Louis Massignon is primarily known in the French speaking world, both in Europe and the Middle East; therefore, this book is a welcome addition to the growing number of English language books and articles about him and the few English translations of his vast collection of publications. One volume cannot contain the full range of Massignon's thoughts or experiences, yet each of the books and articles published thus far focus our attention on different aspects of this gifted, complex, and intense personality. He did not see himself as a theologian, and yet this excellently researched book describes Massignon's exploration of the theology and mystical tradition of Islam from the perspective of his own Catholic Christian tradition and theology. Given the current crisis in the Muslim world as well as the abundance of misinformation and lack of education about Muslims and the teachings of Islam that continue to create a strained relationship between Christians and Muslims, Massignon's compassionate approach and theologically sound research serve as a model and a welcome sign of hope today.

Massignon was both a meticulous scholar of religion and an intense spiritual seeker of mystical experiences and traditions. This created a certain level of controversy posed by scholars who often challenged his unconventional methods of inquiry. In his introduction, Krokus states that this book is meant to correct these misconceptions of Massignon's work by “pointing to the key features of Massignon's understanding of Islam in the light of his Catholic Christian faith” (4). He defines Massignon's method of inquiry as a scholar of the theology of Islam by “four main characteristics: an attitude of hospitality, a love of textual truth, an interiorist disposition, and a bias in favor of historicity, integrity and originality”—“interiorist” being terminology used by Père Basetti-Sani, a disciple of Massignon (18).

Through quotations from many of Massignon's writings as well as those of Massignon's students, colleagues, and even critics, Krokus guides the reader to the sources of Massignon's years of research and experience, and refers the reader to resources for further study. He identifies essential themes in Massignon's theology as God, Christ, Islam, and the church. Massignon experienced Jesus and the God of Abraham “through the testimony of both Christian and Muslim mystics” (82). His study of the Bible, the church, and the Qur'an informed the centrality of Jesus in his religious worldview. Chapters devoted to Massignon's experience of spiritual substitution, which he called the Badaliya, and to the Badaliya prayer movement that he established in Cairo, Egypt, in 1934 point to the foundation for his own spirituality. Krokus also refers to Surah 18 of the Qur'an, which talks about seven second-century persecuted and resurrected Christians. This story is also found in the Eastern Christian traditions and led to the establishment of a Muslim and Christian annual pilgrimage in Brittany, France, that continues to this day.

You cannot enter into the works of Louis Massignon without finding yourself immersed in the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism and in the experience of his magnum opus, the fifty-year study of the life and spiritual writings of the tenth-century Sufi mystic and martyr, al-Hallâj. Krokus's rich exploration of Massignon's own spiritual experience, called “The Visitation of the Stranger,” describes the decentering of oneself in prayer to make room for le point vierge, the spirit of God in the center of the human soul, and emphasizes the need to enter into the mind, heart, and experience of the “other” in order to truly understand another person or religious tradition. His devotion to the Virgin Mary and his lifelong “friendship” with Hallâj led him to envision both of them as a bridge toward Muslim and Christian engagement. He adamantly defended respect for the distinctions in these two traditions and rejected pluralism in interreligious dialogue. This kind of respect is how Massignon thought the Catholic Church should respond to Qur'anic denials of the Incarnation and the Trinity. Hallâj said, “Those who testify to my saintliness do so from their good opinion of me, while those who testify against my infidelity do so from zealous defense of their religion, and he who zealously defends his religion is dearer to God than he who has a good opinion of anyone” (70). And yet, out of respect and love for Islam and his many Muslim friends, Massignon researched Islamic sources for evidence from within the tradition that would allow Muslims to experience Jesus, revered as a prophet in the Qur'an, in the fullness of his divinity as well as his humanity.

In demonstrating how Massignon's understanding of Islam evolved from his early concepts—so influenced by the prevailing early twentieth-century European and colonial mindset and false accusations about Islam, Muhammad, and the Qur'an—Krokus quotes from Massignon's early writings, contrasting traditional Muslim apologetics with Christian apologetics, and then from his later, more mature reading of all three. As his theology evolved in relation to each of the above explorations, so did Massignon's social action on behalf of human rights. Krokus writes: “For Massignon, public witness on behalf of the oppressed or the exiled whether in Mary, Abraham or Hallâj . . . is a crucial indicator of authentic religious experience” (70). As Krokus points out, “Massignon witnessed how the Church might do its part in replacing the centuries-long rivalry between Christians and Muslims with a new relationship built upon fraternity, hospitality and friendship” (229). Massignon was profoundly connected to all three Abrahamic faiths, and his sincere love for them is evident in his friendships, his theology, and his social actions.

As with most of the writings by and about Louis Massignon, this is an exploration of the mind and heart of an extraordinarily gifted and precise scholar. A careful reading and slow digestion of this thoughtfully researched text by Christian Krokus is well worth the effort.