Joden en christenen in de Koran: De literaire gestalte van een polemische dialoog
Someone who reads the Qur’ān from a Jewish or a Christian perspective is likely to be struck by the special way in which this book seems to show both a great familiarity with and a severe critique of these two religions. In my article, I concentrate on the polemical part of this interreligious conve...
| Published in: | Tijdschrift voor theologie |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Dutch |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
[2018]
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| In: |
Tijdschrift voor theologie
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| RelBib Classification: | AX Inter-religious relations BH Judaism BJ Islam CA Christianity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Someone who reads the Qur’ān from a Jewish or a Christian perspective is likely to be struck by the special way in which this book seems to show both a great familiarity with and a severe critique of these two religions. In my article, I concentrate on the polemical part of this interreligious conversation. My hypothesis is that when the Qur’ān addresses Jews and Christians as ahl al-kitāb, ‘People of Scripture’, it does so in the understanding that they have received revelation from God and therefore special knowledge. Even though God reveals God’s guidance to different people by way of different prophets or messengers, it is the same message of guidance that they bring. Therefore, the Qur’ān expects to be acknowledged by people with knowledge of its previous versions. Yet the large majority of them refuses to listen or starts listening but quickly turns away. After having considered the oral character of the polemical dialogue in the Qur’ān and the rhetorical power of its literary formation, I discuss some of the expressions that the People of Scripture use to explain their objections, and the replies that the Qur’ān gives to these objections. I limit myself to suwar 2-5, four Medinan chapters of the Qur’ān that contain most of the polemical references to the People of Scripture. I discuss some of the expressions of their refusal to listen, such as ‘our hearts are uncircumcised’; ‘God is poor and we are rich’, ‘God’s hand is shackled’ and ‘we are the children and the beloved of God’. The Qur’ān’s reply is based on a rejection of tradition-based exclusivism and on the argument that God is ever able to bestow God’s bounty on whomever God wants. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all wrestle with the combination of commitment and openness, conviction and humility as conditions for interreligious dialogue and comparative theology. Maybe the suggestion of ‘covenantal pluralism’ (I. Greenberg) between these sibling religions shows a way forward. |
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| ISSN: | 2565-7348 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Tijdschrift voor theologie
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/TVT.58.3.3285189 |