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In 1992, Alif, the journal of comparative poetics based in Cairo, published an extensive dialogue with Father Matta El-Meskeen, the renowned Coptic Orthodox monk, theologian, and scholar of patristic literature, celebrating the publication of his seminal work in theology, Commentary on the Gospel of John (1990), in three volumes. Three distinguished intellectual figures partook in the dialogue with Fr. Matta including Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, Islamic thinker, and scholar of the Quran; Gaber Asfour, the renowned literary critic; and lastly, Hoda Wasfy, renowned theater critic and a professor of French literature at Cairo University. In his talk, Fouad Halbouni will focus on two interlocutors in conversation, Fr. Matta El-Meskeen and Nasr Abu Zeid respectively, in their different approaches to the hermeneutic traditions of exegesis and allegorical interpretation between orthodox Christianity and Islam by seeking to address the following set of questions: How do the two interlocutors explain the relation between holy scripture, exegete, and revelation in the context of their conversation and within the larger framework of their respective works? How do their own vocations as forms of life, as monk and scholar of Islam respectively, reflect their own understanding of interpretation of holy scripture and their approach to language and interpretation?