The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur'an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam

by Michael Pregill

Overview

This book explores the story of the Israelites' worship of the Golden Calf in its Jewish, Christian, and Muslim contexts, from ancient Israel to the emergence of Islam. It focuses in particular on the Qur'an's presentation of the narrative and its background in Jewish and Christian retellings of the episode from Late Antiquity. Across the centuries, the interpretation of the Calf episode underwent major changes reflecting the varying cultural, religious, and ideological contexts in which various communities used the story to legitimate their own tradition, challenge the claims of others, and delineate the boundaries between self and other. The book contributes to the ongoing reevaluation of the relationship between Bible and Qur'an, arguing for the necessity of understanding the Qur'an and Islamic interpretations of the history and narratives of ancient Israel as part of the broader biblical tradition. The Calf narrative in the Qur'an, central to the qur'anic conception of the legacy of Israel and the status of the Jews of its own time, reflects a profound engagement with the biblical account in Exodus, as well as being informed by exegetical and parascriptural traditions in circulation in the Qur'an's milieu in Late Antiquity. The book also addresses the issue of Western approaches to the Qur'an, arguing that the historical reliance of scholars and translators on classical Muslim exegesis of scripture has led to misleading conclusions about the meaning of qur'anic episodes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192593634
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	05/30/2020
Series:	Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Pregill is a scholar of comparative religion, specializing in the history of the scriptural cultures of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Much of his research focuses on the reception of biblical, Jewish, and Christian traditions in the Qur'an and Islam. He lives and teaches in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements
Note on Style
1. Introduction: Method and Context in the Study of Bible and Qur'an
Part I: Foundations
2. Biblical Beginnings: The Calf of Sinai, the Calves of Jeroboam, and the Invention of Idolatry
3. Early Jewish Interpretation: An Opportunity for Repentance, a Pretext for Polemic
Part II: Jews, Christians, and the Contested Legacy of Israel
4. A Hard Yoke upon Their Neck: Patristic Polemic and Amoraic Apologetic
5. The Syrian-Palestinian Milieu in Late Antiquity: The Contested Legacy of Aaron and the Priesthood
Part III: The Qur'anic Calf Episode
6. The Qur'anic Calf Episode between Orientalism and Islamic Tradition
7. A Living Calf at Sinai? Reevaluating the Qur'anic Calf Episode
8. Rescripting Sinai: The Qur'an in the History of Interpretation of the Calf Episode
9. Conclusion
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Pregill's work is an important contribution, both as a model for exploring scriptural intertextuality and as a prolegomenon to a similarly detailed study of the Calf story in Islamic, Christian, and Jewish (and perhaps also modern secular) traditions after the Qur'an. This volume will be of as much interest to biblical scholars and historians of religion as to scholars of the Qur'an." — Franz Volker Greifenhagen, professor of religious studies at Luther College, University of Regina, Canada, Reading Religion

"...excellent study" — Stephen J. Shoemaker, University of Oregon, Church History

"This fascinating and brilliant study traces the use and transformation of the episode of the Golden Calf (Exod. 32.1-35) in Judaism, Christianity and the Qur'an...This is an incredibly rich study that will set new standards for the exploration of biblical themes in the Qur'an." — Anslem C. Hagedorn, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

"Pregill's work provides an outstanding example of the uses to which comparison can be put when done seriously and on a small scale. While based on careful scholarship and responsible philological practice, his comfort with the material and the novelty of the analysis leads him to venture forth and make much bolder claims about the nature of the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. The result is a textually rich and theoretically sophisticated work that, while closely focused on one base text, subsequently broaches much larger issues that deal with textuality, politics, and the nature of scholarship." — 221 AAR Book Awards

"This monograph is one of the most comprehensive works to investigate the interpretation of the Golden Calf narrative, as it includes the full spectrum of Jewish, Christian and Muslim reception history." — Abdulla Galadari, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

"This well-argued, well-researched book is a welcome contribution to establishing an understanding of the Qur'an as a well-informed, deliberate textual engagement with the Bible. Its coherent, clear language makes it accessible to scholars and students of diverse disciplines. Each chapter is clearly related to the chapters before and after it, creating a chronological and thematic continuity...allows for individual chapters to be read independently, thus making the book useful for teaching too." — Michael E. Pregill, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

From the Publisher