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The literary form of prayer: Qur՚ān sūra one, the Lord's Prayer and a Babylonian prayer to the Moon God

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

S. Sperl
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Extract

In his article ‘Lecture de la Fātiḥa’ Muhammad Arkoun develops principles for a contemporary rereading of scripture which differ markedly from those of classical exegesis. The latter rests upon the dogmatic certainty that scripture constitutes the only truth and the whole truth; hence it sees its task as rendering this truth accessible by recourse to a wide range of explanatory techniques. Arkoun's principles, on the other hand, are based upon the realization that in the present circumstances man's understanding of himself must be acquired not by remaining within the fold of one assumed source of truth but by transcending the panoply of ‘biophysical, economic, political, linguistic constraints’ which delimit his condition. As result, such knowledge must consist in repeated and risky forays ‘beyond the enclosures which all cultural traditions tend to erect after a phase of intensive elaboration’ (Arkoun, 1982: 50).

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1994

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References

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