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Author Glomb approaches the subject of the relationship between three great religions of the world—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—as one who has made a lengthy, thoughtful study of all of them. She shares personal background information to support her eclectic convictions, beginning with her upbringing in the Roman Catholic faith, with the typical rite of baptism as an infant, and her attendance at Mass and other occasions during her youth. However, in high school, she was led to attend the Brigantine Bible Church, where she experienced a strong conversion, although she was not allowed by her parents to have a second baptism.
Attending college at the Marine Maritime Academy, she became an oceanography major and there attended a Methodist church. She read the Bible every evening during those years and, after graduation, obtained a position with the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as a hydrographic technician, a job that entailed measuring bodies of water to maintain navigation safety. She cites a reference to hydrography in the Bible (Acts 27:27-29) when a ship dropped anchor rather than continue towards shore based on dangers predicted by measurements that would have been taken with ropes and stones. Now, of course, such complex calculations are done by computerized technology.
When the author saw a news program describing “a Qur’an burning,” it piqued her curiosity and initiated her study of that sacred book. Throughout Glomb’s informative guide, quotations from the Bible and the Qur’an treating with comparable stories and themes comprise a great portion of the text, presumably so that her readers can become informed, as she has, about these significant books’ similarities in theme and history. To this end, she attempts to give all three belief systems equal weight in all examples covered.
Glomb lived aboard a ship and practiced her hydrography skills for fourteen years, drawing spiritual metaphors and inspiration from her continuing fascination with holy books. Early retirement became necessary, leading her to painstakingly assemble the body of knowledge she had been accumulating since her youth regarding the commonality of the three great teachings and the unity of God that connects them all. Since so much of her narrative comes from those time-honored sources, the reader may infer that after her intensive delving into them, she wishes to offer an effective medium for readers that encompasses, explores, and compares those bases.
Each chapter begins with brief observations from the author about the specific subjects in focus, including, among many, God (Allah), Adam and Eve, Abraham (Ibrahim), Jonah (Yunus), Prophet Muhammed—Peace Be Upon Him, Satan, repentance, and Jesus the Messiah. Glomb readily offers a brief discussion of well-known disparities between Islamic and biblical history and theology, concluding appropriately with a few well-constructed nonsectarian prayers. All these sections have been carefully organized, it seems, to give Glomb’s readers an opportunity for spiritual contemplation that will show them that there are more likenesses than dissimilarities among these great bodies of belief and endow them with the vision to accept other religious viewpoints and cooperate with all for the sake of world peace. The author's book could prove useful for those wishing to see how these three major religions can be compared and contrasted.
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