several writers comment on bennett's openness about his christian identity and aim of responding sympathetically as a christian to the challenge of islam. noorani refers to him as a "devout christian" armour describes bennett as a "confessing christian" while zahniser comments that bennett's "search for muhammad" is also a "struggle for interpretation." bennett "combines a christian struggle to find muhammad with a textbook-like tour of islam itself." shafaat's review is a 26-page detailed analysis of bennett on muhammad and on jesus. on the one hand, he praises bennett for listening to muslim voices. on the other, he suggests that bennett is hampered by his loyalty to jesus and by his need to "fit islam into his christian outlook", which results in his inability to "properly assess evidence about the prophet muhammad when it calls into question what we 'know of god in christ'". on a positive note, bennett "is aware that his attempt to fit islam into his world-view 'is not unproblematical'." theology gets in the way of history, so bennett fails to allow the "historical muhammad to speak for himself". shafaat also thinks that bennett may have "felt some pressure from his peers to downgrade his estimate of muhammad". bennett's jesus "departs from the traditional christian view."