticism thrown at Huntington from others is warranted, Bulliet is quick to criticize, but appears to only be vaguely familiar with Huntington's arguments. Being familiar with Huntington's work, I have to question how closely Bulliet actually looked at A Clash of Civilizations.

Beyond this, Bulliet's argument that Islam and Christianity developed on similar paths up to a point and then converged is unconvincing. He's trying to argue that the two religions and their developmental paths were similar, but he only manages to describe one and then the other without attempting to weave the two stories together. Considering the title of the book, this chapter comes across as somewhat of a failure.

The next (and completely separate) chapter is a rebuttal of Bernard Lewis's What Went Wrong? Bulliet thankfully quotes Lewis here, but the end product isn't really a counterpoint to Lewis's arguments. Bulliet asks what went right, but only offers sections on disputes between religion and state, religious names given to children, and the impact of the printing press. Although Lewis's book has plenty of its own problems, Bulliet has not really responded to what Lewis argued.

Another largely unrelated chapter talks about Middle Eastern area studies in the West. Bulliet offers up an American version of Said's Orientalism theory and describes how the U.S. is ill equipped to really understand the Muslim world due to the tendency to look for Middle Easterners that fit the image we want to have of them. A fair criticism, but Bulliet displays his own knowledge to be lacking when he attempts to describe current American policy. An example is when he quotes James Woolsey as a "top government official." While Woolsey's statements affirm the picture Bulliet wants to present, he was Clinton's CIA chief for a few years and hasn't had a government job since. Woolsey's comments line up with some in the Bush administration, but not those who have had a consistent hand in shaping foreign policy.

This book was written with what were probably the best of intentions, but Bulliet doesn't deliver. If you want to hear a case made for Islamo-Christian civilization, you're going to have to look somewhere else.

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Bartolomew Giamanco

Well written, original argument

September 5, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Makes a sustained argument for similarities over differences in the Abrahamic tradition between Christianity and Islam. He gives a short history of 20th century Western academic research into Muslim and Middle East societies and how it has affected our current perceptions of the Muslim world. He does not sugar coat difference, but says they shouldn't be over-estimated either. At the same time, he acknowledges the future is unknown and how democratic and western principles, let alone Eastern humanitarian impulses will play out politically remains a big question.

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Most recent customer reviews

Omer Belsky

Between Islam and the West... Falls the Shadow?

What is the relationship between the Western world and the Islamic (and specifically the Middle Eastern) world?The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World OrderInfidel), Bernard Lewis (), Paul Berman (Read more

Published on February 19, 2009

Alaturka

Bulliet Gets It

I must point out, I am only half-way through the book but still feel qualified to add a few words here, right of future edits witheld of course.Read more

Published on November 4, 2007

Samana Siddiqui

Looking beyond the "Clash of Civilizations"

Samuel Huntington coined the phrase "Clash of Civilizations" in the early 1990s after the fall of Communism, when the growing power of Islam as a civilization and geopolitical...Read more

Published on December 2, 2006

Michael and Julie

Civilization has got to go!

Bulliet, a learned, articulate, and persuasive writer, argues that we should reject Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" rhetoric and embrace the notion that...Read more

Published on March 16, 2006

W. J. Hankey

Bulliet on target

This is the book everyone concerned about the so-called "clash of civilizations" between Islam and Christianity at present needs to read in order to get some freedom...Read more

Published on August 28, 2005

Carool Kersten

How a common experience drove two civilizations apart

In recent years media attention for the Muslim world has increased tremendously and many reputable scholars of Islam have joined the flurry of publications that is released month...Read more

Published on March 14, 2005

Excellent Book on Commonality Between Islam and Christianity

This is one of the books that everyone shoudl read. There is no clash of civilizations. Islam and Christianity profess peace and high moral values which are essential for the good...Read more

Published on March 10, 2005

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