Conclusion

This chapter, the conclusion to the book, summarizes its major findings, particularly the necessity for the qur’anic Golden Calf narrative in the Qur’an—and other narratives like it—to be carefully re-evaluated in the light of late antique approaches to biblical stories, particularly as they reflect the apologetic and polemical dynamics informing Jewish and Christian scriptural interpretation in that era. At the same time, scholars must consider the continuing engagements of various communities—Jews, Christians, and now Muslims as well—over questions of chosenness and covenant as they are reflected in the interpretation of both Bible and Qur’an in the centuries after the rise of Islam. Although the Qur’an must be understood as a product of its time and not viewed solely through the lens of later Muslim commentary, Muslim approaches to the narratives of the Bible reinterpreted in the Qur’an must be considered integral to the later development of the larger biblical tradition alongside the Qur’an itself.