67manage it. This is why the approach of a group like
the Islamic State holds a certain intellectual appeal
(which, admittedly, sounds strange to say) because
the most straightforward reading of scripture sug-
gests that Allah advises jihadists to take sex slaves
from among the conquered, decapitate their ene-
mies, and so forth.
Imagine that a literalist and a moderate have
gone to a restaurant for lunch, and the menu prom-
ises “fresh lobster” as the specialty of the house.
Loving lobster, the literalist simply places his order
and waits. The moderate does likewise, but claims
to be entirely comfortable with the idea that the
lobster might not really be a lobster after all—
perhaps it’s a goose! And, what ever it is, it need not
be “fresh” in any conventional sense— for the mod-
erate understands that the meaning of this term
shifts according to the context. This would be a
very strange attitude to adopt toward lunch, but it
is even stranger when considering the most im por-
tant questions of existence— what to live for, what
to die for, and what to kill for. Consequently, the
appeal of literalism isn’t diffi cult to see. Human be-
ings refl exively demand it in almost every area of
their lives. It seems to me that religious people, to
Bereitgestellt von | New York University Bobst Library Technical Services
Angemeldet