Transformative Readings of Scripture

New publication about Christians and Muslims in dialogue

(LWI) – In a new publication, Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures: Christians and Muslims in Dialogue, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) provides insights into the field of interpreting sacred scriptures in Christianity and Islam.

In the midst of polarization, hate speech and extremism haunting communities, the articles in the book attest to dialogue within and between religious communities about meaningful and responsible scriptural interpretation today. Among others, they reflect on how religious communities deal with those passages in their own sacred scriptures that condone or even justify violence.

The publication is divided into three sections. The first explores interpretative possibilities emerging when insights from other religious communities and other religious texts are taken into account; the second focuses on transformative readings of the Qur'an and the third on transformative readings of the Bible.

The essays contribute to ongoing debates on scriptural exegesis, proposing readings that take into account insights from the discourse on hermeneutics and inter-religious dialogue processes.

The essays "contribute to ongoing debates on scriptural exegesis, proposing readings that take into account insights from the discourse on hermeneutics and interreligious dialogue processes," writes Simone Sinn in the introduction.

Transformative readings means that "reading and  interpreting sacred texts is not simply a matter of intellectually reconstructing the content of a text nor an act of immersing oneself into a preexistent tradition, but a reading that effects change by opening up new possibilities of knowing God and oneself and of being in the world," she adds.

The essays in the book were first presented at an international Christian-Muslim conference in 2016, organized by the LWF in collaboration with the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, Norway, and the Center for Islamic Theology, University of Münster, Germany.

Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures: Christians and Muslims in Dialogue is co-edited by Simone Sinn, LWF study secretary for Public Theology and Interreligious Relations, Dina El Omari, postdoctoral research fellow in Islamic theology, University of Münster, Germany, and Anne Hege Grung, Associate Professor of Practical Theology, University of Oslo, Norway.

The publication is available in English for download on the LWF website. It will be published in German early next year.

Read the Introduction

Download the publication

Interview on the Transformative Readings of Sacred Scriptures – Christians and Muslims in Dialogue