Part of the common grounds in Christian-Muslim dialogue is that we read Sacred Scriptures the contents of which show certain parallels - it is no coincidence that we describe Jews and Christans as People of the Scripture, deliberately looking for aspects our three religions have in common. However, as soon a our exchange transcends the phases of coming to know each other and trying to deal with shared acute problems, we are sometimes rattled and uncomprehending when confronted with the way our dialogue partners deal with theological questions. Besides, there are numerous misunderstandings concerning the relationship with the Sacred Scriptures in each faith group. In order to achieve some clarification, this paper is an attempt to outline basic methods for studying Biblical and Qur'anic text. Since the impulse for this paper came from the context of Christian-Muslim dialogue, I am going to restrict myself, as far as the Bible is concerned, to the Christian Bible exegesis as taught at modern universities.
The Bible is a collection of books (biblia = books), consisting mainly of the Hebrew Bible called the Old Testament (OT) by Christian readers and the New Testament (NT).
The Hebrew Bible consists of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses; Arab. Tawrat); history books like the Books of Joshua, Judges, Kings etc.; Prophetic Books and Books of Wisdom like the Psalms or Proverbs. These books are written in Hebrew and partly in Aramaeic, and they have come into existence and have been compiled in the course of ca. 1000 years.
The New Testament consists of the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Epistles and the Revelation, all of them based on Greek texts dating back to the first century of the Christian era.
The Qur'an is a single book compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (s) within the 23 years after his appointment in the contemporary Arabic language. Passages from the Meccan and Medinan periods are roughly differentiated and combined in a way that will be discussed later.
Professional work with a text is always based on the knowledge of the language in which it was written, for any translation is already an interpretation. This applies as well to the texts under discussion here.
However, Biblical Hebrew is not a language where other contemporary sources than the Bible are available, i.e. nearly all work is based on written documents that are contained in the Bible itself. On the other hand, it is rather safe from misunderstandings that can arise, in living languages, through changes in the use and meaning of words. Research in Biblical Hebrew is a field to which both Jewish and Christian researchers have contributed, the former also drawing from their practical and existential relationship with the text.
While Greek, besides Latin, was cultivated as a scholars' language in Europe until the 20th century, it is not a living language. During the time of early Christianity, Greek was the administration language in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire including Roman occupied Palestine. We cannot be sure if Jesus himself understood Greek; in any case, the language he used for teaching was Aramaeic as spoken by the people. The Gospels that describe his life and work are written in Greek, that is, his words are already quoted in translation. The Jewish professor Pinchas Lapide came to interesting results when he tried to reconstruct statements from the Gospels in their possible linguistic and cultural environment; as yet, this approach is pioneer work. Otherwise, exegesis mainly consists of investigating into the testimony of faith expressed by the Evangelists and the authors of the Epistles who - other than Jesus himself - did speak and think in Greek. In contrast to the Hebrew Bible, abundant works of contemporary extra-Biblical non-Christian literature are available that gives insight into Greek thought - that, however, differs to some extent from the Semitic thought Jesus was familiar with.
With the Arabic language, the Qur'an takes us back into the world of Semitic language and thought. Since Arabic is still in use as a living language, it is the more necessary to investigate into the original meaning expressed in the text. From a very early stage, Muslim researchers have taken the linguistic research very seriously. Dictionaries and grammar books were written, but also well-known commentaries like the ones by Zamakhshari (12th century C.A.) and Baidawi (13th century C.A.) emphasise, among other aspects, that of language. For comparison, there are extra-Qur'anic pre- and non-Islamic texts, and valuable insights into the use of words can be found in the hadith literature. The linguistic research was mainly cultivated in the non-Arab Muslim world, and in the recent past, the possibilites of modern linguistic methodology was included. So were comparative studies of other Semitic languages.
As mentioned before, the Hebrew Bible emerged in the course of ca 1000 years, not considering oral traditions and religious texts that existed before and during this time but were not included. Modern research shows that the Five Books of Moses seem to have emerged from at least four documents, according to Wellhausen J (ca. 900-850 B.C.), E (ca. 700 B.C.) (both named after the terms for "God" used in the respective texts), D (from "Deuteronomy") and the Priestly Scriptures (said to date from the time after the Balylonian exile). With the attempt to isolate and reconstruct the earlier sources, various theories and hypotheses have developed, and others try to explain the reasons why the books have been compiled in their present form. Obviously it was an attempt to produce chronologically a history of salvation from different sources that shows most impressively God's relationship with this particular people, the biographies of significant persons (e.g. Moses), their teachings and activities, background situations, explanations and commentaries being combined into a continuous representation of a marvellous story of God and His people. This perspective was probably also the standard for the selection of the books to be included in the canon.
