Reading the Bible and the Qur'an Together
Henry Martyn Seminar – February 15th 2012
This seminar is a reflection on the implications of some contemporary insights which suggest commonalities between the form of units of text in the Bible (the Hebrew Bible, or what I as a Christian know as the Old Testament, with the New Testament) and the Qur'an. To my best knowledge that was not something which was of concern to Henry Martyn. Where I have overlapping concerns with him, I think, is in the desire to create a means by which the interests of scripture-text can be made an accessible basis for informed dialogue between Muslims and Christians, and indeed Jews. However, the commonality which I am taking as foundational is not Abraham or other characters common to each of our traditions but, rather, the mode of presentation of ideas. I think the best term for mode of presentation is 'rhetoric', but to distinguish the mode which is common to the scriptures of Jews, Christians and Muslims from ideas of persuasive embellishment that draw on Greco-Roman definitions of 'rhetoric', for convenience I follow others in calling the mode 'semitic rhetoric'.
Before I turn to illustrating what I mean, and through examples set out the implications of reading in the light of rhetorical form (which, as we shall see, is not the same as genre), let me briefly give context for my relatively recent engagement with the topic. Like Henry Martyn I have engaged in Christian ministry in an Urdu speaking context: my days with the Bible Correspondence School give me some familiarity with ways in which the scriptures have tended to be used in inter-faith conversation in Pakistan. I have never been to Iran, but have visited in the Gulf as well as living for a period in Cairo. An important outcome of that time was a deeper familiarity with the Orthodox church, including the ways in which they engage with scripture. For a while I also had some involvement with the Programme for Theological Education by Extension in the arabic-speaking world. However, it was after I returned to the UK (to be supportive to my ageing mother) that I was drawn into reconsidering some of my conclusions about the interests and emphases in the Bible on the basis of the structure of texts. Given the contexts in which I have lived and worked for much of my adult life it was natural to wonder if there was anything similar in the Qur'an. I had originally expected not. However, not only do my own explorations persuade me otherwise, but I have found that there are a small but growing number of scholars of the Qur'an, currently engaged in analysis and writing, who are presenting evidence for coherency in the interests of large portions, or whole suras, on the basis of rhetorical structure.
Henry Martyn was a man of his time. Those of you who attended the first seminar in this series commemorating his life and work will have reflected on that fact. This seminar is of our time in that it is dealing with insights that have been (re-) emerging in the last forty years, and even more recently. Let me summarize.
a) A seminal moment in biblical studies was the address given to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1969 by James Muilenburg. In this he stated (1989:8) that:
'What I am interested in, above all, is understanding the nature of Hebrew literary composition, exhibiting the structural patterns that are employed for the fashioning of a literary unit, whether in poetry or in prose, and in discerning the many and various devices by which the predictions are formulated and ordered into a unified whole. Such an enterprise I should describe as rhetoric and the methodology as rhetorical criticism.'
Particularly since that time it has become a commonplace in biblical scholarship for such rhetorical criticism to be a primary tool for interpreting scripture text. Amongst important exponents are Phyllis Trible and Walter Brueggemann, who cite Muilenberg as their teacher (Trible, 1984:ix). I will be making reference to them later.
b) Fresh observations are still being made and debated in New Testament scholarship. A particularly relevant work is Kenneth E. Bailey's recent Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (SPCK, 2008). He insists that understanding of the biblical text is frequently distorted by being read with little awareness of the culture in which it came into being, and that a characteristic of that culture is discourse typified by repetitions, or what literary critics describe as parallelisms, inclusios, chiasms and ring structures.
c) Meanwhile, detailed work identifying such structures in the Qur'an began to emerge from the 1980s, but especially since the turn of the millennium: Neal Robinson confesses to having become convinced that chiasmus is an important organizational principle, with implications for interpretation of qur'anic suras, between writing the first (1996) and editing the second edition of Discovering the Qur'an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text (2003:xiii). A number of scholars working in the area suggest that these are the rhetorical structures in the text which constitute the naẓm that is core to the inimitable nature of the Qur'an (see especially Abdul-Raof (2001) and Cuypers (2011)).
I suggest that these common developments in the interpretation of our sacred texts should inform the conversations we have around their interests. I have found that typically conversation about subject matter common to the Bible and the Qur'an has tended to deal in isolated units, and so fed the tendency for comparisons to comprise of an exchange of traditional interpretation and exegetical lore, which is certainly a valid inter-faith activity, but one which leaves questions of congruence between the interests of the texts unresolved. The alternative which I propose, of tracking the interests and emphases in textual portions which are identified by tracing word clusters (Leitwort), unifying themes, particular modes of expression, and boundary markers, does often require us to give attention to larger expanses of text. Nevertheless, what I hope to show is that, even though personal bias may impact the interpretive process, the method provides an even-handed way for exploring the congruence of interests of the texts and so a basis for shared, open reflection.
