Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World: Christian Identity and Practice under Muslim Rule: Early and Medieval Islamic World

Charles Tieszen is associate professor at Simpson University and adjunct assistant professor at the Fuller Seminary. He received his PhD from the University of Birmingham and is the author of Christian Identity amid Islam in Medieval Spain and A Textual History of Christian-Muslim Relations.

Introduction - Tracing the Life of a Theological IdeaChapter 1 - Writing about Crosses in Medieval Islamic MilieusChapter 2 - Muslims and Christians Stumbling over CrossesChapter 3 - The Cross is a Mirror of Muslim IdolatryChapter 4 - The Cross is a Symbol and Source of PowerChapter 5 - The Cross is Christ and the Distinctive Mark of His FriendsConclusion - Cruciform Believers as Icons in the Medieval Islamic WorldAppendix - An Abbreviated Guide to the Sources

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World is a very welcome addition to the sparse library of historical studies of Christian-Muslim relations within the world of Islam ... It is a feature of the genius of Tieszen's book that with his focus on the deceptively simple issue of what he calls "cross veneration" he introduces the reader not only to the major and minor religious issues in dispute between Christians and Muslims but also to principal Christian and Muslim authors of the debate texts and the history of the development of the most common themes and modes of argument at play in their works over the centuries.
For those who search for a brief introduction into the role and defensive of cross veneration in the churches of the Middle East, Charles Tieszen's clearly written overview of the subject provides an excellent starting point.