Theology of the Margins
Theology of the Margins
The Reading of Farid Esack
This chapter explores the Qur’anic commentary of the South African intellectual Farid Esack. After providing some historical and biographical background, it unpacks his interpretive method. While the Qur’an is the most important textual source that Esack draws upon in his Islamic discourse, the chapter argues that, for Esack, the experience of oppression and the struggle against it (praxis) are as important a ‘text’ of theological reflection. The chapter then offers a critique of the core paradigm in Esack’s liberation theology—the Exodus—and explores the acutely comprehensive character of his approach to social justice, entailing socioeconomic, gendered, and anti-colonial liberation. The chapter ends by reflecting on the significance of Islamic liberation theology in terms of (a) interfaith relations and (b) the interlocutor of Islamic thought and practice.
Keywords: Farid Esack, South Africa, Qur’an, praxis, liberation theology, Exodus, interfaith, pluralism
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
