For many of us, it doesn't seem so long ago that Islam was a remote subject, barely touching our lives. Now hardly a day goes past when someone isn't talking about it in the media, or in our parliaments, or over the water cooler at work.

Much of that talk goes in one of two directions. Some want to blame Islam in general for the violence and atrocities being committed in its name (which hardly seems fair). Others insist that Islamic State and other Islamic terrorist groups have nothing whatsoever to do with Islam (which strikes many as being implausible).

Are these our only two options in talking about Islam - to blame it or to absolve it?

In this short book written from a Christian viewpoint, Tony Payne argues that there is an honest and constructive way to talk together about Islam. It begins with a better understanding not only of Islam, but also of the modern secular worldview that makes talking about any sort of faith so difficult.