Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPolitical and theological unbalanced story with good intent
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2009
I rated this book a 3, and think that is generous. Yes I liked Godless and Brother Andrew was inspiring to all of us in that excellent saga. However, this book exhibits a bias towards Muslims and against Jews. Yes there is some balance and of course includes a sympathetic view of persecuted Palestinian Christians but the overall tone borders on anti-Semitic. Whether it is slighting Ariel Sharon, mentioning rude soldiers, or attacking helicopters, the perception is one of an aggressive nearly belligerent Jewish state. For instance the Israeli soldiers are "armed," and this seems to be bad in his eyes. Perhaps he should show as much concern over the thousands of rockets that hit Israel in a year, which might explain why they would arm themselves then and now. At another point he dramatically describes those military helicopters (Israeli) hovering about, but doesn't seem to go into as much detail about Muslim suicide bombers. He then describes in picturesque form about the young boy being shot in the Intifada. Perhaps he missed the point that this was shown to be a staged fake, meant to attract worldwide sympathetic attention. This is a combination political and theological unbalanced story with good intent but poor performance in a crossfire region. It is also transparent he finds dealing with Hamas leaders very satisfying as well as helping the few embattled Christians left in that area. Jewish representation, however, is shown by "gruff" voices, unsympathetic attitudes, and arrest innocent citizenry at will. I wonder if my voice would be gruff if I were constantly being attacked?
The ending is somewhat good with Christians, Jews, and Muslims all just trying to find purpose in an incredibly difficult region. This obvious "justification" summation is used to rationalize action is therefore in a gray category; there is no black and white, just misunderstandings by all. This seems to explain away bad behavior by sharing blame. Incidentally this was written in 2004. Take a look at the Gaza and Northern West Bank turnover by Israel and look at the results and then determine what impact this book's message truly had. I guess these same "decent" innocent Muslims and Hamas leaders that Brother Andrew tried to reach didn't quite see things Andrew's way after all. I kept finding myself wondering when I would come to the really good part of the book--it never came.
