Christian theologians involved in dialogue with Muslims have waited too long for a solid monograph in English on Louis Massignon. Christian S. Krokus, associate professor of theology at the University of Scranton, has filled that void with The Theology of Louis Massignon. Massignon looms large in any discussion of Catholic engagement with Islam in the first half of the twentieth century and is often credited—perhaps overly credited, according to Krokus—with a great influence on Vatican II's Nostra Aetate. Krokus presents a study that is appreciative without being hagiographical, surveying the evolution of Massignon's theology over the course of the French Orientalist's decades of scholarship. This book represents a marked advance on Patrick Laude's The Vow and the Oath, concentrating less on the esoteric dynamics of Massignon's thought and providing instead a systematic overview of his religious ideas. Instructors looking for an introduction for students not steeped in Massignon's oeuvre will find, by comparison with other options (including journal articles), that Krokus’ exposition makes much more sense.

To open the book, Krokus provides a brief biography of Massignon and an initial chapter on method, then organizes the six remaining chapters around key theological loci for Massignon: God, Christ, Islam, and Church. Some aspects of Massignon's thought are already familiar to many Christian theologians, such as divine hospitality and the visitation of the stranger, a focus on the Abrahamic foundations shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and the substitute spirituality of the Badaliya movement (which Krokus presents in a particularly lucid way in chapter 7). Other aspects are unknown to newcomers and thus more useful, such as the contrast between the mystics al-Hallâj (d. 922) and Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240) in chapter 2 and Massignon's early apologetic response to an anti-Christian polemic, Examen du “Présent de l'homme lettré,” in chapters 3 and 4. Krokus adopts a widespread division of Massignon's life into the Hallâjian (1908–1922), Abrahamic (1922–1950), and Gandhian (1950–1962) cycles, indicating the figures who dominated his thought during those periods. This framework accounts adequately for Massignon's increasing sympathy for Islam, including the notion that Islam has a positive mission (162–65) and Muhammad's status as a prophet (for which Massignon introduces the distinctive idea of a “negative prophet,” 145–46).

Krokus’ monograph is first and foremost a book for Christian theologians, not Arabists or Islamicists. Absent are the conventions of Islamic studies, such as consistent diacritical marks and hijri dating, because these would be ponderous for the primary audience. Beyond the apparatus of a certain scholarly field, these omissions are symptoms of one limit of Krokus’ contribution: a more comprehensive appraisal of the relevance of Massignon's thought for Christian theologians today would demand a thoroughgoing dual expertise, in Islamic studies on the one hand and Christian theology on the other. Massignon's contributions to the former field were immense, especially given the small number of texts that had been edited and published during the years of his primary activity. However, some of Massignon's interpretations of certain figures and concepts in Islam were and remain idiosyncratic, not the least of which is the exaggerated importance Massignon grants to al-Hallâj. It would benefit theologians today to see more clearly the divergences between Massignon's interpretation of key figures in Islam and other plausible readings of those same figures current in Islamic studies. A fuller assessment of Massignon's enduring legacy for Christian theology will need to evaluate Massignon's positions in this way, so that a Christian theology responsive to Islam responds to current and balanced scholarship about the Islamic tradition. Krokus neither intended to write that book nor claims the expertise to do so—he attempts to expound the mind of Massignon and does so impressively—but an integration, however measured, of Massignon's insights by theologians today will depend upon it. In the meantime, Krokus has taken a major step forward, leaving us with a handbook that is both accessible and critical. I expect this to remain a principal guide to Massignon for some time.