To demonstrate the importance of form and rhetoric for understanding our faiths I am using sample texts which feature female characters. I will set out two primary examples from the Old Testament where recognition that the texts are shaped according to principles of semitic rhetoric has invited review of established interpretations. Using figures, in order to be concise, I demonstrate structural relationships within the texts, highlighting their interpretative significance. In each case I supplement the observations by showing parallels and differences in texts with which they resonate, found elsewhere in the Bible and the Qur'an. In this way I hope to illustrate the implications of attentiveness to rhetorical form for across faiths conversation. To provide closing summary I will take one further sura to show how rhetorical form suggests leading interests.
As this is an introductory overview intended to show how such an approach might inform our conversations I do not dwell long on fine details. This is not to say that they are not there: evidence of repetition, parallelism and ring structures are found at the macro – whole book or whole sura - level, at the micro – single verse - level, and also at the middle level, so that, for example, there are portions in parallel and rings within rings. Cuypers argues that all analysis must start at the micro level (Cuypers, 2011:5). To demonstrate and explore implications, and to gain a feel for its intuitive impact amongst those for whom the form was 'common sense', I suggest though that it is helpful to be introduced through big picture. To do this I, on occasions, refer to one or other of the seven conventions which social anthropologist Mary Douglas has summarised as characterising semitic rhetoric (Douglas, 2007: 36-38, 126).
The importance of rhetorical form:
1.Hannah in the Book of Samuel:
I start with this unlikely part of the Hebrew Bible because it illustrates the interpretative significance, in terms of identifying theological interest of a discourse, when rhetorical structure is taken as a major clue to meaning. As it happens it does also have implications for conversations about the presentations of Mary in the Bible and in the Qur'an.
Appreciation of rhetorical structures in Hebrew text has, in more recent years, brought into question the long standing conclusion that Samuel-Kings is simply a badly redacted succession narrative (eg., Brueggemann, 1992:219-234, 235-251). Recognition that the final form of the book of Samuel is a ring structure, in which Hannah serves as a major clue to the principle that the humble are raised and the mighty brought low, has contributed to fresh understanding of leading interests in the book The structure shows the book to be theologically sophisticated, with an interweaving of references to those without institutionally sanctioned social, political and religious power, and who are mainly women, which subvert notions of what is important for the outworking of divine purposes.
Figure 1: Structure in the Book of Samuel
Macro-structure
HANNAH
problem
at the place of sacrifice
prayer
Hannah’s Song(1 Samuel 2:1-10)
[Yahweh, rock, horn, thundering, raising humble, bringing mighty down]
Lament: ‘How the mighty are fallen’ (2 Samuel 1:19-27)
'Appendix' (2 Samuel 21-24)
Famine
David prayed
Rizpah’s action prompts honourable action
God answers prayer on behalf of the land
David’s Song(2 Samuel 22:2-51)
[Yahweh, rock, horn, thundering, raising humble, bringing mighty down]
Plague• problem
David prayed• at the place of sacrifice
Finally David acts honourably• prayer
Yahweh answers prayer on behalf of the land
DAVID
Figure 1 sets out the overall structure of the book of Samuel, highlighting correspondence between the story involving Hannah at the beginning and David at the end. It shows the final form to be enveloped by the recounting of divine intervention as 'God answered prayer' (1 Sam. 1:20, 2 Sam. 21:14 and 24:25). The form also enables recognition of a shift in the locus of cultic worship (Shiloh at the start, and the threshing floor of Arunah, later the site of the temple, at the end), allied to the unchanging and emphasised principle that high-handedness results in a fall, whilst humility leads to exoneration.
At first glance the book of Samuel is dominated by powerful male characters. It is, however, notable that powerless female characters impact outcomes. (I give one example, but interesting alternatives could have been chosen.) It is noteworthy that none of the male agents who dominate the scene in which Rizpah is introduced actually affect the development of events as they had intended. A woman who has appeared as mere collateral, in the exchanges between Ishbosheth, Abner and David (2 Sam. 3:7), reappears as an agent with resolve whose action impacts the denouement of the narrative (2 Sam. 21:1-14), inviting attentive readers to reconsider the conclusions they have been making as they have progressed through the accounts. Further, the significance of the women is not predicated by their capacity to bear children, though they are characterised by the tendency to protect and value life. Even though Hannah does bear a child who will become an important male leader, her significance in the text arises not simply from her capacity to produce sons but through her independent faith-based initiative expressed in prayer. (These are emphasised in the 'middle-level' and 'micro-level' structures of the opening chapter). The male characters who are counterparts to her story are, much as in other stories of barren women in the Bible (see Alter 1981, 1983), shown by comparison to be (bumbling and) inadequate. Overall, when read in the light of semitic rhetoric, the book of Samuel does not seem to be enamoured of male power, but to provide critique which is nuanced by the interplay of gendered characters, and especially by the initiatives of women to promote, sustain, nurture and protect life.
