Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-Making and Ex-Muslim Christians

by Duane Alexander Miller

Overview

Around the world people are leaving Islam for Christianity in unprecedented numbers. This book seeks to look into the world of some of these converts, trying to discern the shape of their newfound faith. Why do they convert? What challenges do they face? And ultimately, what do they in their own complex and sometimes difficult circumstances claim to have understood about God that, while in Islam, they had not? In other words, what is the content of their contextual theology? In seeking to answer these questions, Miller looks into the world of an unintentional church plant in the Arab world consisting of believers from a Muslim background, visits with groups of Iranian converts in the diaspora, and examines the written testimonies of still other converts. In a world where Muslim-Christian relations are increasingly important and sometimes tendentious, this book examines the lived faith and contextual theology of people who have chosen to leave Islam and embrace Christianity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498284172
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	09/23/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Duane Alexander Miller is a researcher and lecturer in Muslim-Christian relations at The Christian Institute of Islamic Studies. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas at San Antonio, an MA in Theology from St Mary's University in San Antonio, a diploma in Arabic from the Kelsey Language Institute in Jordan, and a PhD in Divinity from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

His doctoral research was on the contextual theologies proposed by Christian converts from Islam--what do they claim to know about God, and what attracted them to the Christian faith? The thesis is due for publication in 2016 as Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-making and ex-Muslim Christians(Pickwick, 2016).

After studying Arabic, the Millers moved to Nazareth of Galilee, which is a Muslim-majority, Arab city in Israel. There he was the founding academic dean of Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). He also served as lecturer in church history and theology for the seminary. Duane has also taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Edinburgh, and St Mary's University.

Dr. Miller has published numerous articles and chapters on the topics of Christian converts from Islam, the history of Protestant missions in Ottoman Palestine, and contemporary evangelicalism in the Middle East. He is author of Two Stories of Everything: The Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity  (2016), which seeks to understand the two faiths not as alternative religions, but as accounts of the entirety of history, from Creation to the final judgment. He is also co-author of Arab Evangelicals in Israel (Pickwick, 2016).
Duane Alexander Miller is a researcher and lecturer in Muslim-Christian relations at The Christian Institute of Islamic Studies. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas at San Antonio, an MA in Theology from St Mary's University in San Antonio, a diploma in Arabic from the Kelsey Language Institute in Jordan, and a PhD in Divinity from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. 

His doctoral research was on the contextual theologies proposed by Christian converts from Islam--what do they claim to know about God, and what attracted them to the Christian faith? The thesis is due for publication in 2016 as Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-making and ex-Muslim Christians(Pickwick, 2016).

After studying Arabic, the Millers moved to Nazareth of Galilee, which is a Muslim-majority, Arab city in Israel. There he was the founding academic dean of Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). He also served as lecturer in church history and theology for the seminary. Duane has also taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Edinburgh, and St Mary's University.

Dr. Miller has published numerous articles and chapters on the topics of Christian converts from Islam, the history of Protestant missions in Ottoman Palestine, and contemporary evangelicalism in the Middle East. He is author of Two Stories of Everything: The Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity  (2016), which seeks to understand the two faiths not as alternative religions, but as accounts of the entirety of history, from Creation to the final judgment. He is also co-author of Arab Evangelicals in Israel (Pickwick, 2016).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xii

A Brief Introduction 1

1 Theology-Making and Power 3

2 The Context of the Ex-Muslim Christian: Conversion and Apostasy 38

3 The Twentieth Century: Changes in Context, Numbers, and Locations of Converts 77

4 Context and the Birth of a Muslim-Background Congregation in the Arab World 111

5 Liberation and Wisdom in the Texts of Ex-Muslim Christians 149

6 Iranian Christians in the American and British Diaspora 175

7 Theology-Making: Context, Content, Metaphor and Purpose 205

Conclusion 238

Bibliography 243