Scriptural Reasoning

Scriptural Reasoning is the communal practice of reading the Jewish, Christian and Islamic sacred scriptures together on specific issues. Although Scriptural Reasoning has its roots in academic institutions it can equally become a "civic practice" to help the Abrahamic faiths engage with each other locally.

How it works ...

Texts are chosen from the three traditions that focus on a common figure (e.g. Abraham) or theme or issue such as “creation”, “work” or “sacrifice”. Scriptures of the Hebrew Bible, New Testament and Qur'an are the primary texts, although materials from secondary sacred literature such as rabbinic Midrash and Talmud, Christian exegesis and Hadith may also be included. They are distributed to participants ahead of the meeting.

Each group should have a good balance between the three traditions. When they meet - in our case for a session lasting a couple of hours - each of the texts is introduced in turn by someone from whose tradition it derives and then opened up for more general discussion. At this point the Jews and Muslims begin to ask questions of the Christian readings as the Christians and the Jews do, in turn of the Qur'anic texts and so on.

What happens ...

What you get, over time, is that each begins to inhabit the others’ reading of their scripture whilst remaining rooted in their own. A consequence of entering into each other’s readings is the formation of a new Abrahamic reading community which can generate surprising levels of friendship and understanding. Moreover, crucially, this community is not built around the assertion of common meanings or beliefs or ways of reading but the sharing of a common task. This in turn opens the door of “Inter Faith” conversation, normally the preserve of the more liberal minded, for conservative practitioners of a tradition.

Participants in Scriptural Reasoning come to it from their particular “houses” (churches, mosques, synagogues) of worship, but they meet outside these institutions at special times and in separate places that are likened to the biblical mishkan or “tent of meeting”. These are constructed such that no single tradition plays the role of host and no single one plays the role of guest, but that each tradition takes responsibility for safeguarding a mutual space in which each other’s texts may be studied and shared.

For further information contact

William Taylor at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace