This study of modem Qur'iin interpretation presupposes familiarity with the details of Bible criticism. The attentoin is focused on Qur'finjc (narrations) about events that are believed by Muslims to be historic, such as the construction of the Ka'ba by Abraham and Ishmael or the story of prophets like Joseph, Moses, and Jesus. A basic shortcoming of the book under review is its taking for granted that these legends have scientifically been proved to be unhistoric. It is certainly known to many a Muslim theologian that some historians of the Bible consider Abraham a mere symbolic figure and that Jesus had once been shown to be nothing but an amalgam of Near Eastern myths. It would have lent tangibility to the book had there been an incipient chapter or at least a section where the latest findings were epitomized along with an indication of the most relevant sources, in other words, an effort to render plausible, if not cogent, why for instance Abraham is finally to be discarded as an historic personality and why the historicity of Jesus is now established beyond doubt. Without such an exposition all the author's insistence on the necessity of dissecting those tales in the Qur'iin and adopting an entirely new conception of them floats in a sort of void at least when looked at from the Muslim angle. For the non-Muslim historiaa of religions it should be of interest to know concretely what there is so utterly unhistoric about the Qur'anic q i w (said to be distorted versions of the Biblical stories) and why all this difference with traditionalist Muslims who are wont to regard the material revealed to Mubarnmad as superior, being convinced that they possess the only authentic edition of the reports about the prophets of God.

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书评

对现代古兰经解释的研究以熟悉圣经批评的细节为前提。attentoin 的重点是关于穆斯林认为具有历史意义的事件的古兰经（叙述），例如亚伯拉罕和以实玛利建造的天房，或者像约瑟夫、摩西和耶稣这样的先知的故事。正在审查的这本书的一个基本缺点是它理所当然地认为这些传说已被科学证明是非历史性的。许多穆斯林神学家肯定知道，一些圣经历史学家认为亚伯拉罕只是一个象征性人物，而耶稣曾经被证明不过是近东神话的混合体。如果有一个初步的章节或至少一个部分，其中概括了最新的发现以及最相关来源的指示，这将赋予这本书有形的意义，换句话说，努力使合理的，如果不是有说服力的，为什么例如，亚伯拉罕最终将作为一个历史人物被抛弃，以及为什么耶稣的历史性现在已经毫无疑问地确立了。如果没有这样的阐述，作者所坚持的必须剖析古兰经中的那些故事并采用全新的概念，至少从穆斯林的角度来看，这一切都在一种空虚中浮现。对于非穆斯林的宗教历史来说，具体了解《古兰经》有哪些完全没有历史意义的地方应该是有意义的。