Resources
From past Scriptural Reasoning events organised by SR-TüB
At SR-TüB, we have a long-standing experience of doing Scriptural Reasoning within our study programmes, in the form of seminars offered for MA and advanced BA students. Here, we share the materials we have compiled and used for our classes. For Biblical texts, we use the JPS 1985 translation for Jewish readings and the New Revised Standard Version for Christian readings. For Qur’anic texts, we refer to Abdel Haleem’s translation (2005). No translation is perfect or able to render the text in all facets of its original language, but we find these translations useful and easy to access in the context of SR. Given our academic setting, we also bring the original texts to the table.
The presentation of texts follows the topics of SR seminar series offered by SR-TüB since 2015.
Prayer (SR-TüB 2024)
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 1
Matthew 6:5–15
Romans 8:18–27
Mark 15:33–41
Q 2:186 (Sūrat al-Baqara)
Q 1:1–7 (Sūrat al-Fātiḥa)
Q 7:54–58 (Sūrat al-Aʿrāf)
Q 10:9–10 (Sūrat Yūnus)
Q 2:200–201 (Sūrat al-Baqara)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “al-Tawḥīd”, 15
Jewish and Muslim Perspectives
Deuteronomy 6:4–9
Psalm 146
Q 40:57–68 (Sūrat Ghāfir)
Q 3:189–200 (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān)
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 2
Psalm 105:1–6
Ephesians 6:10-20
Q 33:41–48 (Sūrat al-Aḥzāb)
Q 2:152 (Sūrat al-Baqara)
Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, “al-Dhikr wa-l-duʿāʾ wa-l-tawba wa-l-istighfār”, 8
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 3
Exodus 3:1–15
Psalm 96:1–9
Q 17:105–111 (Sūrat al-Isrāʾ)
Q 51:15–18 (Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “al-Tawḥīd”, 35
Prophethood (SR-TüB 2023)
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 1
Luke 11:46–54
Luke 13:22–35
Wilfried Eisele, „Prophetenmord hat Tradition“, Das Lukasevangelium. Gott macht Geschichte, Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2021, pp. 77-79.
Wilfried Eisele, “Fuchs und Henne”, Das Lukasevangelium. Gott macht Geschichte, Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2021, pp. 90-91; 117-118.
Q 5:99–105 (Sūrat al-Māʾida)
Q 43:20–25 (Sūrat al-Zukhruf)
Q 8:27–36 (Sūrat al-Anfāl)
Q 3:21–22 (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “al-Daʿawāt", 1
Ibn Mājah, Sunan, “Zuhd”, 37
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “Riqāq”, 51
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 2
Micah 3:1–12
W. J. Wessels, “Conflicting powers. Reflections from the Book of Micah”, Old Testament Essays, 10/3 (1997) pp. 528–44, at pp. 541–2.
Q 11:49–68 (Sūrat Hūd)
Ibn Mājah, Sunan, “al-Fitan”, 20
Ibn Mājah, Sunan, “al-Aḥkām”, 2
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “Aḥādīth al-anbiyāʾ”, 17
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 3
Revelation 5:1–10 The Apokalyptic Lamb
Revelation 21:1–7 The New Jerusalem
Q 21:107–112 (Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ)
Q 34:28–39 (Sūrat al-Sabaʾ)
Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, “Tawba”, 4
Muslim, Ṣāḥīḥ, “Tawba”, 5
Jewish and Muslim Perspectives
Deuteronomy 18:15–22
Deuteronomy 34:1–12
The story of the Oven of Akhnai, Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 59a-b
Q 24:46–57 (Sūrat al-Nūr)
Q 6:48–67 (Sūrat al-Anʿām)
Al-Ghazālī, "On the muʿjiza (miracles)", Moderation in Belief. Al-Iqtiṣād fī al-iʿtiqād, trans. Aladdin M. Yaqub, Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2013, p. 192; 195.
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
Exodus 19:1–25
Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), Guide of the Perplexed Guide III. 51
Hasdai Crescas (1340–1410/11), Light of the Lord (Or Hashem), Part IV Concerning Prophecy (from Chapters I and IV)
1 Corinthians 12:27-14:5
Anthony C Thiselton, Thiselton on Hermeneutics. The Collected Works and New Essays of Anthony Thiselton, Aldershot UK: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 387-88.
Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament. An Interpretation, London: SCM, 1999, pp.309-10.
Ellen F. Davis, Biblical Prophecy. Perspectives for Christian Theology, Discipleship, and Ministry, Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, pp. 1-2; 6-7; 246.
