Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (eBook)

Andrew G. Bannister (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014
352 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-0-7391-8358-8 (ISBN)

Infos

This unique book uses innovative computerized oral-formulaic analysis of the Arabic text of the Qur’an to demonstrate that much of the Qur’an was composed live in oral performance. It explores the rich oral culture that both predated and preceded the Qur’an’s formative period, and shows that only by viewing the Qur’an through an oral lens can one begin to properly understand the process by which it first coalesced.

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The Qur'an makes extensive use of older religious material, stories, and traditions that predate the origins of Islam, and there has long been a fierce debate about how this material found its way into the Qur'an. This unique book argues that this debate has largely been characterized by a failure to fully appreciate the Qur'an as a predominately oral product.Using innovative computerized linguistic analysis, this study demonstrates that the Qur'an displays many of the signs of oral composition that have been found in other traditional literature. When one then combines these computerized results with other clues to the Qur'an's origins (such as the demonstrably oral culture that both predated and preceded the Qur'an, as well as the "e;folk memory"e; in the Islamic tradition that Muhammad was an oral performer) these multiple lines of evidence converge and point to the conclusion that large portions of the Qur'an need to be understood as being constructed live, in oral performance.Combining historical, linguistic, and statistical analysis, much of it made possible for the first time due to new computerized tools developed specifically for this book, Bannister argues that the implications of orality have long been overlooked in studies of the Qur'an. By relocating the Islamic scripture firmly back into an oral context, one gains both a fresh appreciation of the Qur'an on its own terms, as well as a fresh understanding of how Muhammad used early religious traditions, retelling old tales afresh for a new audience.

Autor

Andrew G. Bannister is adjunct research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths, Melbourne School of Theology, and visiting lecturer at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Relations, London School of Theology.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: The Qur’an and Narrative Biblicist TraditionsChapter 2: The Narratival Roots of the Islamic TraditionChapter 3: The Development of Oral Literary TheoryChapter 4: The Application of Oral-Formulaic Theory to Pre-Islamic Arabic PoetryChapter 5: Mapping the Landscape: A Computerised Formulaic Analysis of the Qur’anic TextChapter 6: Digging Deeper: Verse-Level Formulaic AnalysisChapter 7: Searching for Formulaic SystemsChapter 8: Iblis and Adam: A Comparative Application of Computerised and ‘Manual’ Methods of Formulaic Analysis to the Seven RetellingsChapter 9: Conclusion: The Qur’an and OralityAppendix: The Seven Iblis and Adam Stories and an English Translation

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.4.2014
• Verlagsort: Lanham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Judentum
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Islam
• Schlagworte: Comparative Religion • Computers • Islam • Linguistics • Oral-formulaic • Oral tradition • Qur'anic studies
• ISBN-10: 0-7391-8358-3 / 0739183583
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-8358-8 / 9780739183588