Similar theories have been developed concerning the selection of the Books of History (Judges, Kings, Chronicles etc.). Beyond that, there are apocrypha ("hidden" scriptures) that are not used as text sources any longer but read for the wisdom contained in them.
The Prophetic Books centre around persons who, both in Hebrew and in Arabic, are called Nabî (the term Rasûl, messenger that is used in the Qur'an for key figures like Moses is not used in the Hebrew Bible). Their task is to remind people of the One God and perennial ethical values, to criticise social grievances, to warn of the destruction caused by human wrong, the call to repentance and the promise of future blessings for all those who strive for good. The Prophetic Books are testimonies for the prophets' religious experience, their teachings, and the history of their actions, again in chronological order, and the history of the compilation of these texts is investigated with the same methods.
In Bible research, the genesis of the psalms and the proverbs is seen as controversial; there are only some hypotheses concerning their use in ritual life as well as a formal differentiation of literary genres like hymns, teachings, lamentations etc.
When reconstructing ancient texts, one difficulty lies in possible errors by the copist, confusion of similar-looking letters, passages missing in a particular copy etc. as well as changes in the use of the language, bona-fide corrections by the copist as well as a compilation according to the theological views of the editor. Research in this field requires diligent work with details, and the results can only claim a certain degree of probability.
In this context, archeology has a special role. Biblical archeology "digs up" additional materials that give insights into the cultural environment that makes up the background of Biblical stories, thus deepening the understanding of the text. However, over-zealous and premature conclusions, caused e.g. by the enthusiasm to "prove one's point", can influence the results. Therefore the utmost conscienteousness and diligence is required for this work. Special care must be taken concerning the names of places because it is quite common that new settlements of immigrants to an area are named after the place of their origin. Archeology is a rather young science, and it will certainly come up with many interesting details.
The term "New Testament" for the Greek Scriptures of the Bible goes back to the 3rd century C.A., and it was canonized about 367 C.A. In early Christianity, the Hebrew Bible was considered the normative text. Besides, there were oral traditions attributed to Jesus as well as authorized words of the Apostles.
In the latter sense, Paul understood his epistles as a teacher's letters of instruction and advice to Christian communities, the way a master would instruct his disciples. His first letter to the Thessalonians, probably dating back to 50 C.A., is considered the oldest written document of Christianity.
Only by the end of the first Christian century when the number of eyewitnesses was decreasing, acts and statements of Jesus that had hitherto been transmitted orally were written. Since the 2nd century, these documents were called evangelion (glad tidings), Arabic injîl. When we speak about "the Gospels" nowadays, it must be understood that they are different versions of the same message. We must remember, however, that they are not eye-witnesses reports but testimonies of faith referring to certain important stages of Jesus' life and teachings.
Critical studies have, as yet, led to the result that Mark's Gospel is probably the oldest existing document of this kind. The two other Synoptic Gospels (by Matthew and Luke) seem to be based on the information contained in it as well as a collection of Jesus' sayings that was lost, while John's Gospel also makes use of another source, a collection of traditions on Jesus' miracles.
However, there were more than four documents compiled from these sources, and when the documents were canonized, a selection was made, the criteria probably being the popularity and conciseness of the texts. The others, e.g. Thomas's Gospel or the Gnostic Gospels, are considered "apocryphic". The Jewish Christians had their own gospels that were lost later on except for passages quoted by the Church Fathers.
The author of the Acts of the Apostles is probably the same as the author of Luke's Gospel, perhaps with the intention to continue the story. However, the document does not cover the activities of Jesus' disciples in general but rather focusses on the missionary activities of Peter and Paul, finally concentrating on following the latter's journey all the way to the "world capital" Rome. In doing so, it outlines the separation of Gentile Christianity from Judaism and Jerusalem, presenting hints that are useful for the investigation into early Christianity.
As mentioned before, there are, among the scriptures of the New Testament, 22 letters, most of them attributed to Paul. They address mainly Gentile Christian communities, teaching and encouraging them and giving advice concerning their problems. Like the Acts of the Apostles, these documents show the separation from Judaism, sometimes even with statements that can rightly be considered discriminating by Jewish readers. However, the authenticity of some of the texts is under debate.
The last book of the NT, the Revelation to John, was also written as a letter around 90 to 95 C.A.. The author is probably a seer called John (not to be confused with John the evangelist) who was exiled to the island of Patmos. It concentrates on a vision of the coming world judgement.
