Christiansen, Johanne Louise. 2019. “The Educational Qurʾān: ‛Maybe Youp Will Understand’ (laʿallakum taʿqilūn)”. Numen 66 (5–6): 550–79.
This article addresses the Qurʾan in light of Peter Sloterdijk’s etymologically founded understanding and elaboration of askēsis as “training” or “exercise.” Approaching asceticism as a broad cultural phenomenon and not as, for example, renunciation, self-denial, or privation exclusively, the article demonstrates that the Qurʾan is a text characterized by ascetic norms and values. The Qurʾan is an educational project, employing a variety of pedagogical strategies to train its adherents how to think and react in a particular way. Through an outline of four examples of such strategies (the use of “learning terms,” metaphorical language, formulaic repetition, and polemical speech), I argue that the Qurʾan follows other (post-)axial religions in con-structing an ascetic, deliberate, and self-reflexive mental training program for its followers.