TEXTUALIST AND CONTEXTUALIST INTERPRETATIONS AMONG MUSLIMS
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

There are two broad approaches among Muslims in relation to how scholars interpret the ethico-legal content of the Islamic text in our modern period: Textualists (literalists) and Contextualists (modernists or post-modernists).
Classical and modern textualists rely in interpreting the texts and the traditions on the linguistic criteria to determine the meaning of the text. They are dominated by the linguistic tools and criteria developed by the scholars of classical fiqh (jurisprudence).
They consider the early generation as the most authoritative and thus the early …

AGAINST JEWISH LITERALISM
Rabbi Michael Whitman

John raises an issue that is crucial for all three of us to confront. Not only does Judaism have an approach that is distinct from Christianity and Islam, but among different groups of Jews, this is one of the fundamental questions that define the difference between Jewish denominations. I will try to present my approach as a modern orthodox rabbi.
While Judaism has its share (unfortunately) of extremists and fundamentalists, we do not have a tradition of literalists – those who read and attempt to live the …

SACRED TEXTS AND LITERAL INTERPRETATIONS
Father John Walsh

Tongue in cheek, the alleged Dr. James F. Kauffman, in an open letter to Dr. Laura Schlesinger, questions her judgement that according to Leviticus 25:44 he wonders if Canada would be a neighboring country to allow for the purchase of slaves. Are we allowed to kill someone who works on Saturdays as in Exodus 35:2? Is football to be played with gloves when in Leviticus 11:6-8 touching the skin of a dead pig makes a person unclean? The letter ends when he thanks Dr. …

FAITH GROWS AS WE GROW IN CONSCIOUSNESS
Father John Walsh

Zijad’s post Living Life On Auto Pilot affirms that Islam is dealing with modernity, a failure often attributed to Islam.  The Roman Catholic tradition was also accused of failing to face modernity.  The Church, for millennia, defended its faith and its beliefs.  Apologetics was the order of the day.  Adversaries were many.  The Christian Catholic faith needed to be strong. It was to become a bastion of truth against Jews from the beginnings of the Jesus movement, Muslims after Mohammed founded Islam and Protestants after …

LIVING LIFE ON AUTO PILOT
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

We can often go through life doing things “on auto-pilot” without ever thinking about their consequences and how they affect our relationship to faith and belief.
We set personal goals in life, we take jobs, we study different academic and professional fields, we pursue hobbies, we cultivate friendships; and as good as many of these activities are, we rarely (if ever) stop to review them in the light of our faith.
By living life this way, we fail to consciously actualize our faith or discern …