What is Scriptural Reasoning?

Scriptural Reasoning is the shared study by Jews, Christians, Muslims and others of their sacred texts, drawing upon each other's wealth of ancient scholarship and interpretative tradition. SR offers the remarkable opportunity for people of each of the faiths to see their particular scriptures read and reflected back to them by believers of the other traditions, offering new hues and spectra of meaning to familiar intra-religious ways of reading.

As an academic practice originating in the United States and developed in universities in Britain, Scriptural Reasoning is now developing as a community and civic practice among faith communities in London, Edinburgh, Oxford and beyond, offering the hope of promoting a deeper understanding and respect for each other's differences of belief - not aiming to overlook or undermine those differences for mere sake of consensus - and through these authentically Jewish, authentically Christian and authentically Islamic conversations around our precious scriptures, we aim to build new models of civil cooperation and engagement in our plural society.

As this website is developed under the rabbinical and imamate supervision of the London Beth Din and the Fatwa Committee of Regent's Park Mosque (dowload our Fatwa in Arabic or English), we hope to offer resources and materials, as we develop Scriptural Reasoning in full cooperation with the most authoritative and devout institutions of religious law within the Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as the Christian churches.

We warmly welcome you to share in the respectful and exciting experience of our Scriptural Reading reading meetings, as well as in the hospitality our Community Tables where we eat together - all levels of kashrut, halal and vegetarian observance are respected. Our Community Ethic - the Oxford Ethic sets out the governing principles for our member groups, and as of 1 January 2009 our membership stood at 247 people of diverse faiths, and growing...