Q 42:7–26 (Sūrat al-Shūrā)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, “Badʾ al-waḥy”, 3
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Khabbāzī (d. 691/1292), al-Hādī fī uṣūl al-dīn (‘Guide to the Principles of Religion’), trans. by Harith Ramli, in Māturīdī Theology: A Bilingual Reader, ed. Lejla Demiri, Philip Dorroll and Dale J. Correa, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022, pp. 127, 129.
Discourses of Rumi (Fihi ma fihi), trans. A. J. Arberry (1961), pp. 143-144.
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 4
Luke 1:26–38
Irenäus of Lyons, "A true God-man, born of a Virgin", Adversus Haereses III 21,1;4
Q 19:16-36 (Sūrat Maryam)
Q 3:42-47 (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, "Aḥādīth al-anbiyāʾ", 45
Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ, "Manāqib", 62
Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ, "Manāqib", 61
Discourses of Rumi (Fihi ma fihi), trans. A. J. Arberry (1961), pp. 37-38
Hope (SR-TüB 2022)
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
Jewish and Muslim Perspectives
Job 14:1-22 (with commentary according to Rabbi Nathan and Bereshit Rabbah 61.2)
Psalm 92:12
Heather Houser, 'Is Climate Writing Stuck?, LitHub, 3 January 2022)
Ezra 10:1-20, 44
Ezra 9:1-4
Genesis 6:1-4
Genesis 8:1-16
Genesis 1:9-10
Ruth 1:1-22
Interview with Lea Ypi, author of Free: coming of age at the end of history, Guardian, June 4, 2022
Lamentations 3:1-25 (with commentary from Lamentations Rabbah on Lams 3:21)
Deuteronomy 4:44
Paul M. Joyce and Diana Lipton, "The Curse of Lamentations" and "Alef-Bet City", in Lamentations Through the Centuries, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013
Deuteronomy 29:18
Q 21:83-84 (Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ)
Q 38:41-46 (Sūrat al-Ṣād)
Q 41:49-54 (Sūrat al-Fuṣṣilat)
Q 26:69-89 (Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ)
Q 39:49-67 (Sūrat al-Zumar)
Al-Ghazzali on Hope and Fear, trans. Muhammad Nur Abdus Salam, Chicago IL: Great Books of the Islamic World, 2002, pp. 31-33.
Muslim Perspectives
Q 2:34-38 (Sūrat al-Baqara)
Q 35:19-30 (Sūrat al-Fāṭir)
Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, "Riqaq", 4
Bukhari, Ṣaḥīḥ, "Adab", 18; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, "Tawba", 26
Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ, "Imān", 70
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 1
Hebrews 10:22-24; 11:1-12
J. Moltmann, “3. Liberating Hope: Freedom as Future”, The Spirit of Life, 1992, pp. 119–120.
John 1: 1-18
A. Scrima, L’évangile de Jean: Un commentaire, 2017, pp. 33, 35, 58.
Luke 24:13-35
L.-M. Chauvet, Symbol and Sacrament, 1995, pp. 161-162.
Q 10:99-109 (Sūrat Yūnus)
Q 24:35-57 (Sūrat al-Nūr)
Q 39:22-23 (Sūrat al-Zumar)
Q 13:11-32 (Sūrat al-Raʿd)
Christian and Muslim Perspectives 2
Matthew 6:5-14
Romans 8:18-30
Luke 21:5-19
Q 7:55–58 (Sūrat al-Aʿrāf)
Q 1:1–7 (Sūrat al-Fātiḥah)
Q 33:41–48 (Sūrat al-Aḥzāb)
Q 64:1–18 (Sūrat al-Taghābun)
God, Eternity, and Time (SR-TüB 2021)
God and eternity
‘You are the same and your days will have no end’ (Ps 102:27) Psalm 102 |
‘He is the First, and the Last…’ Q 57:1-12 Ghazzālī’s The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God, pp. 133-7, 145, 146-7 (further reading) |
God and time
‘Make us know how few are our days’ (Ps 90:12) Psalm 90 |
‘a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of that which you reckon’ Q 22:52 ‘and none destroys us save time’ Q 45:24-29 Hadith: The Messenger of God reported that God said: ‘Sons of Adam inveigh against [the vicissitudes of] Time, and I am Time, in My hand is the night and the day.’ (Bukhārī, Muslim) |
Human beings and time
‘Your throne, o God, is for ever and ever’ (Hebr 1:8) Hebrews 1 |
Q 76:1-31 |
Time and human responsibility
‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ (Lk 10:23) Luke 10: 23-37 |
