Scriptural Reasoning
Description
Fosters deep inter-faith understanding through shared scriptural study and mutual religious hospitality
Scriptural Reasoning: Abrahamic Inter-faith Practice provides an accessible and practical introduction to a unique form of inter-faith engagement centered on shared sacred text study. Rather than minimizing deep commitments to one's own faith, this approach encourages participants to enter more fully into their own traditions while offering and receiving hospitality across religious boundaries. Focusing on the Abrahamic faiths-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-this book equips students and lay practitioners to participate meaningfully in Scriptural Reasoning (SR) groups, where members of different faiths read and reason together from their respective Scriptures.
The authors-scholars and practitioners from the three traditions-guide readers through the origins, aims, and methods of SR while offering theological context, practical guidance, and real-world examples. Chapters explore common questions about the nature of Scripture, revelation, interpretation, and the challenges and promises of inter-religious study. Designed for classroom use, religious institutions, or community initiatives, this concise and clear resource helps participants "hit the ground running." By grounding the practice in deep respect, conviction, and curiosity, the authors position Scriptural Reasoning as a tool not only for dialogue, but for healing and reconciliation across difference.
Encouraging cross-faith understanding in a world marked by religious plurality and social fragmentation, Scriptural Reasoning:
- Provides the foundation for understanding, practicing, and reflecting on Abrahamic Scriptural Reasoning
- Contains tools and texts for launching SR in classroom, religious, and civic settings
- Includes foundational background on the Scriptures and interpretive traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- Addresses common questions and misconceptions about inter-faith engagement and religious pluralism
- Features real-world examples of SR used in diverse contexts, from prisons to hospitals to inter-faith dialogue programs
Combining theological reflection with practical instruction for first-time SR facilitators and participants, Scriptural Reasoning: Abrahamic Inter-faith Practice is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students in theology, religious studies, and interfaith engagement programs. It can be used in courses such as Interfaith Dialogue, Comparative Religion, and Abrahamic Traditions, and is appropriate for degrees in divinity, religious studies, and civic leadership.
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Persons
MARIA DAKAKE is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University, where she directs programs in Islamic Studies and Middle East Studies. She holds a PhD from Princeton University and is widely published in Islamic intellectual history, Qur'anic studies, Shiism, Sufism, and women's spirituality She is co-author and co-editor of The Study Quran (HarperOne 2015) and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to the Qur'an (Routledge, 2022).
TOM GREGGS is Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey. He previously held the Marischal Chair of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen, UK. A Methodist preacher and international ecumenical leader, his many publications include Dogmatic Ecclesiology, The Breadth of Salvation, and Barth and Bonhoeffer as Contributors to a Postliberal Ecclesiology.
STEVEN KEPNES is Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies at Colgate University. A prominent voice in Jewish theology, he is the author of Jewish Liturgical Reasoning, Reviving Jewish Theology, and editor of the Cambridge Companion to Jewish Theology. He has also taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.
Content
Acknowledgments xii
Chapter 1 Introduction: Come; Let Us Reason Together 1
The History of SR 4
Muslim Engagement in SR (Mahan Mirza) 8
The Practice of SR and How to Use This Book 11
Texts to Use for an SR Session 16
Chapter 2 Delving Deeper: Guidelines and Practical Advice 17
Fifteen Guidelines of SR 18
What Is Abrahamic SR? 18
Scriptures as Living Texts 18
Scripture's Surplus of Meaning 19
Scriptural Warrants for SR 19
Bringing Your Internal Library- Nothing Is Alien, The Text Is Judge 20
SR Space as a Tent of Meeting 20
SR and Prophetic Critique 21
SR, Religion and Conflict Resolution 22
Preserve Difference, Establish Relations 22
