The art of interpreting Holy Scriptures flourished throughout the culturally heterogeneous pre-modern Orient among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Different ways of interpretation developed within each religion not without considering the others. How were the interactions and how productive were they for the further development of these traditions? Have there been blurred spaces of scholarly activity that transcended sectarian borders? What was the role played by mutual influences in profiling the own tradition against the others? These and other related questions are critically treated in the present volume.

This volume opens up new research perspectives on the interplay between the formation of religious traditions and the criticism addressed to them in different contexts. The scholarly investigation of how religious traditions have been criticized, reconsidered, and modified helps to better understand the dialectics of continuity and rupture that pervade religious communities. The exploration of the interactive processes of emergence, criticism, and reconsideration of religious traditions not only provides insight into how religions have developed in the past but also illuminates the present rise of new forms of religiosity within the framework of postmodernity. Belonging to different scholarly disciplines such as Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Christian Theology, Islamic Studies, History, Philosophy, and Sociology, and resorting to a broad spectrum of methodological tools, the authors of this volume delve deep into the realms of religious reality and shed new light on the dynamics of religious transformation, past and present.

The art of interpreting Holy Scriptures flourished throughout the culturally heterogeneous pre-modern Orient among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Different ways of interpretation developed within each religion not without considering the others. How were the interactions and how productive were they for the further development of these traditions? Have there been blurred spaces of scholarly activity that transcended sectarian borders? What was the role played by mutual influences in profiling the own tradition against the others? These and other related questions are critically treated in the present volume.