Journal: Christian Apologetics Journal
Volume: CAJ 05:2 (Fall 2006)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

CAJ 5:2 (Fall 2006) p. 141

Book Reviews

The Bible and Other Faiths: Christian Responsibility in the World of Religions (Christian Doctrine in a Global Perspective). Ida Glaser. InterVarsity Press, 2005. 256pp., $18. ISBN: 0830833110.

Among the many books published lately concerning the relationship between Christianity and other religions, Glaser’s book occupies a distinctive niche. For one thing, as the title already indicates, Glaser focuses much more on the biblical text, its interpretation, and its context, and less on the doctrines of the other religions than many of the other books do. For another, as the subtitle clarifies, Glaser’s interest centers far more on the Christian response. If you are looking for a point by point comparison of, say, the concept of grace in Hinduism and Christianity, or the Buddhist virtue of compassion contrasted with the New Testament idea of Agape love, then this is not the appropriate book. But if you are looking for a book that confronts and challenges Christians on how to respond to the increasing presence of non-Christian religions in Western cultures, this book offers a lot of help from a biblical perspective. This approach carries with it certain strengths as well as some weaknesses, as we shall point out below.

Glaser is not writing from a purely theoretical perspective. As

CAJ 5:2 (Fall 2006) p. 142

a scholar who has founded an M.A. program on Islamic studies at Edinburgh University, she has also devoted a lifetime to engagement with other religions on many levels. Thus, she brings her training and experience to bear in order to lead Christians out of their accustomed categories and to encourage them to rethink on the basis of the Bible how to interact with other religions. Consequently, this is in many ways a practical book, based on a solid background of learning, surely the ideal for all Christian scholarship.

One of the devices Glaser uses is to assign certain tasks as “homework” in relation to various points that she makes. One reads along and suddenly encounters a little paragraph, indented and in italics, that asks the reader to study certain Bible passage, reflect on a question she may have just raised, or make a practical application to our daily lives. This is a very helpful way of getting readers to think along with her and to take ownership of the ideas she is raising. One cannot simply pass over her message, but is forced to integrate it into one’s own situation and sometimes to struggle with one’s own conclusions.

As helpful a pedagogical device as this is, it also bears a certain liability. By occasionally asking the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, one gets the feeling at times that Glaser is sidestepping having...