introducing the series:

Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations

• Vol. 1: Nigeria's Decades of Blood (2003) – 155 pages
• Vol. 2: Muslims: Why the Violence (2004) – 193 pages
• Vol. 3: Christians: Why the Muslim Violence? (2004) – 334 pages
• Vol. 4: Muslims: Why We Reject Secularism (2005) – 265 pages
• Vol. 5: Christians: Secularism – Yes and No (2006) – 285 pages
• Vol. 6: Muslims: Why Muslim Sharia Law (2007) – 393 pages
• Vol. 7: Christians: Why We Reject Muslim Law (2008) – 517 pages
• Vol. 8: Christians and Muslims: Parameters for Living Together (2009) – 560 pages
• Vol. 9: Companion CD-ROM (2009) – All volumes plus 1000s of articles

Click on each volume number to bring up a page describing that volume, including chapter outlines and appendices.

Click here for information on how to order any of these books. Click here to learn more about author John Boer.

Comments on this series:

From the frontline trenches of the struggle:

I sincerely thank you so much for taking pain to go through my deep provocative writings (in volume 7). I enjoyed the most your comments and questions, which made my writings and ideas come alive. More importantly, your pointing out the areas of Christian weaknesses only go to strengthen our cause. Bravo!

The Rev. Prof. Dr. Yusufu Turaki,
Former General Secretary of the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA)
Former Principal of the JOS ECWA Theological Seminary
Former Vice President of the Nigerian Christian Association

***

From academia:

"The research done here is amazing."

Prof. Dennis Danielson (PhD, Stanford University),
Head of English Dept., University of British Columbia
Author of books on the poet Milton and on issues in the history of Astronomy

"Well done on this writing project. Very impressive and useful."
Dr. Timothy Palmer, Theological College of Northern Nigeria

From the business:

"We certainly want to be involved in the distribution of this set that is of growing importance to Nigeria. We would also like to distribute the Companion CD…."

Dr. Sidney Garland,
Executive Director, Africa Christian Textbooks, Jos, Nigeria

From the street:

"The books went well at the…Tribunal Hearing, where both Christians and a few Muslims bought them. Some people promised that they will mail you to tell you did a very sound research about the religious problems in Nigeria. I should commend you on a good job! Some who could not get copies, have been calling me all this while…."

Numshi Augustine,
Nigerian Retailer

From a reader of the Companion CD-ROM:

"The CD, sir, is a gift of a lifetime. It's a whole library you are donating to me and humanity."

Nasir Baba,
PhD Candidate, Zamfara State, Nigeria

author's comments on the series:

This series of studies deals with Christian-Muslim relations. Though I concentrate on Nigeria, it is Nigeria as a case study with global implications.

• What dynamics develop when you have two large blocks of these religions living together? These large blocks are some 60 million each!
• What happens when you have these two aggressive missionary religions competing for a place in the sun?
• What happens when a once almost supreme Muslim community is confronted with an emerging Christian community that has woken up to a growing sense of political awareness and power?
• What happens when you have a confrontation between a Muslim community that vehemently rejects secularism in favour of sharia and a Christian community that insists on a form of secularism?
• What happens when both communities are fearful, mistrusting of and angry with each other so that they can no longer hear each other out?

The flow of events in Nigeria is a powerful example of how things are NOT to be done from either side. I expect that Nigerians who read these monographs will feel deeply ashamed of the violence they unleash on each other in the name of their respective religions. They should! Especially now that their violence is perpetrated before the face of the entire world. They defile not only the name of their people, but also of their two major religions.

But these studies are not written only or even primarily to embarrass Nigerians, though I hope that shame will play a constructive role here. The main purpose is to arrive at some parameters within which they can develop more positive relations with each other, relations of respect and tolerance that will allow both religions to flourish within the one nation.

These relations have been bedeviled by untold blood shed and destruction ever since the 1970s. The series describes and explains the riots themselves and the issues of confrontation. Most of the study concentrates on the opinions of Nigerian Muslims and Christians themselves by providing extensive quotations and appendices, especially from the media. Each volume deals with a separate aspect of the relationship.