1.1.Related material for comparative conversation:
a)Of Mary in the Gospel of Luke:
In the New Testament these intertwined interests of women and of prayer, and the principle that the humble are exalted and the mighty brought low, are particularly picked up in the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke carries strong allusions to the opening of the book of Samuel and has overlapping theological emphases. These are evident in stories related to prayer (Luke18) and in more numerous matching accounts of women and men, such as the attention given to Anna as well as Simeon (2:25-35), sabbath healings (13:10-17, 14:1-6), parables (eg., 15:1-8, 8-10, being the stories about the lost sheep and the lost coin). The opening chapter evokes various comparisons with events in the Old Testament: the stories of the aged and childless Abraham and Sarah, the birth of Samson, and interaction between Ruth and Naomi, and Deborah and Jael, but especially the story of Hannah and Samuel all find echoes in the accounts of Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary. It is also, to coin Bauckham's (2002:49) term 'gynocentrically gendered', with the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth at its heart.
Significant events in the Temple flank the the first two chapters, whilst events in the central part, in particular the births, are located away from the cultic centre (in hill country, home, desert, inn, and fields).
Chapter 1:5-80 / Chapter 2:1-42Context provided / Context provided
Family / (Temple) / Family
Annunciation (x2) / Annunciation
Responses / Responses
Statement (child growing) / Statement (child growing) / (Temple)
Statement (child growing) / (Temple)
In echoes of the way the story of Samuel's birth creates anticipation of what is to follow (1 Samuel 2:26) the parallel sections culminate with summary statements about the maturing of the children who have been born (Luke 1:80, 2:40,52). The double ending is a characteristic device of ring-structures (Douglas, 2007:126).
Mary is the main agent in the opening two chapters. The song she gives voice to after her encounter with Elizabeth echoes that of Hannah in Samuel, setting out themes that will emerge in the narrative to follow, including the theme of reversal:
'He has brought rulers down from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble' (Luke 1:52)
b)Of Mary in Surat Āl 'Imrān (Q3):
Turning to the Qur'an we find there is clear resonance between Surat Āl 'Imrān and the opening of the Gospel of Luke, in that they both give account of the annunciations of the births of John the Baptist (Yaḥyā in the Qur'an) and of Jesus (ʿIsā in the Qur'an). In the sura too, the stories are set in the context of prayer, with women as lead characters, and it also engages with the principle of humility as an attribute of faith. There are echoes of the Magnificat (Mary's song) if not of the songs of Hannah and David [see Figure 3].
The Qur'an scholar, Angelika Neuwirth (2005:244, 2010:528) proposes that the initial influence on Mary's song, in the Gospel of Luke, is a Maccabean war song, whilst the detail in Surat Āl-ʿImrān reflects familiarity with the morning and evening offices of Syriac Christian liturgical services which involve the reciting of the Magnificat and the Benedictus (Zechariah's song, Luke 1:68-79). Rhetorical analysis cannot give categorical response to Neuwirth's proposals (Charlesworth (1982) provides grounds for understanding that it was not uncommon for Jews, and Jewish Christians, of the Second Temple period to rework hymns around traditional themes and phrases). With regard to Mary's song I have already given reasons for recognizing an intentional relationship between the songs in the Gospel of Luke and in the Book of Samuel. Analysis of the sura also suggests purposefulness rather than mere dependency in these qur'anic resonances with Christian material.
Figure 3
I Samuel 2He brings low, He also exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, And He set the world on them
He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail.
Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed. / 2 Samuel 22
You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low....
....
The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples under me,
Who also brings me out from my enemies; Thou dost even lift me above those who rise up against me; Thou dost rescue me from the violent man.
Therefore I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD, among the nations, And I will sing praises to Thy name.
He is a tower of deliverance to His king, And shows loving-kindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever. / Luke 1
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed.
He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his offspring forever. / Sura 3:26
Say: O God, Master of the Kingdom
You give kingship to whom you please
And take away the kingship from whom you please.
You exalt whom You please and humble whom you please
In Your Hand is all the good, And You have the power over everything!
On the basis of language and thematic develop I find that the sura has two, almost equally sized, major portions. It shows emphasis at beginning and end on the creedal assertion, lā ilāha illā huwa – 'There is no god but He' (3:2, 6, 18), whilst, at a macro-level, portions in the central material are identifiable by the way the sura addresses Christians and the Muslim community.