Critical Hermeneutics

Yusuf Çelik, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities and Islam, and member of the research group Digital Approaches to Sacred Texts at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh on Qur’anic hermeneutics.

• AcknowledgementsNotes on Citations1 Introduction1 Status of prior Research2 The Ankara School: History and Hermeneutics3 A Return to Theoretical Deliberation4 The Problem of Subjectivity–Objectivity5 Overall Structure and Conceptual Framework2 What Is Qurʾanic Hermeneutics?1 Introduction2 Körner’s Study of Revisionist Qurʾanic Hermeneutics3 An Alternative Definition of Qurʾanic Hermeneutics4 Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics5 Qurʾanic Hermeneutics and the Statement6 Conclusion3 A Case against Subjectivity and Relativism: The Hermeneutics of Dücane Cündioğlu1 Introduction2 The Meaning of Understanding the Qurʾan3 Hermeneutical Beginnings4 Qurʾanic Hermeneutics and Subjectivity5 Polysemy, Subjectivity, and the Qurʾan6 The Natural Relations of Expressions7 Hermeneutics in Practice8 The Evaporation of Meaning and the Qurʾan9 Objectivity, Subjectivity, and the Justification of Interpretations10 The Qurʾan as a Linguistic Event11 Lisan and kelam12 The Diachronic Aspects of Understanding13 Conclusive Remarks4 Subjective Bearing Is More Fundamental to Understanding Than Objective Method: The Hermeneutics of Recep Alpyağıl1 Introduction2 The Problem of Private Language and Subjectivist Qurʾanic Readings3 The Qurʾan and Art4 Seeing-as5 Faith and History6 Closing Remarks5 Between Subjective Scruples and Objective Historical Reconstruction: The Hermeneutics of Mustafa Öztürk1 Introduction2 Rehabilitating the Historical3 The Two Stages of Interpretation: Reconstruction and Mediation4 Reconstruction: An Archaeology of Meaning5 Mediation6 The Inescapable Particularity of Narratives7 Rediscovering God8 The Teleology of the Sharīʿa9 Responding to Criticism10 The Ethics of Interpretative Claims11 Guarding the Lines between taḥrīf and taʾwīl12 Concluding Remarks6 Truth, Subjectivity, and Method1 Introduction2 Truth and Spirituality3 Subjectivity and Truth4 Objectivity and Language5 Conclusion7 Surplus and Futurity of Meaning: The Status of New and Divergent Readings of the Qurʾan1 Introduction2 The Surplus of Meaning and the Double Significance of Symbols3 Excess and Futurity4 The Surplus and Futurity of Meaning in Turkish Qurʾan Hermeneutics5 Conclusion8 Final Reflections on the State of Qurʾanic Hermeneutics in TurkeyBibliographyIndex