Book Review of Seeds of Turmoil by Bryant Wright

SEEDS OF TURMOIL
Bryant Wright
Thomas Nelson
ISBN 978-0-8499-4815-2

These days, there is a lot of curiosity about the nature of Islam. Can Judaism, Christianity and Islam exist together in peace? Are the terrorists in line with the majority of Muslims, or is Islam essentially a peaceful religion? Seeds of Turmoil sheds light on these questions and many others by discussing the Biblical and historical roots of conflict between Islam and the other two religions that trace themselves back to being children of Abraham.

The book discusses this interreligious turmoil from a thoroughly Christian perspective. This will be helpful to some readers, and discouraging for others. Seeds of Turmoil begins by recounting the roots of Middle Eastern-Israeli conflict as recorded in Scripture. It claims that Islam is rooted in the experience of Ishmael. In doing so, it draws a straight line between Ishmael to Mohammed. It demonstrates that Biblical history describes continuous conflict between Arabs, Palestinians, Persians, and Babylonians.

Seeds of Turmoil also spends a lot of time discussing the development of the nation of Israel, and how that is viewed from Arab perspective. This history is helpful, and gives the reader helpful perspective. In a rare moment of empathy toward Arabic people, the author asks the reader to consider how Americans would feel if the original thirteen colonies were all deeded back to the Native Americans.

Bryant Wright’s summary of Islam clearly believes that mainstream Islam throughout history is dedicated to the “jihad of the sword”. He points out that the Muslim attempt to conquer Europe predates the crusades. Wright draws clear lines between the words of Mohammed, and the words of Khomeni and Bin Laden after they incited conflict with America to show that Islamic violence toward Christians and Jews has clear roots in the Koran. He briefly discusses inter-Muslim violence and the conflict between Shiite Muslims and Sunni believers.

There are several things I enjoyed about this book. It was easily accessible to nearly every reader. It achieved the goal of developing a history of Islamic conflict from Biblical history, throughout history, and into modern times. And, while I would not paint Islam with as broad of a brush as Wright, I believe that his insight about the centrality of violence to the Islamic faith is accurate.

My criticism of the book would be that I think the author oversimplifies history in order to make his points in places in the book. I am not sure a direct genealogical line between Ishmael and Mohammed has ever been drawn, and I think that the Arabs predate Ishmael (after all, wasn’t Ishmael of Egyptian heritage). And conflict between Abraham and his neighbors predates both Issac and Ishmael.

Overall, I think Seeds of Turmoil is a nice book for some, especially those who have not given the turmoil in the Middle East much thought. But the book should be treated as a primer to further study, and not the final authority on the complex issue.


I was given a complimentary copy of this book by the Thomas Nelson publishers in exchange for an honest review.