text: Let's flip this around for sake of discussion. 
  
  May Catholic scholars study the Quoran; the Quoran is the foundation of the Muslim faith; but these scholars continue to profess Catholicism. Is it your view that these scholars cannot possibly understand the Quoran without becoming Muslim? Are you suggesting that there is something defective in the heart of those scholars because they do not profess Islam?
  
  Ebes, since the mid 18th century, there has been an extraordinary deepening of our understanding of the bible via a scholarly project that involves all Christian denominations, except those that professes fundamentalism (i.e, literal understanding of scripture). One happy result is that seminarians of all faiths generally earn credit for scripture studies regardless the denomination of the professor. 
  
  And, say I, the foundation of this great blessing of the Spirit, is the shared determination to understand scripture as LITERATURE first, in order to deepen our faith understanding.