14263

WiSe 17/18: (S) Material Culture / Social History

Dr. Krisztina Szilagyi

Comments

Religion was a common topic of conversation in the medieval Middle East, in both spontaneous and organized form. Scholars of different backgrounds visited each other and corresponded to discuss, among other subjects, religion. Within the walls of palaces, Muslim notables, emirs, viziers, even caliphs occasionally entertained and educated themselves with sessions of religious debates. To such events they invited not only Muslims of various stripes, but Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and others as well. These encounters left manifold traces in the literary record: numerous treatises of theologians attacking other religions and defending their own survive, as do correspondences on religious topics and accounts of religious disputations. Few of these texts were written from the position of ignorance; some in fact evince knowledge of astonishing detail and accuracy about other religions. Muslim authors cite the Bible and discuss questions of Christology, while Christians and Jews quote the Qur’an and reveal familiarity with Islamic law and history. In this course, we will study the phenomenon of debating religion in the medieval Middle East through the Arabic writings of Muslims, Jews and Christians. We will discuss the social and intellectual context of the debates, and the technique and education of the disputants. We will examine topics recurrent in medieval texts, such as attitudes to the scriptures of others, debates about the definition of true religion, about foundational narratives, doctrines and practices. We will conclude with a glance at the changes modernity andReligion was a common topic of conversation in the medieval Middle East, in both spontaneous and organized form. Scholars of different backgrounds visited each other and corresponded to discuss, among other subjects, religion. Within the walls of palaces, Muslim notables, emirs, viziers, even caliphs occasionally entertained and educated themselves with sessions of religious debates. To such events they invited not only Muslims of various stripes, but Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and others as well. These encounters left manifold traces in the literary record: numerous treatises of theologians attacking other religions and defending their own survive, as do correspondences on religious topics and accounts of religious disputations. Few of these texts were written from the position of ignorance; some in fact evince knowledge of astonishing detail and accuracy about other religions. Muslim authors cite the Bible and discuss questions of Christology, while Christians and Jews quote the Qur’an and reveal familiarity with Islamic law and history. In this course, we will study the phenomenon of debating religion in the medieval Middle East through the Arabic writings of Muslims, Jews and Christians. We will discuss the social and intellectual context of the debates, and the technique and education of the disputants. We will examine topics recurrent in medieval texts, such as attitudes to the scriptures of others, debates about the definition of true religion, about foundational narratives, doctrines and practices. We will conclude with a glance at the changes modernity and westernization, and more recently globalization and online communication wrought on debating religion. close