Šelômō Bîderman Knihy

Drawn by invitation from a number of countries, a group of scholars undertakes to explore the means by which the very attempt to grasp religions leads to a repeated process of internal reinterpretation and, often, transformation. Essays on interpretation in religion in general are followed by essays that probe various hermeneutical aspects of ancient Egyptian religion, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The range of these essays is impressive -- from semiosis, problems of translation, and the pragmatic assignment of meaning, to prayer, divine commands, the invisibility ascribed to God, dharma , symbolism and evil, and esotericism. The picture that emerges is rich, by turns detailed and general, and above all intellectually stimulating.

At the core of Scripture and Knowledge lies the problem of the nature of religious knowledge. The author argues that religion is a particular framework rather than a particular content or defined set of performances. He sees this framework as epistemological, that is, as one that furnishes believers with a conception of knowledge alternative to that of philosophical reasoning. The thesis on the epistemological nature of religion will be developed by the examination of the concept of scripture as a body of authoritative and even infallible texts. The concept of scripture is presented as one of the constitutive concepts of the epistemological framework of religion. The author argues that the various scriptures and their commentaries should be understood as the arena within which the epistemological process of religion takes place and the central epistemological means by which religious knowledge is made possible.