"Qur'ānic Studies Today brings together specialists in the field of Islamic studies to provide a range of essays that reflect the depth and breadth of scholarship on the Qur'ān.
Combining theoretical and methodological clarity with close readings of qur’ānic texts, these contributions provide close analysis of specific passages, themes, and issues within the Qurʾān, even as they attend to the disciplinary challenges within the field of qur’ānic studies today. Chapters are arranged into three parts, treating specific figures appearing in the Qurʾān, analysing particular suras, and finally reflecting on the Qur’ān and its ""others."" They explore the internal dimensions and interior chronology of the Qur’ān as text, its possible conversations with biblical and non-biblical traditions in Late Antiquity, and its role as scripture in modern exegesis and recitation. Together, they are indispensable for students and scholars who seek an understanding of the Qur’ān founded on the most recent scholarly achievements.
Offering both a reflection of and a reflection on the discipline of qur’ānic studies, the strong, scholarly examinations of the Qur’ān in this volume provide a valuable contribution to Islamic and qur’ānic studies."
Introduction; 1 Wansbrough, Bultmann, and the Theory of Variant Traditions in the Qurʾān – Devin J. Stewart; 2 Lot’s Wife: Late Antique Paradigms of Sense and the Qurʾān – Nora K. Schmid; 3 The Sign of Jonah: Transformations and Interpretations of the Jonah Story in the Qurʾān – Hannalies Koloska; 4 End of Hope: Sūras 10–15, Despair, and a Way out of Mecca – Walid A. Saleh; 5 The Casting: A Close Hearing of Sūrat TāHā 9–79 – Michael A. Sells; 6 Qurʾānic Studies and Historical-Critical Philology: The Qurʾān’s Staging, Penetrating, and finally Eclipsing of Biblical Tradition – Angelika Neuwirth; 7 The Sunna of Our Messengers: The Qurʾān’s Paradigm for Messengers and Prophet: A Reading of Sūrat ash-Shuʿarāʾ– Sidney H. Griffith; 8 Textual and Paratextual meaning in the Recited Qurʾān: An Analysis of a Performance of Sūrat al-Furqān by Sheikh Mishari Rashid Alafasy – Lauren E. Osborne; 9 The Qurʾān’s Theopoetic Manifesto – Ghassan el Masri; 10 The Qurʾān between Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism - Holger M. Zellentin; 11 Reinterpreting the Qurʾānic Criticism of Other Religions – Mun’im Sirry
Michael A. Sells is Barrows Professor of the History and Literature of Islam and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. Angelika Neuwirth is Professor Emeritus of Arabic Studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin.
