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It has been customary to see the Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) as a vehement critic of philosophy, who rejected it in favour of Islamic mysticism (Sufism), a view which has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. This book argues that al-Ghazali was, instead, one of the greatest popularisers of philosophy in medieval Islam. The author supplies new evidence showing that al-Ghazali was indebted to philosophy in his theory of mystical cognition and his eschatology, and that, moreover, in these two areas he accepted even those philosophical teachings which he ostensibly criticized. Through careful translation into English and detailed discussion of more than 80 key pass...
This volume tells the story of the Arabic translations of the Church Fathers. By tracing the history of major translation centres, such as Palestine, Sinai, and Antioch, it describes how Middle Eastern Christians translated into Arabic, preserved, and engaged with their Patristic heritage. In addition to well-known authors, such as Gregory of Nazianzus, Ephrem the Syrian, and Dionysius the Areopagite, the volume presents a Patristic treatise written in Greek but preserved only in Arabic: the Noetic Paradise. Finally, by reconstructing a lost Arabic Dionysian paraphrase used by the Muslim theologian al-Ghazali, the volume explores Patristic influences on Islamic thought.
King David if one of the most central figures in all of the major monotheistic traditions. He generally connotes the heroic past of the (more imagined than real) ancient Israelite empire and is associated with messianic hopes for the future. Nevertheless, his richly ambivalent and fascinating literary portrayal in the Hebrew Bible is one of the most complex of all biblical characters. This volume aims at taking a new, critical look at the process of biblical creation and subsequent exegetical transformation of the character of David and his attributed literary composition (the Psalms), with particular emphasis put on the multilateral fertilization and cross-cultural interchanges among Jews, Christians and Muslims.
What happened to ancient Greek thought after Antiquity? What impact did Abrahamic religions have on medieval Byzantine and Islamic scholars who adapted and reinvigorated this ancient philosophical heritage? Reason and Revelation in Byzantine Antioch tackles these questions by examining the work of the eleventh-century Christian theologian Abdallah ibn al-Fadl, who undertook an ambitious program of translating Greek texts, ancient and contemporary, into Arabic. Poised between the Byzantine Empire that controlled his home city of Antioch and the Arabic-speaking cultural universe of Syria-Palestine, Egypt, Aleppo, and Iraq, Ibn al-Fadl engaged intensely with both Greek and Arabic philosophy, science, and literary culture. Challenging the common narrative that treats Christian and Muslim scholars in almost total isolation from each other in the Middle Ages, Alexandre M. Roberts reveals a shared culture of robust intellectual curiosity in the service of tradition that has had a lasting role in Eurasian intellectual history.
Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition offers recent findings on the reception, translation and use of the Bible in Arabic among Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims from the early Islamic era to the present day. In this volume, edited by Miriam L. Hjälm, scholars from different fields have joined forces to illuminate various aspects of the Bible in Arabic: it depicts the characteristics of this abundant and diverse textual heritage, describes how the biblical message was made relevant for communities in the Near East and makes hitherto unpublished Arabic texts available. It also shows how various communities interacted in their choice of shared terminology and topics, and how Arabic Bible translations moved from one religious community to another. Contributors include: Amir Ashur, Mats Eskhult, Nathan Gibson, Dennis Halft, Miriam L. Hjälm, Cornelia Horn, Naḥem Ilan, Rana H. Issa, Geoffrey K. Martin, Roy Michael McCoy III, Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Meirav Nadler-Akirav, Sivan Nir, Meira Polliack, Arik Sadan, Ilana Sasson, David Sklare, Peter Tarras, Alexander Treiger, Frank Weigelt, Vevian Zaki, Marzena Zawanowska.
The Studia Philonica Annual is a scholarly journal devoted to the study of Hellenistic Judaism, particularly the writings and thought of the Hellenistic-Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria (circa 15 BCE to circa 50 CE).
Wisdom on the Move explores the complexity and flexibility of wisdom traditions in Late Antiquity and beyond. This book studies how sayings, maxims and expressions of spiritual insight travelled across linguistic and cultural borders, between different religions and milieus, and how this multicultural process reshaped these sayings and anecdotes. Wisdom on the Move takes the reader on a journey through late antique religious traditions, from manuscript fragments and folios via the monastic cradle of Egypt, across linguistic and cultural barriers, through Jewish and Biblical wisdom, monastic sayings, and Muslim interpretations. Particular attention is paid to the monastic Apophthegmata Patrum, arguably the most important genre of wisdom literature in the early Christian world.
There are hundreds of books on Islam; after all, it is the second largest religion on the planet. Few, however, are the books written by Christian scholars of Islam who live and work in Muslim-majority countries. Here lies the value of this current volume. It addresses Islam, Islamic history, Islamic theology, and Christian-Muslim relations from global Christian perspectives where contributors describe experiences and narratives of conversations, obstacles, cohabitation, understanding, and cooperative efforts between Christians and Muslims in a variety of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian nations, including Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Lebanon, and Nigeria. This book treats Islam academically and from a Christian standpoint. Authors discuss historical interactions between Christians and Muslims and, where relevant, current avenues for work for the common good.
Paul of Aleppo, an archdeacon of the Church of Antioch, journeyed with his father Patriarch Makarios III ibn al-Za'im to Constantinople, Moldavia, Wallachia and the Cossack's lands in 1652-1654, before heading for Moscow. This book presents his travel notes, preceded by his record of the patriarchs of the Church of Antioch and the story of his father's office as a bishop and election to the patriarchal seat. The author gives detailed information on the contemporary events in Ottoman Syria and provides rich and diverse information on the history, culture, and religious life of all the lands he travelled across.
The First Islamic Reviver presents a new biography of al-Ghazali's final decade and a half, presenting him not as a reclusive spiritual seeker, but as an engaged Islamic revivalist seeking to reshape his religious tradition.