tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post6650622383799178357..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: MY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROCEEDS APACERobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-40160680673592705232010-10-27T09:54:53.150-04:002010-10-27T09:54:53.150-04:00I'll read it once I have (or if I ever have) t...I'll read it once I have (or if I ever have) tenure.Anonymous Philosophy ABDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11628900020281782986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-27984984970381052372010-10-26T08:18:32.192-04:002010-10-26T08:18:32.192-04:00But you MUST read the Old and New Testaments. How...But you MUST read the Old and New Testaments. How can you possibly plan for a life as a philosopher without doing so?Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-40498248693494521202010-10-26T04:01:21.837-04:002010-10-26T04:01:21.837-04:00I hear that the Old Testament is pretty genocidal....I hear that the Old Testament is pretty genocidal. I haven't read any of it. I think I can make up my mind about the hysterical anti-Jews independently of it.<br /><br />The same goes for the hysterical anti-Muslims.<br /><br />We don't judge people by the contents of the book they claim to believe in.Anonymous Philosophy ABDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11628900020281782986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-9272244385682225582010-10-24T18:37:36.228-04:002010-10-24T18:37:36.228-04:00"... It is not anything like what the hysteri..."... It is not anything like what the hysterical anti-Muslims in America imagine, "<br /><br />After reading two percent.<br /><br />I have no opinion about the Koran as I have not read it at all; but what would you say if someone offered an opinion on any politically-charged issue - the value of Marx -- after reading two percent? Would you not snort?<br /><br />It's clear that both you and I would like to learn that the Koran is benign, so we can sneer at hysterical anti-Muslims. Perhaps the only difference is that I would not do so after reading only two percent.David Sucherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11006665374136997404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-73005732455782970802010-10-23T16:36:17.914-04:002010-10-23T16:36:17.914-04:00It is a text i.e., Arabic], translation, and comme...It is a text i.e., Arabic], translation, and commentary, first published in 1934. The translator and commentator is Abdullah Yusuf Ali. I have absolutely no idea what its status is in the field of translations. The publisher is Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc., New York. The translators snarky comments on his predecessors [in many languages] are worh the price of the book by themselves. The volume, which runs to 1862 pages, has an attractive Green and Gold soft cover.<br /><br />Anyone out there a scholar who knows about such things?Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-15361355441997217782010-10-23T09:52:22.508-04:002010-10-23T09:52:22.508-04:00Curious... which translation you are using?Curious... which translation you are using?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12270078785766538056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-76969210106508739192010-10-21T18:27:15.034-04:002010-10-21T18:27:15.034-04:00I have actually taught Hourani's book, in a se...I have actually taught Hourani's book, in a seminar on Ideological Critique [as background for Said's Orientalism.] I founf it enormously helpful. I couldn't agree more that one needs to know a very great deal to come to an appreciation of a major religion, but I still think it is not a bad idea to look at the Qur'an.<br /><br />It is also true, as I have said before, that although I am an atheist, I am a Protestant in sentiment.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-80100033724439278382010-10-21T17:54:49.488-04:002010-10-21T17:54:49.488-04:00In any case, it misrepresents every one of the Abr...In any case, it misrepresents every one of the Abrahamic religions (and probably all the other ones as well) to concentrate on their holy texts. People (Protestants especially) often say that the Bible is the sole source of their Christianity, but they can't really mean it, or are deeply mistaken. Just as the Trinity is not a feature of the Bible but of the long history of the practice of Christianity (and the same for many, many parts of the religion), so in Islam the Qu'ran is a very much incomplete picture of the religion, to be filled out with the hadith (sayings of the Prophet), the pronouncements of the Prophet's companions and later imams, etc.<br /><br />Prof Wolff, you're right that people are very often unable to differentiate between bits of the Qu'ran and bits of the Bible, and not only for the early bits of the Qu'ran. I once got quite a bit of discussion going among my friends on the quote (from 5:48): "Had God pleased, he would have made you one nation, but His will is to test you by what He has given you; so compete in goodness." It took a while for the Christians to realise that it's not from the Bible.Marinushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13492009758043047531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-42821324081476411242010-10-21T17:45:50.664-04:002010-10-21T17:45:50.664-04:00I've read Hourani's book and and agree tha...I've read Hourani's book and and agree that it's accessible, and thought provoking about how "People of the Book" deal with their book over time.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02636727394832760278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-26098206640773546782010-10-21T16:04:50.528-04:002010-10-21T16:04:50.528-04:00Professor Wolff --
When I was in grad school, one...Professor Wolff --<br /><br />When I was in grad school, one of my colleagues was a politically left Muslim who did his dissertation on Edward Said. I once asked him where I should start if I wanted to learn something about Islam. He urged that I should definitely NOT start with the Qur'an. Rather, he suggested "A History of the Arab Peoples" by Albert Hourani. He argued that Hourani's book would help to contextualize the Qur'an, thereby rendering it a good deal more accessible to those engaging with Islam for the first time. I picked up a copy of Hourani's book and have found it quite helpful.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00826600172627425879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-5424633377925852922010-10-21T11:30:28.329-04:002010-10-21T11:30:28.329-04:00Thank you. I was unaware of that, although I am n...Thank you. I was unaware of that, although I am not at all surprised.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-52773375861976060672010-10-21T10:06:43.465-04:002010-10-21T10:06:43.465-04:00"Allah is, I believe, the Arabic word for God..."Allah is, I believe, the Arabic word for God, not in any sense God's name"<br /><br />Indeed, Maimonides and other Arabophone Jewish scholars use the term freely when referring to the God of the OT.David Pilavinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05936888349199350870noreply@blogger.com