Q 103:1-3 Hadith: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your preoccupation, and your life before your death.’ (Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-Īmān) |
God and creation
‘The Lord, the eternal God does not weary or grow faint’ (Isa 40:28) Isaiah 40: 25-31 |
‘Truly your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days’ Q 10:3-12 Ghazzālī’s Moderation in Belief, pp. 41-5 (further reading) |
God’s knowledge of the future
‘Nothing new under the sun’ (Eccl 1:9) – ‘for everything its season’ (Eccl 3:1) Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 |
‘with Him are the keys of the Unseen’ Q 5:59-62 Q 42:1-14 |
Time and the Eschaton
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 |
Q 32:4-20 and Q 70:1-26 |
Eschatology (SR-TüB 2020)
Eternity
Isaiah 11:1-9 | The coming of the Messiah will bring judgement and peace, also between the human and the animal creation |
Q 17:9-39 | Divine guidance leads to eternal bliss |
Life to the dead
Ezekiel 37:1-14 | ‘Can these bones live?’ The resurrection of the dry bones of Israel |
Q 2:258-260 | Abraham’s request ‘My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead’ |
Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:1-28.35-58 | ‘How are the dead raised?’ Resurrection of Christ and our resurrection |
Q 36:41-83 | God the Creator will revive the bones after they have decayed |
The Last Judgment
Matthew 25:31-46 | The last judgments and the works of mercy |
Q 22:5-25 | The Hour will come. The Fire and the Garden |
The Last Day
Revelation 20:7 - 21:8 | The last battle with Satan, the opening of the books, the destruction hell and God’s dwelling with humankind. |
Q 75:1-40 | The Day of Resurrection |
Salvation and Right Guidance (SR-Tüb 2019)
Walking in God's ways
Deuteronomy 30: 11–20
Psalm 119
John 14:6 and 16:5-15
God is the Guide
Q 1:1-7
Q 10:99-109
Faith and good actions
James 2:4-16
Q 103:1-3
Q 29:69
Q 2:62; Q 5:69; Q 22:17
The powerlessness to do the good
Romans 7:14-25
Empowerment through the Spirit
Romans 8:1-17
Salvation is a choice - and that choice has consequences
Q 2:256-260
Q 18:27-44
Q 31:20-34
Q 39:53-75
The norm of action and its consequences
Matthew 25: 31-46
The reward of the guided ones
Q 4:68-69
Q 7:40-43
The One God, Our God, and the God of Others (SR-TüB 2018)
Scriptural and Doctrinal Reasoning on the Unity of God
Naming God
Exodus 3:1-15
Philippians 2:5-11
Qur'an 7:180 and 17:110-111
Qur'an 59:18-24
God's name(s)
Pseudo-Dionysius, The Divine Names, Chapters 1-4, in C. Luibheid (ed.), Pseudo-Dionysios. The Complete Works, 'Classics of Western Spirituality', Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press, pp. 49-96.
Al-Ghazali, The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God, trans. D. B. Burrell and N. Daher, Cambridge: ITS, 2004, pp. 30-47.
The Oneness of God
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Luke 10:25-37 (1 Cor 8:1-6)
Qur'an 112
Qur'an 2:255
Luther, Large Catechism, Explication of the 1st Commandment: Book of Concord, p. 386f.
Al-Ghazālī, Moderation in Belief, trans. A. M. Yaqub, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2013, pp. 73-77.
Critique of Idolatry
Isaiah 44:9-20
Romans 1:18-32
Qur'an 4:116-126
Qur'an 12:40 (see also 7:71 and 53:23)
Luther, Large Catechism, 1st Commandment: Book of Concord, pp. 387.389
Calvin, Institutes I, 11-13
Al-Ghazali, Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence, trans. D. B. Burrell, Louisville KY, 2001, pp. 9-19.
Worshipping God
Isaiah 58:6-14
Romans 12:1-2 (3-21)
Qur'an 51:47-60
Hadith 25 and 34 in Forty Hadith Qudsi, trans. E. Ibrahim and D. Johnson-Davies, Cambridge: ITS, 1997, pp. 104-5 and 126-7.
God's Law
Exodus 20:1-17
Matthew 5:17-26; 43-48
Qur'an 30:30-45
Hadith 6 and 7 in An-Nawawī's Forty Hadith, trans. E. Ibrahim and D. Johnson-Davies, Cambridge: ITS, 1997, pp. 42-5.
