JWST 36.04 The Qur'an in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century
Since the dramatic emergence of the Arab Empire in the seventh century, Byzantium and the emerging Europe were engaged in warfare, polemics, trade and a fruitful cultural exchange with Muslim polities and societies. This course is dedicated to Christian Europeans’ engagement with the Qur’an from the twelfth century to the twentieth. The reasons Europeans read the “Alcoran” or “Turkish Bible” and the consequences of this perusal were as varied as their political, commercial, military and cultural encounters with the Muslim world. From the despised object of heated polemics, to a storehouse of philosophical and religious wisdom and a masterpiece of world literature, Europe’s centuries-long engagement with and re-assessment of the Qur’an is a fascinating chapter in the history of Western thought. In addition to its pivotal importance for understanding the history of Christian-Muslim relations, it offers us a unique vantage-point to study several developments in the religious and intellectual history of Christian Europe and both its pre-modern and modern approaches to religion, culture and non-Christians in Europe and beyond.