The Qur}}}an in its Historical Context [Hardcover]

Providing commentary on the controversial revisionist school of Quranic studies, this book explores the origins, scholarship and development of the Qur'an. The collection of articles, each written by a distinguished author, treat very familiar passages of the Quran in an original manner, combining thorough philology, historical anthropology, and cultural history.

This book addresses in a critical fashion the hottest issues in recent works on the Quran. Among other things, the contributors analyze the controversial theories of Luxenberg regarding Syriac and the Quran, and in particular his argument that the term Hur refers not to virgins but to grapes.

Foreword D. Madigan.  Notes on Contributors.  List of Images.  Map: Locations Cited in the Present Volume.  Abbreviations.  Introduction: Qur'anic Studies and its Controversies G.S. Reynolds  Part 1: Linguistic and Historical Evidence  1. The Qur'an in Recent Scholarship - Challenges and Desiderata F. Donner  2.Epigraphy and the Linguistic Background to the Quran R. Hoyland  3. Reconstructing the Quran: Emerging Insights G. B?wering  4. Reconsidering the Authorship of the Quran. Is the Quran Partly the Fruit of a Progressive and Collective Work? C. Gilliot  5. Christian Lore and the Arabic Quran: The Companions of the Cave in Surat al-Kahf and in Syriac Christian Tradition S. Griffith  Part 2: The Religious Context of the Late Antique Near East  6. The Theological Christian Influence on the Quran: A Reflection S.K. Samir  7. Mary in the Quran: A Reexamination of Her Presentation S.A. Mourad  8. The Legend of Alexander the Great in thl#/