In this major contribution to the study of the Chinese classics and comparative religion, John Henderson uses the history of exegesis to illuminate mental patterns that have universal and perennial significance for intellectual history. Henderson relates the Confucian commentarial tradition to other primary exegetical traditions, particularly the Homeric tradition, Vedanta, rabbinic Judaism, ancient and medieval Christian biblical exegesis, and Qur'anic exegesis. In making such comparisons, he discusses some basic assumptions common to all these traditions--such as that the classics or scriptures are comprehensive or that they contain all significant knowledge or truth and analyzes the strategies deployed to support these presuppositions. As shown here, primary differences among commentarial or exegetical traditions arose from variations in their emphasis on one or another of these assumptions and strategies. Henderson demonstrates that exegetical modes of thought were far from arcane: they dominated the post- classical/premodern intellectual world. Some have persisted or re- emerged in modern times, particularly in ideologies such as Marxism. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary is not only a challenging interpretation of comparative scriptural traditions but also an excellent introduction to the study of the Confucian classics.

Scripture, Canon, and Commentary. A Comparison of Confucian and Western Exegesis

Since the late 1970s, Southeast Asia's Muslim population has experienced an unprecedented religious revival. This resurgence has created a new kind of Islamic discourse, one oriented to the needs of a broad public rather than to narrow circles of religious adepts. This text examines the history, politics and meanings of this resurgence in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It explores the implications for Southeast Asia, the larger Muslim world, and the West. The opening chapters document relations between the state and prominent Islamic political organizations. A second group of essays brings the level of documentation and analysis one step closer to the grass roots operation of "reformist" or "resurgent" Islamic movements. The final group shifts the description and analysis to the most basic level - the grass-roots reception of institutional discourse and the target of reformist and resurgent activity.

Islam in an Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia

For a folk-theology and theological anthropology of Islam:

As early as the han dynasty, exegetes of the texts in the Confucian canon were preparing written commentary on them, and by the dynasty's end they were interspersing their glosses in the body of these texts as interlinear, running commentary. From this time on, few Chinese would have read any classic from the canon without commentarial companion. And, as Confucianism came to be identified over the course of the imperial period with the Chinese cultural tradition par excellence, the writing of interlinear commentary on the canon of texts became a standard, even dominant, mode of scholarly and philosophical discourse for Chinese literati. It was in commentary that these men would offer their reflections on the meaning of Confucian doctrine as it had evolved through the centuries and attempt to construct a philosophical or moral vision meaningful in a world far removed from that of the classical age.

Confucian commentary and Chinese intellectual history

This article addresses the following two questions by examining the ideas of three modern Muslim scholars: Nurcholish Madjid (Indonesia), Asghar Ali Engineer (India), and Abdulaziz Sachedina (United States), with special reference to their interpretation of Q 5.48. How do modern Muslim scholars understand this verse and use it to support the idea that Islam advocates religious pluralism? And are modern Muslims simply superimposing modernist notions on the premodern worldview of the Qur'an? Two lines of thought will be explored. First, an examination of the classical exegesis of Q 5.48 will be reviewed in order to discover the teaching of the classical authorities on Islamic scripture about these issues of modern concern. Second, the verse will be analysed in light of modern debate on whether or not Islam advocates religious pluralism. Finally, possible explanations as to why these three Muslim scholars differ in their approach to what may be referred to as the ‘conservative legacy’ of the classical exeges...

‘Compete with One Another in Good Works’: Exegesis of Qur'an Verse 5.48 and Contemporary Muslim Discourses on Religious Pluralism

“Religion is poetry plus, not science minus” is a bon mot that I find not only charming but perceptive. Taking a cue from that way of putting things, let me develop a suggestion that an accurate historical awareness will add to, not subtract from, our understanding of in this case scripture. At one time, the historical or historicist interpretation of religious matters was seen as subtracting; as leaving something out. It was called “reductionist”; and was contrasted with theological, or with phenomenological or other, assessments. I will contend, rather, that a true historical view enhances, rather than reduces, our apprehension of humanity's spiritual life. I hope to show how this is so.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Papers

The True Meaning of Scripture: An Empirical Historian's Nonreductionist Interpretation of the Qur'an