"Qur,anic Studies", part4: Some Methodological Notes

In this article I will focus upon authors who have suggested basic methodological challenges to the assumptions of Wansbrough's approach to the Muslim interpretative tradition found in part IV of his book, Quranic Studies. A common objection arises to Wansbrough's insistence on having textual evidence for historical claims and his seeing those texts which do provide historical evidence as complex expressions of several generations of editors. Two works, one and article by Issa Boullata and the other, a book by C.H.M, Versteegh, will be dealt wilh in some detail in this paper in order to clarify the issues which are at stake.