Themes, Hypotheses, and the Interrogative Mood 23
SR and Commentary Texts 23
SR Theory and Scholarship 24
Monotheism and Beyond 24
Our Time and the End Time 25
How SR Is Done 26
Texts to Use for an SR Session 32
Chapter 3 But Isn't Religion the Problem? 34
Isn't Religion Just a Problem? 35
The Reassertion of Religion 40
Shouldn't Religious People Just Become a Bit Less Religious, Then? 42
The Detriments of Maximal Secularism and Attraction of Religion 46
SR As Another Way 47
Texts to Use for an SR Session 51
Chapter 4 So What Are the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Scriptures? 53
What Is Scripture: A Jewish View 54
Torah as Holy 56
Torah as Holy Object 57
What Is Scripture: A Christian View- The Bible 58
The Old Testament 59
The New Testament 61
How Christians Read and View Scripture 64
What Is Scripture in Islam? 66
The Qur'an 66
Muslim Belief Regarding the Qur'an 67
The Qur'an and Muhammad 68
The Structure and Content of the Qur'an 72
Texts to Use for an SR Session 76
Chapter 5 Are Scripture and Revelation the Same Thing for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? 78
What Is Revelation in Judaism? 79
What Happened at Sinai? 81
Revelation in the Torah 84
Revelation of God's Self 86
What Is Revelation in Christianity? 88
Natural and Special Revelation 89
Revelation and the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ 91
Revelation Today Through the Holy Spirit 92
What Is Revelation in Islam? 94
The Qur'anic ayat: The "Signs of God" 95
Direct Divine Revelation: Wahy and Tanzil 99
Texts to Use for an SR Session 103
Chapter 6 Why "Reasoning"? 105
Reason in Scripture 107
SR Through Metaphors 108
Contemporary Philosophies of Metaphor and Religious Language 108
Interpretation: The Reason That Is Brought to Scripture 111
The Attitude of I- Thou 112
The Group Reasoning Process 115
Reflective SR 116
Application: SR as Healing 117
Texts to Use for an SR Session 119
Chapter 7 But Don't We Read with Commentaries and Traditions? 121
Jewish Practices of Reading Scripture 123
Hebrew Language and the Hebrew of Torah 124
Bereshit- Genesis 125
Pshat 126
Beyond One Study Partner 127
Rashi 129
Modern Biblical Criticism 130
Commentary and Tradition in Christianity 131
Creeds, Symbols, and Definitions 131
The Authority of Tradition in Christianity 135
Traditional Approaches to Scripture 138
Higher Biblical Criticism 140
Challenges for SR of Christian Uses of Tradition 141
What Is Commentary in Islam? 143
Complexity and Clarity in Reading Scripture 143
Tradition and Commentary 144
Tafsir 147
Tafsir and Ta'wil 148
Texts to Use for an SR Session 151
Chapter 8 Are Our Religions Allowed to Engage in This Kind of Practice? 153
Some Suggested Jewish Warrants 157
Hagar and Ishmael as Other and Same 157
Hagar and the Ger 162
Christian Warrants 164
Jesus and the Samaritans 166
Jesus and the Gentiles 169
Warrants for SR from an Islamic Perspective 172
The Qur'an on People of the Book 174
Engaging Scriptures 176
Texts to Use for an SR Session 178
Chapter 9 What Kinds of Discussions and Insights Happen in SR Sessions? 181
Reflections by Jewish Participants 182
A Jewish Participant Reflecting on Their First Exposure to SR 182
A Jewish Participant Reflecting on Mark 4 183
A Jewish Participant Reflecting on Surah 6, Isaiah 6, Deuteronomy 6, and Mark 4 185
Reflections by Christian Participants 186
A Christian Reflection on John 3 with Commentaries in the Context of SR 186
A Christian Participant Reflecting on Psalm 8, Deuteronomy 6, and Sura 2:30- 39 188
A Christian Participant Reflecting on Psalm 1 and Sura 2 191
A Christian Participant Reflecting on Deuteronomy 6:4- 9 and Sura 2 191
Reflections by Muslim Participants 193
A Muslim Participant's Reflection on Deuteronomy 6:4- 9 and Sura 2 193
A Muslim Participant's Reflection on Deuteronomy 6, John 3, and the Qur'anic Account of Abraham 195
A Muslim Reflects on Her First Encounter with SR and on Sura 2:20- 33 197
The Reflections in Light of the Guidelines and Ideals of SR 198
Practices of Reading 199
Scriptures as Living Texts 200
The Tent of Meeting and SR as a Liminal Space 201
Traditional Commentary and Internal Libraries 202
Prophetic Critique and Interrogative Mood 203
Religion and Religious Texts in the Spirit of Peace and with Hope for the Future 204
Texts to Use for an SR Session 204
Chapter 10 Conclusion: Why Does SR Have Such Promise as a Mode of Inter- Faith Engagement? 206
Texts to Use for an SR Session 210
Online Resources 212
Bibliography 213
Scriptural Hermeneutics 213
Theology/Philosophy of Interreligious Engagement 216
Universities 218
Public Issues 218
Other 219
Index 223
