With Reverence for the Word

Abstract

This ground-breaking work is a collection of papers originally given at anacademic conference on the interpretation of scripture in medieval Judaism,Christianity, and Islam, which was held at the University of Toronto in1997. Of equal interest to scholars and students of medieval Judaism,Christianity, and Islam, particularly those concerned with the place of thescriptures in these religious traditions, it demonstrates both the diversitywithin these three faiths’ exegetical traditions as well as their many crossculturalsimilarities.Following a short preface, which briefly outlines the work’s purposesand scope, the book is divided into three sections, each of which containsthe chapters related to each faith tradition. Each section begins with itsown introduction to the history and methods of the medieval exegesis ofthe relevant faith tradition, which provides the non-specialist reader witha historical context in which to place the individual chapters. The introductionsalso draw the reader’s attention to some parallel developmentsand possible interfaith influences among these exegetical traditions,while at the same time promoting a nuanced understanding in order toavoid facile comparisons. The book contains both a general subject indexand an index to citations from the Bible, Rabbinic literature, and theQur’an.Part 1, which contains 10 chapters on medieval Jewish exegesis, isarguably the most vibrant portion of this book. It conveys a sense of thedepth and breadth of this exegetical tradition, as well as the variety ofapproaches that are being used to study it, and the potential such studieshave for shedding light on a variety of historical issues ...