Since John Wansbrough,Footnote ¹ Qur'anic studies seems, at times, to have both developed greatly, and at times, made little progress. There are thus two trends that drive the field. On the one hand, there is indeed an incredible quantity of publications on the study of Qur'anic exegesis. In this particular subfield, advances are considerable since the 1980s, and we can claim a more precise knowledge of the exegetes, their methods and contexts. On the other hand, there is little critical-historical knowledge of the Qur'an itself. At this point, there is the risk of redundancy that brings irrelevant material and writings to Qur'anic studies, such as the study of theology, law, or intellectual history. A possible solution to this problem would be to be sure to set clear boundaries for Qur'anic studies to study the Qur'an (and not the study of all that interacted with the Qur'an, which is about everything that happened in the Islamic world for the last fifteen centuries).

A particularly encouraging sign of the development of the field is perhaps the investment in collective enterprises that create a synergy between different scholars who focus on various aspects of the Qur'an. In this regard, the Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies stands as an excellent collective effort to provide a state-of-the-art analysis in studies on the Qur'an as a literary text, its history and its interaction with diverse fields of Islamic knowledge (Islamic theology, Arabic literature, arts, etc.)

The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies is divided into eight parts. Part 1 offers four accounts of the state of Qur'anic studies and the academic debates on Islamic origins and the Qur'an. Part 2 examines the historical context of the Qur'an, focusing on various settings (the linguistic landscape, the Arabian context, the late Antiquity background, Judeo-Christian influences). Part 3 carries on the historical study of the Qur'an by addressing the issues of transmission, corpus of Qur'anic readings, codification, manuscripts, inscriptions, and printed editions. Part 4 investigates the structural and literary dimensions of the Qur'an, with particular interest in the language of the Qur'an (its vocabulary, syntax, and rhetoric) in addition to the Qur'an's interactions with history, theology, the Arabic literary tradition, and Arabic poetry. Part 5 draws on the uses of the Qur'an in a range of disciplines including theology, law, ethics, and politics. Part 6 is concerned with translations of the Qur'an in both the Western and the Islamicate worlds. Parts 7 and 8 are dedicated to Qur'anic exegesis, covering medieval as well as modern exegetes of the Qur'an.

This book offers indeed an encyclopedic outlook to Qur'anic studies (packing much that needed to be paid attention to in the field in only 860 pages, not counting the indices). Its method is also informative, presenting in brief chapters the important issues, scholars, and controversies at stake in each of the covered topics. This is immensely helpful for students and young scholars of religious studies. Yet, more advanced scholars might be annoyed by some imbalances in the book, mainly that it dedicates thirty-two chapters to Qur'anic exegesis and only nine chapters to the Qur'an as text, as well as twelve chapters to its history. For this reason, one cannot help but note how the critical-historical dimension is neglected in the book in favor of a more content-literary approach. This brings us back to defining the field of Qur'anic studies and whether it should cover What the Qur'an is and how it was made or rather What was said about the Qur'an.

The indices of Qur'anic verses, Bible references, prophetic traditions, places, and people are much appreciated. Furthermore, the generous titles, offered on almost every page, and the extensive bibliography, at the end of each chapter, make reading this volume easy and productive. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to students and scholars of religious studies.