Luther, Large Catechism, Conclusion of the Ten Commandments, first section of the Creed, Book of Concord 430/1.
Calvin, Institutes II, 11-13.
Al-Ghazālī, Moderation in Belief, trans. A. M. Yaqub, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2013, pp. 184-195.
The God of all Peoples
Micah 4:1-5
Acts 17:22-37
Qur'an 7:172-173
Qur'an 42:8-31
Calvin, Institutes I, 2-5 (the sense of God)
Maybudī on Q 6:12 in An Anthology of Qur'anic Commentaries. Volume 1: On the Nature of the Divine, ed. F. Hamza and S. Rizvi with F. Mayer, Oxford: OUP, 2010, pp. 310-312
God, Human and non-Human Creatures (SR-Tüb 2017)
Scriptural Reasoning as an Approach to Questions of a Theological Ecology
The status of humans
Genesis 1:1-27 | The order of creation and the status of humans in creation (imago Dei) |
Qur’an 7:54-58 | The creation of the heavens and earth. The status of humans and their responsibility |
The role of humans
Genesis 1:28-30 | The future of humankind and the dominium terrae |
Qur’an 2:28-39 | Humans God’s khalīfa on earth |
The creation of humans
Genesis 2:4b-8 | The formation of humans from the soil and the animation with the divine spirit |
Qur’an 32:1-11 | God breathing His Spirit into creation |
God’s ordered creation as a beneficial home for the non-human and human creation
Psalm 104
Qur’an 78
God's creation and providence
Psalm 145:14-16 & Psalm 147 | Thanksgiving for God’s providence in creation |
Qur’an 13:1-5 | It is God who creates, revives, and speaks to humanity |
Thanksgiving for God's creation
Psalm 65/Psalm 136 | Thanksgiving for the bounty of the earth – thanks giving for God’s steadfast love |
Qur’an 55:1-30 | God creates perfectly; all in balance; humans should give thanks, live a balanced life and uphold justice |
The non-human creation
Matthew 6:25-33 | The birds of the air and the lilies of the field |
Qur’an 40:57-65 | The creation of heaven and earth greater than the creation of mankind |
Non-humans and humans
Romans 8:18-25 | The longing of creation for the revealing of the children of God |
Qur’an 6:37-41 | Animals ‘communities’ just like mankind |
Animals
Isaiah 11,1-9 | The messianic kingdom and peace in the animal creation |
Qur’an 16:65-74 | God speaking to animals (bee) |
Signs in creation
Job 38
Qur’an 67
Ecological Rules
Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-5, 8-13 | Sabbath year and year of jubilee |
Qur’an 6:59-62 | All creation is dependent on God |
Qur’an 44:38-42 | Creation has a purpose |
God's loyalty
Genesis 9:8-17 | The covenant between God, Noah and all living beings |
Qur’an 17:41-44; 24:41-45 & 59:21-24 | Nature exalts the Creator; more loyal than humans |
The future of creation
Revelation 21 | The New Heaven and the New Earth – the vision of the New Jerusalem |
Qur’an 4:116-126 | Human responsibility to preserve non-human creation |
God's Self-Identity and Address (SR-TüB 2016)
How does God speak to humanity?
Hebrews 1:1-14
Q 42:36-53
God's address in creation
Psalm 33
Q 6:74-83
God addressing creation through creation
Psalm 19
Q 24:41-45
Divine unity
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Q 59:22-24
God's self-identity
John 14:8-17
Q 2:252-255
Divine attributes
1 John 4:7-21
Q 21:19-36
God addressing Moses
Exodus 3:1-15
Q 20:9-48
Jesus as the Word of God
John 1:1-14; 3:31-36
Q 5:109-120
Being Human in Relation to God (SR-TüB 2015)
Scriptural Reasoning in Christian-Muslim Dialogue as a Resource for a Theological Anthropology
The 'position' of humans in relation to the Creator and to His creation
Psalm 8
Q 7:172-174, Q 25:77, Q 51:56-58 and Q 95
The creation of humans
Genesis 1 and 2
Q 2:28-39, Q 7:10-58 and Q 15:26-50
Sin, its character and its consequences. Turning away from God’s word and turning back to God
Genesis 3
Q 42
Guidance and redemption / forgiveness
Exodus 20 and Romans 4 (Abraham) and 5 (Adam and Christ)
Q 54 and Q 17:41-100
The final destiny of humanity
Revelation 21
Q 76