Being testimonies of faith rather than historic accounts, the scriptures of the NT often contain statements that are difficult to understand for a modern rational reader, e.g. the stories of the miracles. They are based on the subjective experience of believing people that is nowadays often seen from a secularized distance, or they express, in a symbolic language, experiences beyond the world that is accessible through the outward senses that seem to be less interesting to a modern Westerner than plain physical facts and material history.
This problem is central to some misunderstandings in the debate on methodologies like "historical criticism" and "demythologization". In order to deepen one's understanding, it is important, when dealing with a complex text like the Bible, to reconstruct the historical background of its origin and its contextual meaning and to differentiate carefully between the facts and the truth of its actual testimony. Both this approach and all further interpretations demand, beyond the theoretical information, a certain self-knowledge and discipline, because in face of this wealth of information there is always a temptation to go about selectively, leaving aside uncomfortable aspects. Where conclusions concerning the intention of the authors are concerned, the possibility of projection must be taken serious. Finally, where encounters with the transcendent are concerned, e.g. in the context of prophetic experiences, it would be appropriate, for the sake of scholarly integrity, not to limit one's conclusion to a narrow attempt of immanent explanations but to recognize one's own limitations in this sphere and perhaps to point out that any communication with the transcendent can neither be proved nor disproved with the existing scientific means.
Methodologies for the historical research of the Qur'an have been developed by Muslim scholars rather early. Perhaps the experiences of Jews and Christians with their scriptures have contributed to a special desire to take decisive measures for the preservation of the final wording of the Qur'anic text.
Other than the Bible, the Qur'an emerged during a relatively short and historically tangible time. While it is now arranged according to hermeneutical and didactical aspects, it has always been considered important not to lose the chronological sequence of the revelation out of sight and to be able to base conclusions on it. The knowledge of the occasions of revelation (asbâb an-nuzûl) as well as the socio-historical background of each passage is therefore an essential condition for its interpretation. Already the headline of each surah indicates (at least in the original, but also in most translations) whether the greater part of the text belongs to the Meccan or the Medinan period. More details are determined through studies of the style, contemporary accounts that are subjected to critical investigations concerning their authenticity, and seen in the context of the biographies of the Prophet (s) and his male and female companions. An important resource is the hadith literature where a detailed methodology has been developed for checking each account for the reliability of its chain of transmission (isnâd) as well as for possible flaws in its wording in order to determine its authenticity. Well-known commentators like Tabari have used this methodology and developed it further in order to shed more light on the historical background of the Qur'an. Like the linguistic work, the historical research belongs to the essential tools for a professional exegesis.
For a full understanding of the Qur'an, it is also important to know the pre-Islamic history and culture of the Arab world as well as its social structures, economic links and religious beliefs and practices. The Qur'an assumes the reader to be familiar with the traditions of the ancestors since the age of the Patriarchs, not necessarily in the version of the "Children of Israel" as described in the Bible but also in the version of the "Children of Ismail" as it was alive orally, though interspersed with polytheist elements, at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (s). The term Jahiliya (ignorance) used for the pre-Islamic time does not mean that the Arabs were not familiar with their traditional roots but that their knowledge of ethical and spiritual values had been lost.
From its own self-understanding, the Qur'an is not a history book although it calls to mind memories from the past, exhorting the reader to learn from historical experiences. Using examples from our shared past for illustration, it rather gives directions for the development of a philosophy of history useful for the construction of a meaningful future. Of course we are free, even encouraged to explore into the facts connected with the stories as far as this is still possible. The Qur'an often refers to events from the past on a quite different level in order to help us understand certain teachings. An important aspect is the concept common to the three Abrahamic religions that God is active in history. The Qur'an repeatedly points out that history, just like creation in general as well as the Holy Scriptures, contains signs, that is, messages from God that we should endeavour to understand.
In this context, the term verbal inspiration sometimes causes misunderstandings. The term is often understood to mean that any historico-critical study of the text is impossible. In fact, the Qur'an contains exclusively the words that the Prophet (s) proclaimed as textus receptus on various occasions. His own comments, statments, opinions, explanations and practical examples that were later on collected separately, making up the bulk of hadith literature, and biographies of the Prophet (s) (sira), commentaries (tafsir) etc. were developed as separate genres in contrast to the Bible where, as we have seen, all these components have been interwoven into one document. Islamic theology is consistent in differentiating between the textus receptus and all kinds of supplementary and explanatory texts. Debates on whether all revealed texts have really been included in the existing Qur'an and whether there might be different readings are nothing strange to Muslim scholars. Theories of how revelation happens cannot be part of historical research any more; in this field, we may remain content with the statement, "The Qur'an is the written reflection of the religious experience of the Prophet Muhammad (s)." This does not mean that this question is to be ignored altogether. Together with psychological and spiritual aspects of other religious experiences, it has always been part of the research done by the masters of Islamic mysticism. On a quite different level, Christian dialogue partners most often associate the term "verbal inspiration" with the concept prevalent in some Protestant traditons since the 16th century where the whole Bible is considered verbally inspired, free of errors and not to be questioned, a dogma to which modern Biblical criticism was a reaction. The more important it is for us to revive and expand our research methodology in order to gain a deeper understanding of the spirit of the Qur'an and to be able to use it to find answers to problems of our post-industrial age.
