Book Review: “The Qur’an in Context” by Mark Robert Anderson

Mark Robert Anderson takes on a monumental task in his book The Qur’an in Context: providing an overview of the Qur’an without divorcing it from its own context, all while setting it alongside Christian beliefs and critiques. The long and short of it is that he succeeds masterfully at this task.

First, Anderson explores the cultural context of the Qur’an, exploring, briefly, the life of of Muhammad and his context. Then, chapters exploring aspects of the worldview within the Qur’an go over such topics as Adam, Sin, God’s Immanence, etc. A whole section is dedicated to the Quranic view of Jesus, and the book ends with a Christian evaluation of the Qur’an. I can’t really emphasize enough how important every single chapter is. Within each chapter, Anderson skillfully and fairly presents the picture the Qur’an puts forward on the topic, often giving some additional context for the discussion. Then, there is often some Christian evaluation within the chapter itself, though much is deferred to the final section. This makes the book absolutely necessary for any Christian interested in learning about Islam and the teachings of Muhammad.

It is clear that Anderson has done his homework, and I was enlightened multiple times on aspects of Quranic theology that I hadn’t picked up on before. For example, in the section on Immanence in the Qur’an, I discovered that the theism of Islam doesn’t always portray Allah as the kind of separate, wholly removed from the world deity I had thought before. Instead, like in Christianity, the Quranic God is shown to be active in creation and working with people to bring about ends, despite also having absolute sovereignty and control. These kinds of details are found on almost every page, and make the book a great reference.

The Qu’ran in Context is now my go-to recommendation for Christians looking to learn about the Qur’an. It can be paired with a number of other books to get a more complete picture of Islam in general, but Anderson’s work can stand on its own as an exploration to dialogue with Muslims and their Scripture.

The Good

+Generous perspective regarding Muslim approaches to their own Scripture
+Takes seriously differences between Christians and Muslims
+Offers contextual basis for understanding the Qu’ran
+Extremely valuable summaries and interaction

The Bad

-Nothing to complain about means I mostly have to leave this row blank

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher. I was not obligated to provide any specific kind of feedback whatsoever. 

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SDG.

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