About the Podcast:
- Does the Qur’an only invite us to think, or does its message also create an emotional state?
- Are there emotional plots within the Qur’an?
- What role do emotions like fear and hope play in religious experience and the Qur’anic message?
In this episode, we explore the profound emotional trajectories within the Qur’an with leading scholar Dr Karen Bauer. She takes us on a journey through the profound emotional landscapes within the Qur’anic paradigm. From the roles of fear and hope in shaping religious experience to the unexpected emotional vulnerability of the prophets, we explore how the Qur’anic text masterfully orchestrates human feelings to create inner transformation.
Drawing from her groundbreaking research on emotional rhetoric in Islamic texts, Dr. Bauer reveals how the Qur’an constructs sophisticated emotional plots that mirror and shape the believer’s spiritual journey. We examine the heart (qalb) as both the seat of perception and feeling, exploring how emotions function not merely as reactions but as essential modes of religious knowledge and moral orientation. Together, we discuss how emotions are portrayed throughout scripture and how the Qur’an evokes powerful emotional responses in its listeners. We discuss how emotions connect internal spiritual states with external ethical action, and how this emotional architecture shapes the Qur’anic vision of what it means to be fully human. Through close textual analysis of key narratives and verses, Dr. Bauer demonstrates how the Qur’an doesn’t just communicate doctrines but creates affective experiences designed to move the listener from intellectual assent to embodied transformation.
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Learn More About Our Guest:
Dr Karen Bauer is an Associate Professor in Qur’anic Studies at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. A Princeton PhD, she is celebrated for her work on gender, emotional rhetoric, and hermeneutics in the Qur’an. Her recent publications include Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an (2023) and Gender Hierarchy in the Qur’an (2015). Dr Bauer blends medieval scholarship with contemporary insights through meticulous textual analysis and fieldwork.
Read More of Her Insights:
Bauer, K. (2024) ‘Qur’anic Happiness: Feelings as Moral Understanding in Late Antiquity’ in The Routledge History of Happiness. London: Routledge.
Bauer, K. (2023) Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bauer, K. (2015) Gender Hierarchy in the Qur’an: Medieval Interpretations, Modern Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bauer, K. (2013) ‘Emotion in the Qur’an: An Overview’ in Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 15(2), pp. 1-30.
