Scriptural reasoning
Encyclopedia
Scriptural Reasoning is one type of interdisciplinary, interfaith
scriptural reading. It is an evolving practice in which Christians, Jews
, Muslims, and sometimes members of other Abrahamic faiths, meet to study their sacred scriptures together, and to explore the ways in which such study can help them understand and respond to particular contemporary issues. Originally developed by theologians and religious philosophers as a means of fostering post critical and postliberal
corrections to patterns of modern
reasoning, it has now spread beyond academic circles.
, the Bible
, and the Qur'an
). The texts will often relate to a common topic - say, the figure of Abraham
, or consideration of legal and moral issues of property-holding. Participants discuss the content of the texts, and will often explore the variety of ways in which their religious communities have worked with them and continue to work with them, and the ways in which those texts might shape their understanding of and engagement with a range of contemporary issues.
A participant from any one religious tradition might therefore:
Scriptural Reasoning has sometimes been described as a "tent of meeting" - a Biblical mishkan (Heb. משׁכן Ara. مسكن) - a reference to the story of Genesis 18. Steven Kepnes, a Jewish philosopher, writes:
, but also as a form of philosophical or theological reasoning. It has often been described as a 'postliberal' or 'postcritical' theological or philosophical movement. Its purpose is sometimes described more simply as that of promoting the growth of 'wisdom', or, more simply still, as 'humbling and creative' interfaith encounter or 'deeper mutual understanding'.
to name a group who now form the Society for Scriptural Reasoning (SSR) The founders of this international group, formed in 1995, include Ochs himself, David F. Ford
and Daniel W. Hardy
Its origins lie in a related practice, "Textual Reasoning" ("TR"), which involved Jewish philosophers reading Talmud in conversation with scholars of rabbinics. Peter Ochs was one of the leading participants in Textual Reasoning.
The core practice of interfaith biblical study resembles already existing practices, such as that of the International Theology Conference at the Shalom Hartman Institute
in Jerusalem. .
The Scriptural Reasoning Society is an independent network of SR activity in the UK, not affiliated to the international Society for Scriptural Reasoning described above.
In 2007, independent Islamic authorities in London issued a fatwa advising Muslims about participation in the practice of Scriptural Reasoning.
, the Scriptural Reasoning in the University group (which evolved from the Scriptural Reasoning Theory Group ), Scriptural Reasoning project at the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton,, the Scriptures in Dialogue project founded by Leo Baeck College
, and the SR Oxford group of the Scriptural Reasoning Society ("Oxford School") founded by the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford and the Interfaith Alliance UK.
Scriptural Reasoning has also become a "civic practice" in the community, examples of which include the Central Virginia Scriptural Reasoning Group sponsored by the Eastern Mennonite University
, at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace at St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate
, the SR Camden and SR Westminster groups of the Scriptural Reasoning Society sponsored by Camden Faith Communities Partnership, Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom) and different places of worship in London.
Civic developments from Scriptural Reasoning carrying different names, include the Faith and Citizenship programme of London Metropolitan University
, andTools for Trialogue, a youth project of the Three Faiths Forum
, which develops modes of scriptural study for young people in schools and local communities.
Another theologian, James M. Gustafson
, questions the claim he believes implied by Peter Ochs' descriptions of Scriptural Reasoning that it "has not only the capacity, but also the authority to correct 'modernist reason'" – and asking whether Scriptural Reasoning has been sufficiently open to the critical discourses fostered in modernity. His claims have been responded to directly by S. Mark Heim.
Christina Grenholm and Daniel Patte
ask whether SR "presupposes a view of Christianity as a separate nation with clear borders and set markers" and whether it lacks a "critical perspective that would reveal that there are different kinds of 'scriptural reasonings.'"
Interfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...
scriptural reading. It is an evolving practice in which Christians, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Muslims, and sometimes members of other Abrahamic faiths, meet to study their sacred scriptures together, and to explore the ways in which such study can help them understand and respond to particular contemporary issues. Originally developed by theologians and religious philosophers as a means of fostering post critical and postliberal
Narrative theology
Postliberal theology began as a late 20th-century development in Christian Theology. It proposes that the Church's use of the Bible should focus on a narrative presentation of the faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology...
corrections to patterns of modern
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
reasoning, it has now spread beyond academic circles.
