Can there be genuine sympathy' between the Bible and the Qur'an? Their peoples' have been at odds so long, disputing their texts and discounting their credentials. Scholars from both faiths have contrived intriguing comparison of narratives about Abraham, Joseph or Moses but with little relevance to the contemporary scene and its demand for religious converse and sanity. A Certain Sympathy of Scripturesattempts something more central to the essential interest' of both Scriptures, more cogent in this 21st century (the 15th Islam). It is a concern with three shared The divine will for this cosmos of created order; its entrustment into human hands as creaturely heirs to its order and responsive sciences'; and the discipline of their tenancy and privilege by messengers' and prophethoods disclosing the intention of divine Lordship in the fact of human vocation. These three dimensions are the supreme theme of both Scriptures. This caliphate' of humankind belongs in a now global situation as the
Craggy is viewed with great esteem for his work in Christian-Muslim dialogue, and his book shows an intimate knowledge of the two faiths' scriptures. While insightful at some points, I found it to be very dense prose that assumes extensive interfaith knowledge in the part of the reader, though that level of knowledge of both faiths is pretty rare.