Abstract
Christians who hope to call Muslims to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior sometimes struggle to provide a verbal witness that is both compelling and friendly. Many find themselves in a position of being overly aggressive and encountering opposition and deaf ears. Others are so non-confrontational that they struggle to ever get around to a verbal witness. In Calling on the Prophets, Colin Bearup works to resolve this dilemma, offering new and fresh ideas for a peaceful, relational approach to presenting the gospel to Muslims. Bearup’s insights come from his decades of experience in gospel witness among Muslims in diverse contexts. The advice offered in this book can benefit both new and seasoned practitioners in the field of Christian encounter with Muslims.
Bearup makes the purpose of his book clear: “how to share the good news of Jesus by making use of the prophets of whom Muslims have heard and whom they respect” (8). Although his focus here is on verbal proclamation, he emphasizes that words are secondary to the primary witness of a life of love and good deeds (6). Having made that point clear, he offers many helpful techniques for steering conversations to consideration of biblical truth in a winsome, inoffensive manner.
The first four chapters of this book provide general insights into gospel witness among Muslims and the basic approach to the techniques described in the remaining chapters. He advocates for conversations that are surprising, interesting, and relevant (7), and suggests the prophets shared in Christian and Islamic traditions to be perfect subjects for spiritually oriented conversations. Chapters 5 to 14 then provide detailed descriptions of the stories of a number of shared prophets and what typical Muslims know about them. Bearup creatively suggests how one can use the story of each prophet to open conversations and direct them in fruitful directions that are likely to be surprising, interesting, and relevant to Muslims. In chapter 14, Bearup pays special attention to the figure of Jesus, how to direct Muslims to consider him as Savior and Lord, and how to deal with typical objections related to Jesus.
This short book is highly practical, providing natural paths toward a peaceable gospel witness on the “neutral ground” of the prophets. It makes “a Muslim case for calling on the prophets” (93), thus providing topics appealing to many Muslims. The study could benefit from a little more reflection on the place of Muhammad and effective Christian responses to Muslim questions about him. Perhaps Bearup provides this reflection elsewhere. Overall, however, the book’s insights will prove highly useful to Christians looking to engage in relational witness among Muslims that provides more light than heat.