The July 2023 edition of en ran my article "How can we think deeply about Islam?", a precis of a book that I am working on called Thinking Theologically About Islam.
It is my response of amazement that a religion with as little theological substance as Islam has can enthral the minds and hearts of so many millions of people. But to understand why I am convinced that a much more deliberately theological approach to Islam is needed, you will need to know something of my religious background.
I was brought up in a Catholic family, attending Catholic schools and going to church every week. Every evening, my dad would clap his hands and call us all (eventually we were 11 children!) to kneel around him and pray. Much of our religion was consistent with Bible teaching; we would pray: “Jesus, Jesus, God and man, I will love you all I can”. Our generally very happy home life reflected a nice, free-floating sense of spiritual significance. But this was the sum total of our religious heritage. For all practical purposes, religion’s role was the God-sanctioned method of making the best job of life in a difficult world. The catch-all answer to any (like me!) with lurking concerns about the meaning of life was to “have faith”.
