Historicity of Religious Text ... Discussion and Criticism

Mustafa Azizi

Abstract

There are many opinions and theories that try to explain the nature of divine revelation and religious texts in scientific and cultural circles. Recently, a modern theory has appeared under the title “historicity of religious text”, influenced by the theories of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Eric Hirsch, De Saussure, Hegel, Marx and others. It is an amalgamated theory with various sources and origins.

The theory of the historicity of religious text focuses on the fact that all texts, especially religious texts, are formed and generated in "reality and culture", and not a phenomenon differing from historical and social reality. As a result, text is a "cultural product" born in its incubating environment.

The theory of historicity is based on specific foundations and principles, all of which make the religious text an unsacred and human-made phenomenon, neither above history, nor above time and place.

 In this article, I will explain the theory of historicity of the religious text, with its principles and requirements, in light of the theory of some modernists, such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid and Mohammed Arkoun. I will then evaluate and criticize this theory in the light of rational and traditional fundamentals.

Keywords: historicity, religious text, interpretation, cultural product, language, Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)