Shia Quranic studies in the international academia have been mainly influenced by two main currents: contextualism and phenomenology. The contextualism current, relying on historical-critical methods and philology, analyzes the verses of the Quran in the historical, cultural, and social context of the period of revelation and attempts to recognize and reinterpret Shia teachings in light of the conditions of time and place. In contrast, the phenomenology current, emphasizing religious experience and the nature of the sacred, offers a philosophical and semantic approach to the Quran and Shia teachings that relies on symbolic language, mythology, and the analysis of religious experiences. This article, by examining the theoretical foundations, methods, and assumptions of these two currents, evaluates and criticizes their epistemological and methodological approaches in Shia Quranic studies. Inherent doubts in the methods used, limitations in understanding revelation, the limitation of a purely descriptive approach, neglect of the true nature of religion, and lack of attention to historical and cultural contexts are among the most important challenges of the contextualist and phenomenological movements.