A work of genius
Ian Sansom, The Guardian
This truly is one of the best books I've read in years: funny, outrageous, touching, intimate, glorious.
Nicola Barker, The Guardian Best Books of 2017
Navid Kermani has written one of the funniest, most perceptive, outrageous and engaging books about art, life and faith that I have ever read... It's wonderful. It's cathartic. It's transformative.
The Spectator
An astonishing, deeply sympathetic, constantly surprising meditation on Christianity from one of the greatest Muslim writers and thinkers in the Western world. Kermani writes perceptively about individual works of art and particular places, about the New Testament, and about the rich traditions of Christian theology and practice. Still more important, he articulates a vision of Islamic-Christian friendship that is, in our vexed world, a human gift of rare importance.
Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
In this beautifully written book, Navid Kermani performs something which, if not unprecedented, is still highly unusual, as he considers Christianity from the distance of a different faith. He does not claim any superiority here, quite the opposite. Unencumbered by the need to accept or reject, he explores the Christian faith with an alert interest and consuming curiosity. Through his keen gaze, coupled with a profound knowledge of theology and art history, Kermani captivates readers with the marvels of artworks that they might otherwise never really notice. The anglophone world needs and deserves this gem of a book.
Daniel Boyarin, University of California, Berkeley
In this book Navid Kermani draws on his unique perspectives as a Muslim intellectual to offer thoughtful reflections on the complex divine ideas underlying Christian art and the deep parallels that can be drawn between it and other traditions, including mystical Islam. As an outside observer of Christianity, Kermani reminds us that the great faith traditions have more in common than they have difference and how, at the end of the day, we all pay tribute to the same divine spirit. May more Muslim and Christian thinkers alike be inspired by his deep reflectiveness and willingness to engage across faith traditions.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington, DC
When I lived in Deir Mar Musa, Paolo Dall'Oglio would sometimes press a very important book on me to read. I am sure that Wonder Beyond Belief is one of these books. It encourages debate and impresses the reader with the need for communication and respect for other people's beliefs.
Emma Loosley, University of Exeter
Superbly written with occasional suprises, this book is hard to put down
Premier Christianity
'Kermani holds in fine balance his reverence and irreverence, his sense of the holy, his outrage at the outrageous... His wonder at art in the Christian - mainly Catholic - tradition is expansive, responsive, humane and imaginative. Sometimes it is also very funny. His curiosity as both a scholar and an art lover is prodigious and infectious... His very openness means that looking at Christianity and its art through his eyes can be moving, entertaining, illuminating, uncomfortable and very rewarding.'
Art and Christianity
Many Christians, and especially many Catholics, will learn a great deal not just about the Islamic point of view, but about what they think of as their own true faith... This is a book which ought not to be missed by anyone concerned with issues in the modern world.
Irish Catholic
