Martin Nguyen, chair and professor of religious studies at Fairfield University, has written a wonderful introduction to both classical and contemporary Muslim theology. In reading the book, I thought of the ending words of Qur'an 7:176: “So tell the tale, so that they might reflect.” Professor Nguyen tells the tale of Muslim theology as a self-identified Muslim, writing that “I speak herein as an adherent to the faith of Islam addressing the many Muslim communities with which I have intersected and continue to engage” (4). He continues with some autobiographical information on the next page, which provides great information about his own background and location, and how they inform his work.

One of the many strengths of Professor Nguyen's book is his use of “Muslim” as opposed to “Islamic.” “Muslim” speaks to the diversity of people over time who have articulated their own theologies, reminding us of the human component to theology. It also counters the homogeneity that many people think of when they hear the word “Islamic.” There are almost 2 billion people who for more than 1,400 years have articulated their relationships with God, and so the use of “Muslim” also speaks to the dynamic rather than static nature of theology.

Another strength of the book is that Professor Nguyen offers his own “theology of engagement” to go along with the historical material that he describes and analyzes. The book is also easy to understand, written at the level of an undergraduate audience, and suitable for use in undergraduate courses. There is also a deep scholarship present in the work, however, with detailed notes and a bibliography that speak to graduate students as well as scholars of Islam. It is a book to assign in any course that wants to provide either a background to Muslim theology or an example of a contemporary Muslim engaged in the world.

In addition to an introduction and conclusion, the book has seven chapters: “The Language of Theology,” “The Measure of Modern Time,” “Imagining Tradition,” “The Religious Imagination,” “Revelation and Response,” “Faith in the Tradition,” and “Theology in Prostration.” Faith, or iman in the Arabic of the Qur'an, is one of the key theological concepts for Muslims, and Professor Nguyen expertly discusses its importance. Another strength of his book is his use of thinkers as diverse as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (ninth-century founder of one of the major schools of Sunni orthodoxy) and Malcolm X (twentieth-century revolutionary) in the discussion of faith. We do not often give Malcolm X his due, either in the struggle for civil rights or in the development of Islamic thought in the United States, and so reading Professor Nguyen's analysis was yet another highlight of the book.

Modern Muslim Theology is an outstanding book, recommended for libraries, students, and faculty who want both an understanding of and engagement with Muslim theology. One wishes for it the wide readership that it deserves.