Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Islam examined at Southern Baptist Convention seminaries


With 1.6 billion adherents, Muslims make up nearly a quarter of the world's population. Seminary president R. Albert Mohler describes Islam as the "great rival system of belief."

In response to Islam's growing influence, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., has launched a new center for the study of Islam, with J.D. Greear and Michael Youssef as two of its founding fellows.

Southern is among five SBC seminaries that offer courses or degrees focused on the study of Islam.

Southern's Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam, named for donors Connie and Bill Jenkins, will study and engage Islam, with an emphasis on evangelism and apologetics. A team of fellows who are experts in Islam will lead the center in conducting research, offering seminars and publishing literature. The center will also host conferences and summits with Islamic scholars from around the world.

Faithfulness to the Great Commission requires ministers to study Islam "not merely to understand [it] as others might seek to understand it, but to achieve a Christian understanding of Islam," Mohler said.

The dedication coincided with the seminary's annual Great Commission Week in February. The four-day event included panel discussions with veteran missionaries and church planters, outreach projects in Louisville and evangelistic training sessions. Keep reading

See also
Islam—The Great Challenge to Christian Evangelism of Our Times

Photo: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

1 comment:

diogenesUSA said...

I would recommend a recently published book.
"Allah of the Qur'an and the God of the Bible "Are They The Same?"

For an in-depth exegesis of Islam and biblical Christianity, this should be required reading for a Christian student of apologetics.

Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com