Shabbir Akhtar: Can a Muslim Acknowledge the Authority of the Bible?

Описание: Event: Muslim Views of the Bible: Past and Present

Date: 7th December 2013

Venue: Oxford Examination Schools

Full title of the lecture: 'Can a Muslim Acknowledge the Authority of the Bible? Reflections from a Muslim Writer on the New Testament'

Lecturer: Dr Shabir Akhtar, Research Fellow, Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford

Abstract: I explore the question of whether a Muslim can accept the authority of the Bible, a rival scripture making competitive claims about God and his will for us. Every scripture has internal authority -- for the followers of that faith. Can it also exercise external authority?

Is any scripture answerable to external critique, from rival monotheists, agnostics and atheists? I believe it is so but on two conditions. No scripture should be assumed to be pointing towards the truth of its rival. No scripture can be assumed to be internally inconsistent. Secondly, in studying a rival scripture, we address the authority of its contents, not whether the scripture is internally authentic in terms of its claims, composition, history of codification and canonization. Textual criticism is no part of commentary on a rival scripture.

I investigate the asymmetrical status of the Quran and the Bible since only the former mentions the latter. Can a scripture be partly authoritative for outsiders and also for its own followers? Is authority always independent and autonomous or can it be derivative but nonetheless authentic? I ask these questions as a Muslim student of the Bible and of Christian origins.