A further step deals with understanding and interpreting the text in the context of a given era, envionment and situation because the purpose of Holy Scriptures is to offer orientation to human beings. This approach is called hermeneutics after the Greek hermeneiou, "to explain," "to interpret". An essential component is the systematic study of the text by approaching it with certain questions, e.g. "What does the Bible say about creation and human responsibility for preserving it?" or, "What is the attitude of the Qur'an to war and peace?" etc.
Thus, in Judaism, the question of what is enjoined and what is prohibited produced the foundation for an ethico-legal system most important to practical life, and asking for religious experiences in history triggered a unique sense of continuity of the people that is furthermore revived by the regular and ritual commemoration on festive occasions every year.
In Christianity, the person of Jesus, or rather Christ, held a central position, and this was the starting point from which questions were approached. Already among the early Gentile Christians, the "Law of the Old Covenant" was not considered binding any more, but the teachings of Jesus and the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible as seen from this perspective lay the foundation for a Christan ethics that had to make its stand in interaction with government legislation. Early theological statements by Paul already come to decicive conclusions from the accounts contained in the Gospels, in turn constituting an essential foundation for the development of later church dogmatics. As becomes obvious in the writings by Paul, John's Gospel and the Revelation to John, the consciousness of the early Christians was strongly moved by expectations of the imminent world judgement. Later on, under the influence of Greek thought, eschatological expectations developed into a dogmatic dualism of the "worldly" and the "heavenly" that again gave rise to various conclusions, ranging from ascetic detachment from the word through active charity to the state religion of the Holy Roman Empire and a missionary spirit that has not always been peaceful.
Medieval exegesis was based on the concept of a "fourfold meaning of the Scripture", that is 1. the literal or historical meaning, 2. the allegorical meaning from which theological statments and dogmas could be derived, 3. the moral meaning that determined ethical behaviour, and 4. the analoguous meaning where metaphysical and eschatological secrets were hidden. From these sources, Catholic dogma was developed, understood to be the standard both for theological and philosophical thought and even for scientific discoveries. In order to free the Bible from the dogmatic overlay and to revive its role as a critical norm for the latter, Reformation only admitted the literal or historical meaning, at least in principle. Following the spirit of Enlightenment, the historico-critical method of text study gained ground during the 18th century, demanding the study of Biblical texts by the same standards as other literary works. Left to itself, however, this method proved insufficient for the religious problems and questions of modernity, leading to a progressive marginalization of religion.
While this opens up a wide variety of possibilities on one side, there are fundamental considerations on the other. Thus it is important to be aware of one's own perspective when encountering the text, and perhaps even to be ready to revise one's understanding as a consequence. This process is called the "hermeneutical circle". There is also the question of what is the continuum that links the interpreter with the text, like a certain human self-understanding or a certain development in history. Another essential question is where the focus of the scripture is seen, that is, a point within the scripture around which the understanding of the text is arranged. Thus, certain teachings of Jesus or Paul are seen as central to Christianity and treated as a standard according to which the whole text is measured. In a similar way it often happens that Christians interpret even the Hebrew Bible from a christological perspective, a procedure which contains some potential for conflict between Jewish and Christian interpreters. On the other hand, some Christians ask whether the Hebrew Bible is to be considered "only" as pre-history to the Christian message or as a testimony for God's interaction with human beings alongside with the New Testament. All these considerations are of course also important for translations of the Bible.
There are also some completely new approaches in Bible exegesis, the following two of which seem to be worth mentioning:
A) The psychological interpretation searches the stories and parables of the Bible for resources to help people with their spiritual development and issues concerning their individual lives, using the insights especially of C.G. Jung and drawing from humankind's experience with images and symbols. For this approach, historical facts are secondary, and the timeless truths are seen in the existential human experiences of change and development as described in the stories that are then "translated" into an abstract language that is more easily understood by modern people. The insights gained by this are important in councelling and religious education, but on this level there are certainly also possibilities for new approaches in the dialogue with other religious traditions that teach individual ways of self-education and spiritual purification.