These studies do away with political correctness and religious wishful thinking. We are encouraged to get real. The fatal influence and role of secularism in these relationships in Nigeria come across very pointedly. The weak inheritance of a dualistic gospel transmitted by Christian missions also is explained and constitutes a major reason for confusion in Nigeria. Muslim aggressiveness is another major reason.

What This Series Seeks to Accomplish

• To contribute to the search for a solution to Nigeria's religious violence by establishing some necessary parameters.
• To demonstrate the horrors and dangers that arise when religious institutions are distorted into power blocks and parties or into weapons of manipulation instead of vehicles for service.
• To illustrate that secularism…
• Leads to anger and resentment among Muslims.
• Derails Christian thought.
• Prevents rapprochement between the two religions.
• Is not a suitable solution in Nigeria due to secularism's anemic view of religion, its arrogance, self-delusion and partiality.
• To help Christians develop amore Biblical and wholistic view of their religion.
• To demonstrate to Muslims that the picture of dualistic Christianity they have been given is an impoverished version and that a healthier, more wholistic version exists.
• To urge Muslims to adjustand update their traditional sense of pluralism and tolerance to the current situation in Nigeria.
• To convince the secular West that it must take religion seriously, respect it – not merely tolerate it – and incorporate it into their political equations.

Some of these goals will be implied, not argued.

Ordering Information

About Author Boer

Retooling Our Approach to Sharia:
A Wholistic and Pluralistic Perspective

The late Bishop Adeolu Adegbola was a man with wide-ranging interests and sympathies. The fact that this annual series of lectures normally focuses on development and poverty reduction is reflective of one of his major preoccupations.

For reasons I will not take time to explain, this lecture has a different focus, namely the issue of how we handle the sharia challenge. This, too, was one of his strong concerns.

Though the sharia issue appears to have died down, a perusal of the internet indicates that the issue is still ongoing and causing headlines right up into 2011.

Read more...

 

 

 

 

other boer writings/lectures on Christian-Muslim relations
Published and Unpublished

“Www: Wholistic World Witness”
Lecture presented at Missions Fest, January, 2008, Vancouver, Canada. Available on CD from Missions Fest www.missionsfestvancouver.ca or e-mail office@missionsfestvancouver.ca

“Western-Christian-Muslim Relations in the Current Crisis – A Christian Challenge”
I have published three slightly different versions of the above online article in different magazines in Canada, US and South Africa, including –

• “Christianity, Islam, and the Secular West.” Perspectives,* Aug/Sept, 2002, pp. 14-18.
• “Western-Christian-Muslim Relations in the Current Crisis: A Christian Challenge.” Woord & Daad,* no. 380, pp. 24-28.
• “Western-Christian-Muslim Relations in the Current Crisis.” Christian Courier,* May 20, 2002.

“Nigerian Islam vs Secularism.” Woord & Daad,* No. 379, 2002, pp. 20-24.

“The Voice of Islam.” Christian Courier,* Nov. 26, 2001

“The Christian-Muslim Standoff in Nigeria”

• Part I: “The Christian Viewpoint.” Christian Courier,* Jan. 22, 2001
• Part II: “The Muslim Viewpoint.” Christian Courier,* Feb. 5, 2001

“The Nigerian Christian-Muslim Standoff: Some Underlying Issues”
TCNN Research Bulletin, No. 33, March, 2000, pp. 4-23. TCNN website: www.tcnn.edu

“Christianity and Islam under Colonialism in Northern Nigeria”
Jos, Nigeria: Institute of Church and Society, 1988. 68 pp. In dialogue with a former Nigerian Muslim Minister of Education.

Unpublished Papers Read at West Michigan Theological Society:

• “A Tragedy of Wasted Opportunity: Two Decades of Religious Violence in Nigeria.”
• “The Nigerian Christian-Muslim Standoff: Some Underlying Issues; Parameters for a Solution.”
• “Islam Vs Secularism: The Nigerian Radical Position.”