Orientalists and the Evolution of Shī‘a Exegesis Hermeneutic: A Case Study of Todd Lawson

Todd Lawson – a contemporary orientalist – tries in his Hermeneutics of pre-modern Islamic and Shi'ite exegesis to describe and evaluate the types and evolutions of the Twelver Shī‘a exegesis hermeneutics. According to this article, the Twelver Shī‘a exegesis has comprised of four types from its beginning to the contemporary era, including authority-oriented, compromise, mystic-inward (hermeneutic deafness), and philosophical/authority-oriented. The hermeneutic change of the Shī‘a in the interpretation of the Qur’ān from Imām to the exegete and its combination with the mystic and philosophical approaches are the qualities of the second, third, and fourth eras. The evolutions made in the four eras of Shī‘a hermeneutics have been influenced by the cultural-political conditions of the Shī‘a community, the rise of Shī‘a scientific elites, and the effects of Mu‘tazila, mystic, and Sunnī esotericist approaches on the Twelver scholars. In this regard, the role of Shī‘a governments such as Buyid and Safavid dynasties and the rise of scholars such as Sayyid Murtaḍā, Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī, and Mullā Ṣadrā have had outstanding effects on the formation of new hermeneutic types. This article presents Lawson‘s viewpoints and demonstrates their shortcomings.