B) The feminist interpretation is a reaktion to the traditional androcentric view prevalent in the churches. It starts already with the linguistic and historical analysis, trying to reconstruct the role and religious experience of women that were neglected in many Biblical accounts, frequently with the help of conclusions arrived at with methods borrowed from sociology. Besides, misogynist statements that often had tragic effects in the history of the church and affect the self-respect of women even today are pointed out and rejected. In the long run, the approach aims at a more holistic perspective and a wider access to religious experiences.
Besides linguistic and historical studies, an essential condition for working with the Qur'an systematically is the familiarity with certain fundamental methods. Among them there is the differentiation between general ('amm) und special (khass), concise (mujmal) and explaining (mufassir) etc. statements as well as - since the text as it exists today was arranged according to hermeneutical points - the consideration of the context within the whole text in which a statement is made because this is equally important for a precise understanding as the historical context. Another traditional way of interpretation is by considering the literal (zâhir) and the metaphorical (bâtin) meaning of the text. Moreover, the Qur'an itself repeatedly points out that it needs to be understood in the context of other signs of God in nature, history, the human soul etc., that is, with insights in other realms of existence.
In a way similar to Judaism, systematical work also implies working with ethical and legal principles. Together with the practical example (sunnah) of the Prophet (s), a rational methodology and the consensus of competent scholars, the relevant Qur'anic texts constitute the foundation of jurisprudence (fiqh). Already the text itself in most cases mentions commandmends and prohibitions together with a reason (illa) and the wisdom (hikma) behind it that does not only hint at possibilities for a deeper understanding but also at the fact that questioning their meaning is certainly a legitimate part of the work. The interaction with various cultural and social conditions and a variety of methodological approaches led to the development of different schools of law (madhâhib).
Closely connected with this there is the socio-political interpretation. In early Islam, socio-political issues frequently triggered general theological thought. Similar issues are regaining their importance in modern age after having been marginalized by the power interests of the ruling dynasties as well as colonial age. The text is read with an eye on processes concerning the rise and fall of nations and civilizations, oppression and liberation, war and peace as well as statements concerning political decision-making and economical justice. These approaches lie at the foundation of modern political thought, drafts for constitutions, sociological views, approaches in liberation theology etc., including the liberation of women from ballast accumulated by tradition.
From the very beginning, the Qur'an was of course approached from the theological angle in the stricter sense, especially with questions concerning the concept of God, the role of the human being, prophecy and revelation, the concept of justice and eschatology. Hadith literature was seen as a kind of supplement; in theological matters, however, it was checked most critically, only traditions with a multiple chain of transmitters being accepted for theological statements. Some questions originated from the socio-political situation, the dialogical and polemic exchange with other religions, and the challenges introduced by Greek philosophy. The search for answers led to the formation of schools of theology. During the classical age, theology also had a fruitful exchange with the unfolding sciences that was only broken off at the Mongol invasion; unfortunately, the modern revival of this relationship is mostly happening under apologetic aspects. The conservative influence of the court scholars and the colonial alienation caused a stagnation and, to some extent, a fossilization of theological thought from which the Muslim world has not recovered yet. This insecurity is also the background for the suspicion against new methods of text interpretation especially among half-educated Muslims.
The same is true for philosophical considerations. In this field, even more than in theology, questions and answers were until recently (e.g. in Tabatabai's Qur'an commentary) determined by Greek thought patterns, and the possibilities offered by the Semitic background of the text was often left aside, or otherwise the approach was determined by secularism, Nihilism or other contemporary trends as well as acute questions by possible readers. The global ecological crisis gives a new emphasis to questions concerning the concept of the world, human responsibility and the meaning of existence, thus triggering new ethical and ontological approaches.
Last but not least, interpretations by Muslim mystics included both intellectual and intuitive insights. They are based on a living dialogue with the text on all levels, linked with one's own life experience and the struggle with oneself in God's presence. Thus e.g. Ibn Arabi interpreted the Qur'an from the viewpoint of the Unity of Being (Wahdat al-Wujûd) that corresponded to his spiritual experience and constituted the key to his understanding of creation and revelation. This is also the sphere for the work with stories and parables that offer help for the path of spiritual development but are not restricted to psychology. Notwithstanding all external development, these approaches have always been cultivated in the mystical traditions, and their resources are far from being exhausted.
In Western languages, there are still only few continuous Qur'an commentaries, most of them in the form of translations with footnotes, e.g. by Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Asad and Maududi in English.
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