Reading the Qur’an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam
Oxford University Press, 424 pp., $29.95
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, the Western world experienced a spike in interest in Islam. In 2008, Ziauddin Sardar, a cultural critic, started a blog in which he considered the Quran in light of its contemporary relevance and through the lens of his own personal engagement.
Reading the Quran grew out of that blog, and it maintains its easy, conversational style while exploring more deeply the sacred text of Islam. The result is an ambitious and dense book, narrated by a very able and accommodating guide. Identifying himself as a kind of “every Muslim,” Sardar is able to connect with a wide audience.
Though, as a whole, the book may seem too detailed for the interested yet casual reader, I found Sardar’s latter sections on “Themes and Concepts” and “Contemporary Topics” eminently helpful as a starting point to understanding what a progressive interpretation of the Quran yields on issues such as morality, Sharia law and homosexuality.
Crown Publishers, 368 pp., $25
Reimagining history is all the rage in fiction writing right now, and if the source material is also sacred and canonical, all the better. But the holy grail of reimagined stories is the alternate view of Jesus Christ. Conceiving of a different Jesus makes for interesting fiction — usually.
In Kristen Wolf’s telling, Jesus isn’t Jesus at all, but Anna, a tomboy with androgynous looks, born into a traditional family in ancient Palestine. She is sold by her father to shepherds, takes on the name of her stillborn brother and eventually is captured and recruited into a secretive, mystical cult of women who teach her “The Way.”
The best Jesus-reimagined stories are simultaneously faithful to spirit of the original text while eliciting interesting “what if” questions. Wolf’s story, by nature of the extravagance of her imagination, fails to captivate.
It is an ambitious endeavor to fully recreate a character like Jesus and, unfortunately, in her first novel, Wolf’s effort falls a bit flat.
Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom
Free Press, 288 pp., $26
In response to 9/11, Irshad Manji wrote an editorial titled “A Muslim Plea for Introspection.” Her essay attracted widespread attention for its call to Muslims to consider the “dysfunction” within their own religion and culture. She expanded these thoughts into a best-selling book, “The Trouble with Islam Today.”
The book, published in 2005, propelled Manji to international stardom, and she has since become the object of admiration from many and of great derision from some. In an effort to go “From Anger to Aspiration,” as she titles the introduction of her new book, Manji formulates seven lessons that Muslims and non-Muslims can use to live with “moral courage.”
“Allah, Liberty and Love” reads like a blend of cultural criticism, new age-y self help and, particularly when she includes long correspondences between readers and herself, an overindulgence on the part of the author. There are important truths to be discovered, but they are likely better articulated elsewhere.
Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 464 pp., $28
In 2004, Tom Cruise came out as a very vocal proponent of Scientology, sparking widespread media interest in the religion. The following year, Janet Reitman was assigned to write about Scientology for Rolling Stone. That article, plus five more years of research and investigation, led to her recently released tome, perhaps the most comprehensive look at Scientology ever written.
It’s not that others haven’t attempted to write about Scientology in the past; Reitman references several other pieces, including a 1991 article in Time for which the publication and the author were sued by the Scientology movement. As Reitman points out, Scientology is a very secretive religion, known to withhold information even from its own members, and alleged to use a wide range of methods to silence would-be detractors.
In light of this, Reitman is brilliant. Her clean and easy narrative style almost betrays the absolute thoroughness of her exploration. Riveting stories, amazing facts and nearly a novella of notes underpin this important investigation.
Heretics: The Creation of Christianity from the Gnostics to the Modern Church
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 352 pp., $28
Sometimes, the best way to tell a story is through the eyes of the antagonist and, though Jonathan Wright goes to great lengths to dispossess readers of this kind of polarized reading of history, his book succeeds for precisely this reason.
By telling the stories of many of Christianity’s famous and not-so-famous heretics, Wright paints a portrait of a faith constantly in flux, unsure about its basic tenets and grappling for orthodoxy throughout its two millennia lifespan. Pointing to the numerous potential contradictions and confusing ideas, and the conflation of such diverse worldviews as Judaism and Greek philosophy, Wright says it is no wonder that disagreement is woven into the fabric of the faith.
It is precisely this charitable spirit that makes “Heretics” so eminently readable. Oscillating gently between inspired storytelling and generous extrapolation, Wright’s historical analysis allows readers to see why, even today, questions of orthodoxy drive divisions through the edifice of Christianity.