Product Details
The Great Divide: The failure of Islam and the Triumph of the West
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Regina Orthodox Press (July 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1928653197
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
Dr. Alvin J. Schmidt brings a variety of qualifications to the task of comparing and contrasting the historical impact of Christianity and Islam. He does so as both a sociologist having retired as a professor in the field and also, for our purposes here, as a confessional Lutheran with a profound Christian faith.
In the midst of much misinformation about both Christianity and Islam for a variety of purposes political and otherwise, Schmidt attempts to bring to light the historical facts relevant for comparing the two faiths sociologically. He methodically examines their social impact over the lifetime of these two religious systems. Schmidt’s language is uncomplicated to non-technical readers without being simplistic, and Schmidt’s survey of the issues at stake and points of difference is thorough. Schmidt offers a needed corrective to the way that historic Christianity is portrayed in the Western media and many mainline religious establishments. For example, we’ve been given the impression is given that the “Crusades” were sheer unprovoked aggression, but this book paints a more nuanced picture that explains much of the tension that still exists in the world today. Closer to home, the United Church of Christ and other mainline denominations contain a significant number of ethnic Hungarian and Armenian congregations whose histories have been shaped – or scarred – by their “interactions” with Islam in years gone by. This history is largely lost to moderns but brought to light thanks to Schmidt’s work.
As a “free bonus” for reading this work, one receives an excellent introduction to the benefits Christianity has brought to humankind at large. Many of the things Western people take for granted as “civilized behavior” and “givens” in society like educating the masses, hospitals, constitutional government, rights for women, and abolition only came about thanks to the influence of Jesus Christ through Christianity. None of these benefits were known to mankind prior to the coming of Jesus Christ.
Chapters include “Jesus and Muhammad: Polar Opposites”, “Sword of the Spirit v. Scimitar of Steel”, “Women:Veiled or Unveiled?”, “Slavery”,”Charity or Zakat?”, “The Crusades and the Rest of the Story”, “Liberty and Justice”, “Science”, “Church and State”,” Islam: A Religion of Peace?”, “Political Correctness and Apologists: Islam’s Best Friends”.
Unintended perhaps, but still immensely useful benefits from a careful reading of this book are several. First, readers used to the Christianity-bashing of popular American culture will be given some help for their inferiority complex simply by understanding the dramatic, world-changing impact that Jesus Christ has created on history since His ascension into heaven (see 1 Corinthians 15:25-27). Schmidt’s discussion of the roll of women and the veil yields interesting matter for one’s understanding of the issues at Corinth discussed in 1 Corinthians 11. In the modern era, the statement in John 4:27 that the disciples “marveled that Jesus was talking with a woman” is taken by some to mean that Jesus is a male homosexual who had no interest in women. As Schmidt’s work shows the disciples’ marveled because of their own low view of women endemic to the world until Jesus’ coming. Though moderns fancy that Christianity sought (and seeks) to stifle science at every point, in reality, it was the Christian faith that made science possible and still does because it posits an orderly God who is glorified by His servants pursuit of knowledge. The mental gymnastics required to ponder the Holy Trinity are similar to those needed to postulate Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
Though Schmidt handles his work politely, certain conclusions are inescapable that will prove to be a slap in the face to the spin doctors of our age. These conclusions are
1. The good things we perceive as “givens” in civil society owe everything to Christianity and little to Islam.
2. Those who call Islam a “religion of peace” are either uninformed, deluded, or liars because Islam is one of the most violent religions the world has ever known.
3. Those interested in preserving human rights, liberty, and the rights of women have utterly failed in recent days (since “9/11″) to note that Islamic countries are, almost without exception, dictatorships or theocracies. Instead, many mainline religious leaders have expressed their sympathies for leaders associated with Islamic terror groups while deriding the “evangelical, conservative, orthodox, and traditional” Christians in their own denomination as “dangerous theocrats”!
Christians seeking a scholarly but accessible one-volume comparison between Christianity and Islam will greatly appreciate this volume. Mainline denominational leaders will better “feel the pain” of their ethnic congregations and understand the concerns of the average American citizen better (and politically moderate and conservative church members) after having read this book.
Schmidt would not want his work to produce irrational hatred of Muslims however. As a Christian, he, with “Muslim Background Believers” still in the Muslim world, would not simply call for governments to defend their citizenry, but also call all Christians to clearly demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to those inside Islam.
Related Link: Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe In Christ
