Table of Contents

Introduction; M.A.M.Salih , B.de Gaay Fortman & K.Martens PART I: HERMENEUTICS, COMMUNITIES OF READERS AND CONTEXT Religious Identity, Difference and Human Rights: The Crucial Role of Hermeneutics; M.A.M.Salih & B.de Gaay Fortman Islamic Texts, Democracy, and the Rule of Law: Towards a Hermeneutics of Conciliation; S.Haq Interpretation in Canon Law: Faith or Reason; P.Brown Judicial Textualism: An Analysis of Textualism as Applied to the United States Constitution; H.Philipse Arbitrary Readings? Christianity and Islam as Capricious Hermeneutic Communities; K.Steenbrink Changing Hermeneutics in Reading and Understanding the Bible: The Case of the Gospel of Mark; G.van Oyen PART II: HERMENEUTIC, SCRIPTUAL POLITICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS The Qur'an and Religious Freedom; A.Mirmoosavi Dignitatis Humanae. A Hermeneutic Perspective on Religious Freedom as Interpreted by the Roman Catholic Church; K.Martens Strangers and Residents: The Hermeneutic Challenge of Non-Jewish Minorities in Israel; D.Weissman Religious Texts as Models for Exclusion. Scriptural Interpretation and Ethnic Politics in Northern Nigeria; N.Kastfelt Jihad from a Shi'a Hermeneutic Perspective; S.Haghighat Views on Women in Early Christianity: International Hermeneutics in Tertullian and Augustine; W.Otten Women's Rights and the Interpretation of Islamic Texts: The Practice of Female Genital Mutilation; I.Touray

About the Author

BAS DE GAAY FORTMAN is the Chair in Political Economy of Human Rights at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

KURT MARTENS is Assistant Professor Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, USA.

M.A.MOHAMED SALIH is Professor of Politics of Development at both the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague and the Department of Political Science at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.

Reviews

"One may agree or disagree with the specific viewpoint of a given author but the essays are thought-provoking and stimulating nonetheless. Given the lack of information about Islam and Christianity and the various approaches to their texts, this book will serve an important function in stimulating dialogue on such topics." - Robert J. Kaslyn, School of Canon Law, Catholic University of America