More than a Prophet: An Insider’s Response to Muslim Beliefs about Jesus and Christianity

by Emir Fethi Caner and Ergun Mehmet Caner

This book is a useful handbook to help Christians examine and defend the faith with intellectual honesty in a pluralistic society, and with their Muslim friends.

Emir Fethi Caner and Ergun Mehmet Caner. Kregel Publications, P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501-2607, 2003, 269 pages, $13.99.

—Reviewed by E.A. Maxwell, Arab World Ministries, serving presently in London, England.

A book for Muslims and Christians alike. Since the Caner brothers, “insiders” brought up as Muslims, wrote their first book Unveiling Islam, 2002, they have found themselves defending their religious liberty and their faith in Christ. This second book is a useful handbook to help Christians examine and defend the faith with intellectual honesty in a pluralistic society, and with their Muslim friends. Its respectful and sensitive style make it a potential gift for Muslim friends.

The title is a variation of Josh McDowell’s More than a Carpenter, emphasizing Jesus’ role—a prophet not in a line leading to the final prophet Muhammed, but more than a prophet, the redeeming Son of God and second person of the Godhead. The book covers twelve main topics and questions related to these issues: the nature of God, Jesus, the Qur’an and the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament, atonement and salvation, eschatology, ethics and politics, culture and pluralism, religious liberty, world history and jihad. Some questions offer information (How can God be three? What is the nature of the Bible?), some deal more with the differences between Christianity and Islam (Didn’t Jesus speak of Muham-med? Did Jesus ever say, “Worship Me, for I am God”?), and others are very relevant to present-day issues (Isn’t Christian evangelism actually proselytizing? Why is Jerusalem so important to Muslims? What does jihad mean? Does Islam espouse religious liberty?).

The book is built on the wealth of the authors’ personal experience in apologetics as converts to Christianity, and includes references to other Christian authors such as N. Geisler, Abdul Saleeb (a Muslim-background believer), A. Shorrosh, an Arab Christian, as well as Muslim sources.

This attempt to cover so many subjects means that sometimes the answers are too brief or are not as satisfactory as one might hope for. However, the book gives readers a start on many of these topics, and challenges them to further explore more complete answers. The last two pages offer valuable information on how to share faith with Muslims. It would be helpful if a revised edition added more to this part as it is the book’s underlying purpose.

Check these titles:
Geisler, Norman L. and Abdul Saleeb. 2003. Answering Islam, rev ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker.

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