Dear Abdullah,

Indeed when you are studying religious texts, a qualitative study would be beneficial. However, you do not choose method BEFORE deciding what you intend to study. If the nature of your study demands the use of qualitative methods, go ahead, and use it.

Unless you know what you are going to study (The nature of your inquiry), you can't decide what methods you would be using.

The specific discipline that addresses the quantitative and qualitative study of texts through computer software is called Corpus Linguistics. In order to develop a quantitative and qualitative analysis more focused on text (regardless of its type, there are different software tools in various websites. The most popular one is Sketchengine, as the price for a monthly subscription is very low and the working engine is the most complete. https://www.sketchengine.eu/ There are other programs like Monoconc (subscription), Wordsmith (suscription), Casualconc (free but only for mac) or Antconc (free). Best wishes, Joaquín Gris

Dear Joaquín Gris Martínez

Thanks for your reply.

The central point in this issue is that we believe that the religious text has special features, which prompt us to consider a special version of the qualitative analysis appropriate to analyze this text and reach the desired results within a variety of methodological combinations.

On the other hand, I am not one of those who see the use of analytical software in qualitative research. I remember that I opposed that during my PhD studies at the University of Manchester about two decades ago. Fortunately, my supervisor (Tudor Rickards Tudor Rickards ) was supportive of my point of view, which made me analyze my qualitative data in the traditional manual way.

Regards

It is interesting that hermeneutics (as a way of reading) started with the interpretation of religious texts, in the Judaic-Christian tradition, esp. the Bible. Contemporary versions (Gadamer, Ricoeur) are especially interested in the problem of understanding the otherness of texts - or of the world they reveal or construct - conscious also of the Self's (ours, the reader's) own identity and points of departure. But I agree with the point that the question or preoccupation - what 'bugs' me - comes first before we seek the appropriate method, though the nature of the object - here the religious text - is also important. Interesting that Ricoeur was also a Christian and a theologian.

What is that we want to analyse the religious text for?

Dear Richard Johnson

Many thanks for this enrichment. In theory, it is assumed that we do not specify any field for analyzing the religious text, as it is open to many possibilities.

Let us make this dependent on the extent of our need on the universal aspects or cultural ones, according to our specializations.

For example, I think we urgently need to analyze this text in epistemology, as well as in sociology. Some time ago, I completed research on the analysis of the Quranic text in the epistemological context by applying the qualitative method to an unexamined topic of ignorance, and came to conclusions that may be interesting, and expanded on their analysis in a sociological context. Perhaps this research will be published soon.

Regards

In a very general sense, I believe that it is very important to look at the political, economic, and even ecological tones or content of any religious text. Regardless of the 'cannonicity' of a text, we must consider the nature of its recorder, and the times within which such person lived. Within the story of Noah and the curse upon Canaan, for example, we see a clearly political telling of a more universal story. The version told by the Israelites puts the 'problem' and thus the 'curse' on Ham and Canaan- who are believed by the Israelites to be the ancestors of the Egyptians-- from whom they believed that they had escaped after over 400 years of slavery. Whether one considers this story 'literal', or not, we know other forms of the story exist in which this curse is NOT part of the narrative- therefore, this narrative must be meaningful. I strongly argue that many religious texts contain not only 'the Word of God', but also the political economic, ecological, and other concerns of their original writers- and must be considered in that light, as well as in the light of faith.

Thank you so much Thomas E. Lehman .

This is an important point. One of the most unique features of qualitative research is that it is contextual in its epistemology and methodology. The researcher chooses the factors he focuses on. They may be sociological, cultural, or political factors, and perhaps a mixture of them.

Regards