Unpacking Thoughts Regarding “A Deadly Misunderstanding”
The conversation surrounding A Deadly Misunderstanding and the Muslim-Christian divide has been picking up the last few weeks, and we thought it would be great to highlight several bloggers that recently made ADM a focus on their blogs. Seth McBee is fostering an ongoing conversation over at Contend Earnestly regarding Islam and Christianity and made Mark one of his resources for that conversation, starting with his review of A Deadly Misunderstanding and continuing by featuring several of Mark’s YouTube videos.
“This book will stretch anyone who reads it. There is so much “good” in this book and so much that the reader will realize about their own journey towards truth (if they are honestly trying to learn), that it is well worth the read. If you like where you are currently in your understanding of the world and are enjoying what is portrayed in American media, don’t read this book. But, if you want to see what is actually happening elsewhere, what Muslims actually believe, what the Bible actually says in certain points and desire to be stretched, you need to read this book.”
Seth is also involved with supporting an upcoming Muslim-Christian dialogue event at Harambee Church in Renton, WA on March 27.
Richard Dahlstrom is raincitypastor in Seattle, WA. He wrote Digesting the “Deadly Misunderstanding” at his blog Fibonnaci Faith:
“The book is a blend of narrative (Mark’s own expanding web of relationships with Islamic leaders, teachers, and scholars), and theology (Mark’s ever expanding discoveries of common beliefs between Christians and Muslims). I won’t reveal those points of common interest because I think you should take the time to read the book. After all, nearly every nation in which our military is involved in conflict has a sizable Muslim presence. Conventional wisdom, even, would tell us that we should know our enemy. Jesus would tell us that we should love our enemy. Mark will tell us that when we begin to study our enemy, we realize that he might not even BE our enemy, that we perhaps share more in common, than we differ.”
Dan Martin of California recommended A Deadly Misunderstanding as a must-read on his blog Nailing it to the Door…:
“I want to be clear: this is no milquetoast universalist pablum. Siljander is NOT claiming some notion of all roads leading to God. What he’s doing is far more careful and well-thought than that. He is demonstrating the frequency with which fundamental–often violent–differences between the Abrahamic faiths are based on ignorance: not only ignorance of the “other’s” faith, but all too often ignorance of the actual text and context of our own faith and its creeds. In this, he’s coming to a conclusion a Muslim roommate and I (with far less scholarship) came to more than 20 years ago: if both of us and our brothers merely were careful to follow what OUR OWN SCRIPTURES actually said, we’d find a lot of common ground, and at the very least, we couldn’t fight each other.”
All of these reviews kicked off a flurry of comments at their respective blog pages. We really appreciate the level of dialogue and critique that these bloggers are nurturing. These issues run deep and as Seth mentioned, can be difficult to articulate without being misunderstood, “The written word can be misleading and very difficult to convey at times, especially on such touchy subjects as this.” Mark found that this was especially true when attempting to write a book appropriately encouraging and challenging for both a Muslim and Christian audience. We’re happy to have bloggers who are seeing the “heart” of the issue and willing to discuss and dialogue on this new approach for bridge building. This only helps all of us to grow. Thank you.
And from the other side of the world, we are excited to see that Salim Al-Hasso has created a page on his website dedicated to sharing about the work Mark is doing. Salim saw Mark on Al Jazeera at home in Iraq and was moved to make information on his work more widely available. He has gathered an impressive resource page by linking to one Al Jazeera video and various reviews of A Deadly Misunderstanding.
