Interpreting the Bible and the Quran through Love: Scripture, Love, and Hermeneutics

(Hardback)

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This book investigates the concept of love in the exegetical traditions of the Bible and Qur'an.

It starts by considering love generally as a focus of exegesis, and then offers a chapter on the Jewish exegetical tradition, as represented by the Greek works of Philo, the Hebrew commentary Midrash Rabbah, and the Aramaic Zohar. This is followed by the treatment of love in the Syriac, Eastern Christian tradition of Biblical exegesis, and culminates with the place of love in the Qur'an commentaries of major Muslim exegetes such as ar-Razi and al-Alusi.

The analysis in each chapter identifies numerous cases of love-informed exegesis covering various themes and sheds light on the similarities and differences in the employment of love in the three Scriptural traditions. This exegetical dialogue shows that the idea of love takes on greater meaning when studied against the broader backdrop of comparative exegesis. Moreover, by analysing this topic through a comparative lens, the book argues for a new conceptualization of love as an exegetical tool that bridges, and can be applied beyond, the Abrahamic Scriptural traditions.

Author Bio

Tareq Hesham Moqbel is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK.