Books of Mercy

Abstract

This contribution examines how the discourse of mercy reshapes the understanding of God’s names in the Bible and the Qurʾan at decisive historical-theological turning points. In the Bible, Exodus 34:6–7 reveals a foundational articulation of the divine name in which mercy and justice are held in tension but asymmetrically ordered, while Hosea 11 dramatizes a reversal in which God’s heart turns against his own wrath. A comparable dynamic appears in the Qurʾan, where the divine name al-Raḥmān and its articulation in the Basmala foreground mercy as God’s primary attribute. The article argues that these constellations reconfigure divine authority and give it a decisive affective tone. Moreover, in both traditions, final judgment can be understood performatively: as in Matthew 25 or Q 39:54–55, it addresses believers and readers, seeking to transform their conduct in the light of mercy, which thus emerges as a hermeneutical key shaping revelation and religious imagination.