FORM CRITICISM OR A ROLLING CORPUS: THE METHODOLOGY OF JOHN WANSBROUGH THROUGH THE LENS OF BIBLICAL STUDIES
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Abstract
John Wansbrough’s scholarship on the Qur??n has had a significant impact
on Qur??nic Studies over the last forty years. His ideas continue to stimulate
research into historical and literary dimensions of the Qur??n, even though
assessments vary greatly regarding the plausibility of some of his major ideas,
and his subtle arguments can be difficult to follow. This essay clarifies and
evaluates Wansbrough’s thinking about the composition of the Qur??n by
elucidating the models from Biblical Studies that he appropriated. Detailed
treatment is given to biblical form criticism and Wansbrough’s application of
this method to the qur??nic accounts of the prophet Shu?ayb. It is suggested
that Wansbrough’s form-critical research yielded positive insights into the
Qur??n, but also left certain questions unanswered. It is then proposed that
another model taken from Biblical Studies, the idea of a “rolling corpus”
as developed in research on the book of Jeremiah, can sharpen and refine
Wansbrough’s conclusions.