Synopses & Reviews
Readings in the Quran aims to meet the needs of non-Muslims who wish to discover the beauty and meaning of this great religious work. The Quran is recited more constantly than any other Scripture, but in many ways it is a difficult book for the Western reader as its sequences are neither chronological or thematic, and indeed its logic, its meaning, its order, and its times can initially seem perplexing and strange, however, this introductory collection of essays guides the beginner and offers a rationale for this three-sided approach and reflection on the relevance of the Quran in the contemporary world.
Review
“No scholar writing in the English language has displayed a deeper or more adequate understanding of what the Quran is all about.” —Professor Christian W. Troll, Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Rome
Synopsis
Reprint of the 1998 work (Collins, San Francisco). Writing for non- Muslims, Cragg offers an abridged literary (as opposed to literal) translation of the Qur'an, presenting the text in eight segments representing eight main themes. He also includes a substantial introductory essay explaining this approach and reflecting on the relevance of the Qur'an in the contemporary world.
Synopsis
This book aims to meet the needs of non-Muslims who wish to discover the beauty and meaning of this great religious work.
Synopsis
Familiarity with the Qur'an is essential to an understanding of Islam. This lucid translation, in accessible modern English, opens the way to a fuller understanding of the Qur'an, and for those more familiar with the text offers a deeper account of the themes, the rationale of the translation and a discussion of the place of the Qur'an in contemporary political and religious concerns. The Qur'an is abridged to about two-thirds of its original length.
About the Author
Kenneth Cragg was first in Jerusalem in 1939, and subsequently became deeply involved in areas of faith between Semitic religions under the stress of current politics. He later pursued doctoral studies in Oxford where he first graduated and became Prizemanin Theology and Moral Philosophy, and where he is now an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College. He was a Bishop in the Anglican Jurisdiction in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Middle East, and played ecclesiastical roles in Africa and India. A Certain Sympathy of Scriptures is a companion book to his Readings in the Quran (1988; 1999), and more broadly to his Faiths in Their Pronouns: Websites of Identity (2002). Other works by Bishop Cragg, and published by Sussex Academic Press, include: With God in Human Trust Christian Faith and Contemporary Humanism; The Weight in the Word Prophethood, Biblical and Quranic; and The Education of Christian Faith.