Dr Holger Zellentin, lecturer in Jewish studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, who has organised the conference, said: “In several ways, the Qur’ān presents itself within a true Abrahamic tradition that has been compromised. It accuses Gentiles, Jews, and Christians respectively, individually as well as summarily, of a series of transgressions whose precise nature has been subject to much recent discussion.
“It also portrays its religious criticism in terms of a return to the Abrahamic origins of true monotheism. Finally, it repeats and reshapes traditional material. Understanding the Qur’ān therefore necessitates an appreciation of how it balances continuity and change in what it negates and in what it affirms.
“In modern scholarship, efforts to portray the Qur’ān as in dialogue with the religious traditions of its time have yielded important insights. Likewise, scholars continue to emphasise correctly that one must understand the Qur’ān on its own terms and in clear distinction from contemporary traditions.”
Among the speakers attending the conference will be Nicolai Sinai from the University of Oxford who will talk on “Pharao’s Repentance in the Qur’ān and in Rabbinic Literature: A Case 糖心原创 in Qur’ānic Intertextuality,” while Islam Dayeh from the Free University Berlin will speak on the “Qur’ānic Polemic Against Animal Sacrifice.”
Other topics being covered will include the context of Qur’ānic ritual law, and anti-Jewish polemic in the Qur’ān.
More information on the conference and how to book a place are available online at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/theology/research/conferences/return-to-the-origins/registration.aspx
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