Method
Scriptural Reasoning involves participants from multiple religious traditions meeting, very often in small groups, to read and discuss passages from their sacred texts (e.g., TanakhTanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, and the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
). The texts will often relate to a common topic - say, the figure of Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, or consideration of legal and moral issues of property-holding. Participants discuss the content of the texts, and will often explore the variety of ways in which their religious communities have worked with them and continue to work with them, and the ways in which those texts might shape their understanding of and engagement with a range of contemporary issues.
A participant from any one religious tradition might therefore:
- Discuss with the other participants his or her own readings of the texts from his or her own tradition
- Discuss with them their attempts to make sense of the texts from his or her own tradition, and
- In turn discuss with them the texts from their own traditions.
Scriptural Reasoning has sometimes been described as a "tent of meeting" - a Biblical mishkan (Heb. משׁכן Ara. مسكن) - a reference to the story of Genesis 18. Steven Kepnes, a Jewish philosopher, writes:
Participants in SR practice come to it as both representatives of academic institutions and particular "houses" (churches, mosques, synagogues) of worship. SR meets, however, outside of these institutions and houses in special times and in separate spaces that are likened to Biblical "tents of meeting". Practitioners come together in these tents of meeting to read and reason with scriptures. They then return to their academic and religious institutions and to the world with renewed energy and wisdom for these institutions and the world.
Purpose
As originally conceived, SR was an academic practice involving theologians, religious philosophers, and text scholars, and was said to be aimed at 'repairing' or 'correcting' patterns of modern philosophical and theological reasoning. That is, it was seen not only as a form of interfaith dialogueInterfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...
, but also as a form of philosophical or theological reasoning. It has often been described as a 'postliberal' or 'postcritical' theological or philosophical movement. Its purpose is sometimes described more simply as that of promoting the growth of 'wisdom', or, more simply still, as 'humbling and creative' interfaith encounter or 'deeper mutual understanding'.
Basic features
Most forms of SR exhibit the following basic features:- SR does not ask participants from different faith traditions to focus upon areas in which they are most nearly in agreement, or to bracket their commitments to the deepest sources of their traditions' distinct identities. SR allows participants to remain faithful to the deepest identity-forming practices and allegiances of their religious communities.
- SR provides a context in which the participants can discuss those commitments, and perhaps even become more self-aware about them. SR sessions therefore often highlight and explore differences and disagreements between religious tradition, and give rise to serious argument - in order to promote what has been called 'better quality disagreement'.
- SR does not assume any consensus between the participants as to how they understand the nature, authority or proper interpretation of the texts in front of them. Participants do not have to assume, for instance, that the Bible fulfills the same role for Christians as does the Qur'an for Muslims or the Tanakh for Jews.
- SR is said to rely upon the existence of honesty, openness and trust amongst the participants, and more generally upon the growth of friendship among the participants in order to provide an appropriate context for disagreement. It is therefore sometimes said that the key to SR is 'not consensus but friendship'.
- In order to encourage these relationships, the practice of Scriptural Reasoning is often located geographically with a view to engendering mutual hospitality - for example, by meeting in neutral academic spaces such as universities, or by peripatetically rotating between the houses of worship of different faiths. SR groups try to preserve an ethos of mutual hospitality with each participant being both host and guest, and to ensure parity of leadership, oversight or ownership.
History
The term "Scriptural Reasoning" was coined by Peter OchsPeter Ochs
Peter W. Ochs is the Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has served since 1997. He is an influential thinker whose interests include Jewish philosophy and theology, modern and postmodern philosophic theology, pragmatism, and semiotics...
to name a group who now form the Society for Scriptural Reasoning (SSR) The founders of this international group, formed in 1995, include Ochs himself, David F. Ford
David F. Ford
David Frank Ford is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991...
and Daniel W. Hardy
Daniel W. Hardy
Daniel Wayne Hardy was an ordained Anglican Theologian. He died from a Glioblastoma.-His contributions:...
Its origins lie in a related practice, "Textual Reasoning" ("TR"), which involved Jewish philosophers reading Talmud in conversation with scholars of rabbinics. Peter Ochs was one of the leading participants in Textual Reasoning.
