Must-read research paper on Christendom and Islam

Kenneth Hynek • 7th Jul 2009 • Religion, Catholicism, Religion, Christianity, Religion, Islam
Charles Martrel, Christianity, Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Muhammed, Nigeria, Philippines, Religion, Robert Louis Wilken, Saint James Matomorous, Sharia

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Robert Louis Wilken’s article at Catholic Education goes into substantial detail about the historical and modern intersections between Christianity and Islam…and concludes that Christians (both historically and in the present day) have tended to vastly underestimate the profound existential threat that the religion of the (false!) prophet Muhammed represents.

Not surprisingly, he attributes much of the reason for Islam’s success in becoming the dominant Religion in territories which it has conquered to the concept of Sharia law — the fusion of political and religious ideals that is a central tenet of Islam. More than that, though, Wilken notes that violence follows in lockstep with Islam:

Violence has been a persistent strain in Muslim history. Even as sympathetic an interpreter as Marshall Hodgson, in his magisterial The Venture of Islam, acknowledged that the vision of the prophet Muhammad “led inevitably to the sword.” It is a “peculiar test of Islam,” he says, as to “how Muslims can meet the question of war.” So there is much to ponder and, for Christians living in the Muslim world, much to fear.

Wilken goes on to note that the principal Christian zeal in responding to Islam should be for evangelism, rather than a desire to crush an enemy. Having said as much, there is nothing wrong with looking to the example of Saint James Matomorous, or of Charles Martrel, as well, especially in nations where even to this day Christians find themselves set upon — targeted for rape and murder — by Islam and its adherents. Like Nigeria…or the Philippines.