A Common God and the Matter of Practices - Book Report/Review Example

Read Chapter 6 of Miroslav Volf, Allah: A Christian Response (San Francisco: HarperOne, , 111-24 Choose the option that most accurately describes how much of the reading assignment you have completed:a. _____ I read 100% of the reading.b. _____ I read between 75-99% of the reading.c. _____ I read 50-74% of the reading.d. _____ I read less than half of the reading.e. _____ I didn’t read this week.2. Briefly summarize the point that this chapter attempts to make about the relationship between belief and practice.

This chapter attempts to suggest that belief and practice are two different things that Islam and Christianity tend to mismatch in their worship of God. This was demonstrated using the “practical atheism” in which practical atheists believe in God but deny God’s existence through their deeds. This is explained in page 115 of the book about believing rightly and acting wrongly (Volf 115). The author uses the example of the book of Isaiah in which the prophet Isaiah rebukes those who observe religious rituals but do not act in God’s will.

Believing and practice are also explained by Jesus in terms of believing the right God and worshiping the wrong God. In Mathew 6:24, Jesus said that you cannot worship God and wealth at the same time. Religious people who adore wealth say that they believe in God, but actually worship “god” in form of wealth (Volf 117). Therefore, this chapter makes a negative relationship between belief and practice whereby what religious people believe may not necessarily be what they practice. 3. On page 119, Volf asks whether Christian crusaders and Muslim terrorists worship the same God.

What is the significance of this question in the context of his argument? What is your answer to this question?This question is significant in the context of Volf’s argument because the two religious groups seem to believe in the same God but their practice or actions are different. While Christian Crusaders argue that the God they serve is a God of Justice, who does not want people to act unjustly, Muslim terrorists argue that they can kill for the sake of God (Volf 113). In reality, the Quran and the bible provide the same guidelines and beliefs about God, but what the Muslim terrorists practice is different from what the Christians practice.

They believe in the same God but worship different Gods; hence supporting the argument that what religious groups believe may not necessarily be what they practice in reality – Practicing differently from what they belief. From this discussion, my answer to this question is clearly that Christian Crusaders and Muslim terrorists do not worship the same God. They may believe in the same God but they worship different gods.References listVolf, Miroslav. Allah: A Christian Response. San Francisco: HarperCollins e-books, 2011. Print.