"The past twenty years have witnessed a renewed academic interest in the Qur'an and its interpretation, focusing on such questions as how the text of the Qur'an achieved its existing form and its status for Muslims as scripture, its role in Islamic culture, and the various methods and approaches which Muslims have used when attempting to elucidate the meaning of their sacred text. In recent years, however, there have been attempts to widen the field of discussion from the Muslim tradition generally used for interpretation, and to experiment with approaches which develop insights gained from historical, biblical, literary critical and other studies. The result is that a variety of approaches to the Qur'an and the Muslim exegetical tradition are currently available. Approaches to the Qur'an consists of thirteen essays by leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in the fields of qur'anic studies and Islamic studies. Taken together, they offer a sample of the aims, methods and topics of enquiry now being pursued. Each study has a full critical apparatus, and a consolidated bibliography is included which will be of great value to students and specialists." --Publisher.