Quranic Cultures: Text, Reception, and Society

The inaugural issue of Quranic Cultures: Text, Reception, and Society brings together six scholarly contributions that explore the Qur’an as text, lived experience, cultural expression, and a dynamic source of meaning within contemporary society. The issue opens with a discussion of the Living Qur’an as a global research paradigm, followed by an examination of reception theory and the transformation of Qur’anic meaning across diverse cultural contexts. It then turns to the vernacularization of the Qur’an in Southeast Asia, focusing on translation, local languages, and processes of cultural transmission and the construction of Qur’anic cultures. The issue further addresses emerging questions of religious authority in the digital age through the study of digital Qur’an, artificial intelligence, and new forms of Qur’anic interpretation. Finally, it considers Qur’anic ethics in relation to contemporary society, particularly the possibilities of reimagining social justice beyond conventional textual interpretation. Collectively, these contributions reflect the journal’s commitment to advancing interdisciplinary and context-sensitive approaches to Qur’anic studies by connecting textual scholarship with reception, culture, technology, ethics, and social transformation.