Interpreting Scriptures in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

This comparative study examines how scriptures - the Bible and the Qur'an - were interpreted in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam throughout history.

This comparative study examines how scriptures - the Bible and the Qur'an - were interpreted in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam throughout history, with emphasis on the pivotal medieval period. Topics discussed include the challenges of translating scripture, its literal and non-literal meanings, its portrayal in art, and its relation to secular literature.This comparative study traces Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptural interpretation from antiquity to modernity, with special emphasis on the pivotal medieval period. It focuses on three areas: responses in the different faith traditions to tensions created by the need to transplant scriptures into new cultural and linguistic contexts; changing conceptions of the literal sense and its importance vis-à-vis non-literal senses, such as the figurative, spiritual, and midrashic; and ways in which classical rhetoric and poetics informed - or were resisted in - interpretation. Concentrating on points of intersection, the authors bring to light previously hidden aspects of methods and approaches in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This volume opens new avenues for interdisciplinary analysis and will benefit scholars and students of biblical studies, religious studies, medieval studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, comparative religions, and theory of interpretation.