The core practice of interfaith biblical study resembles already existing practices, such as that of the International Theology Conference at the Shalom Hartman Institute
Shalom Hartman Institute
Shalom Hartman Institute is a Jewish research and education institute based in Jerusalem, Israel, that offers pluralistic Jewish thought and education to scholars, rabbis, educators, and Jewish community leaders in Israel and North America...
in Jerusalem. .
The Scriptural Reasoning Society is an independent network of SR activity in the UK, not affiliated to the international Society for Scriptural Reasoning described above.
In 2007, independent Islamic authorities in London issued a fatwa advising Muslims about participation in the practice of Scriptural Reasoning.
Developments
Scriptural Reasoning began as an academic practice. Examples of academic SR include the Scriptural Reasoning Group of the American Academy of ReligionAmerican Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,...
, the Scriptural Reasoning in the University group (which evolved from the Scriptural Reasoning Theory Group ), Scriptural Reasoning project at the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton,, the Scriptures in Dialogue project founded by Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College is a rabbinical college and centre for Jewish education located in north London. As well as being the smallest academic college in England, it is also the largest Jewish Progressive University and Rabbinic College in Europe....
, and the SR Oxford group of the Scriptural Reasoning Society ("Oxford School") founded by the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford and the Interfaith Alliance UK.
Scriptural Reasoning has also become a "civic practice" in the community, examples of which include the Central Virginia Scriptural Reasoning Group sponsored by the Eastern Mennonite University
Eastern Mennonite University
Eastern Mennonite University is a private liberal arts university in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, affiliated with one of the historic peace churches, the Mennonite Church USA. Its main campus is on the edge of the small city of Harrisonburg, Virginia, about three miles from state-owned...
, at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace at St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate
St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate
St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street station.-History:...
, the SR Camden and SR Westminster groups of the Scriptural Reasoning Society sponsored by Camden Faith Communities Partnership, Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom) and different places of worship in London.
Civic developments from Scriptural Reasoning carrying different names, include the Faith and Citizenship programme of London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University , located in London, England, was formed on 1 August 2002 by the amalgamation of the University of North London and the London Guildhall University . The University has campuses in the City of London and in the London Borough of Islington.The University operates its...
, andTools for Trialogue, a youth project of the Three Faiths Forum
Three Faiths Forum
The Three Faiths Forum is one of the UK’s leading interfaith organisations. For 14 years it has worked to encourage harmony and confront prejudice...
, which develops modes of scriptural study for young people in schools and local communities.
Criticisms
Theologian Adrian Thatcher has questioned whether Scriptural Reasoning flattens theological differences in the way the three traditions approach their respective Scriptures, noting especially "the paucity of references to Jesus Christ" in the essays in The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning (see, e.g., Ford and Pecknold 2006), and asking whether this "may indicate … the further erosion of Christocentric biblical interpretation."Another theologian, James M. Gustafson
James Gustafson
James M. Gustafson is a prominent American theological ethicist of the 20th century. He has held teaching posts at Yale University in the Divinity School and the Department of Religious Studies , the University of Chicago as professor of theological ethics in the Divinity School , and Emory...
, questions the claim he believes implied by Peter Ochs' descriptions of Scriptural Reasoning that it "has not only the capacity, but also the authority to correct 'modernist reason'" – and asking whether Scriptural Reasoning has been sufficiently open to the critical discourses fostered in modernity. His claims have been responded to directly by S. Mark Heim.
Christina Grenholm and Daniel Patte
Daniel Patte
Daniel Patte is a French American biblical scholar and author. Patte is Professor of Religious Studies and of New Testament & Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University since 1971...
ask whether SR "presupposes a view of Christianity as a separate nation with clear borders and set markers" and whether it lacks a "critical perspective that would reveal that there are different kinds of 'scriptural reasonings.'"
External links
- The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning
- The Children of Abraham Institute
- Central Virginia Scriptural Reasoning Group
- The Scriptural Reasoning Society
- The Citizenship and Faith Initiative
- Islamic fatwa on Scriptural Reasoning
- St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace
- Scriptural Reasoning Online Discussion Forum
- Tools for Trialogue
- Scriptures in Dialogue Programme - Leo Baeck College