Alone with a Jihadist Category:  Religion ISBN-10:  1934466131 ISBN-13: 9781934466131 While many fundamentalist/evangelicals tend to ascribe to a Zionist theology, which believes that it is good to be at war with anyone who opposes the Christian right, there is one crusader, Aaron Taylor, who believes otherwise. Taylor believes that the Church has sadly missed the most pronounced message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace. In a room for seven hours with a radical Muslim, Taylor shares the story from his face-to-face encounter of how Islamic people view the United States of America and the state of the Christian Church. It is one thing to look at Christianity from a Christian's perspective, which is typically an altruistic viewpoint, but things change quite a bit when Christianity is viewed through the eyes of Muslims. Taylor says, "Their (Muslims) view is one every Christian must hear!" This is the engaging story of that meeting.

BookReview.com
With a title like ALONE WITH A JIHADIST, one might imagine that Aaron D. Taylor’s new book is another action thriller based on America’s so-called “war on terror.” In fact it is something far different and vastly more interesting. Mr. Taylor is a fundamentalist evangelical Christian—but one very different than the media stereotype or one of the religious ranters one hears sometimes on the radio. In fact, he embodies a kind of loving Christianity implicit in the teachings of the New Testament, but not always practiced in the real world.
In a strange way, this is a sort of “hostage” drama, but not in the manner you might expect. From an early age, Aaron is drawn to global evangelism, and when he comes of age he becomes a missionary in a number of foreign countries, including some places in which Christians are a persecuted minority. At the age of 28, Aaron meets a documentary film maker by the name of Stephen Marshall who is looking for a young, globally mobile Christian missionary to participate in the making of a feature-length documentary. After an intensive interview, he is recruited. A few short months later, Marshall accompanies Aaron to Pakistan, a Muslim nation in which Christians are often oppressed. During that trip, Marshall begins to tell Aaron about an outspoken jihadist in London called Khalid. They decide to arrange a discussion between Aaron and Khalid and put the results on film.

Aaron approached the Khalid interview with some trepidation. When it arrives, he finds himself figuratively held "hostage" to an intense debate about the differences between two very different religious points of view. For Aaron this was a daunting and challenging experience. Khalid proved to be a fiery personality and a passionate and intelligent debater. While Khalid said many things that seriously undermined any message he might have intended for a moderate western audience, one point he made stuck with Aaron and resonated long after the debate was over. Khalid had argued that while Muhammad had left his worshippers a specific set of rules and laws to live by, Jesus had not left the world a comprehensive social, economic or political system to regulate society. “Tell me Aaron,” Khalid challenged,” how would you implement the bible from a governmental point of view?”

This dramatic question becomes the springboard for a fascinating set of speculations about the role of Christian faith in society. As he returns to the bible after the debate to uncover his own answers, Aaron defines differences that he has with other fundamentalist Christians regarding the role that faith should play in governance. He comes to the conclusion that a theocratic government can control external behavior, but not internal behavior. Jesus was interested in the spiritual self rather than the external self. (When Satan tempts Jesus in the desert to turn stones into bread to feed the hungry, Christ refuses.) As his speculations continue, Aaron raises questions that are eye openers and might shock some fundamentalists. “Why would the New Testament authors want us to know that it was Satan that tempted Jesus to acquire political power?” he asks. “Could it be that the more Christians pursue political power to control other people’s behavior, the less we look like Jesus?”

Where all these speculations lead Aaron, and how Aaron reaches his final conclusions makes for interesting reading. Taylor gives his readers a window into the thinking and sensibility of an intelligent and sincere Christian wrestling with vital questions about the nature and purpose of his faith in a modern and rapidly changing world. Following his dialog with Khalid, Aaron takes a fresh look at America’s global relationships, focusing in particular on the areas where American and Israeli foreign policy have lead to conflicts with Muslim peoples. Particularly admirable is his willingness to take moral stances on foreign policy that put him at odds with the politics of many other evangelicals. In following his spiritual struggle through the book, readers will recognize a man who thinks for himself, and does not fit the stereotypes many of us have about fundamentalist Christians. He faces difficult questions with courage, even including a section toward the end of the book called BRIEF ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS. Many of those questions relate to whether violence and war are justified by the teachings of Jesus.

The issues raised in the two day dialog between Aaron and Khalid (and further explored by Taylor in his inward search) add another intriguing dimension to this book—providing the reader with insights into the faith of Muslim fundamentalists, and the way in which Muslims in general view the United States and the Christianized western world. Some of these insights shed disturbing light on why our problems in dealing with the Muslim world are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Whether you share Mr. Taylor’s religious persuasion (and incidentally, this reviewer does not), it is impossible not to respect this author’s integrity, compassion and common sense as he struggles to apply his faith to an often violent and troubled world.

Even an agnostic raised in a Judeo-Christian culture feels a certain moral glow when reading the New Testament; a sense of the greatness of Christ's teachings and gentleness, a sense of what Christianity can be at it's best. In following this young man's spiritual journey, we see the influence of those teachings. At a time when the world is tortured with wars based on religious differences, Aaron laments the rise of violence, and looks to his faith for ways to resolve conflict. Thoughtful readers of all faiths are sure to find inspiration in this fine book.