Introduction to Christian-Muslim Relations in Early Islam

Transcription

1 Introduction to Christian-Muslim Relations in Early Islam Instructor: Office Location: 76 Sherman Street, Building of Faith in Practice Office, second floor Mobile Phone Number: Address: Office Hours: Monday & Tuesday: 10:00 am 1:00 pm Meetings: upon appointment to be agreed upon with the instructor via message. - Course s Structure: this course is structured to be a semester-long enterprise. Its sessions are divided into fourteen weeks. Since it is an introductory course, students are not required to know Arabic language fluently to be able to read and study the required primary texts of the relevant literature. The instructor will provide the students with English translations of all the primary, originally Arabic texts, which the instructor and the students will look at together during the semester. The instructor will, nonetheless, keep the Arabic texts available in his teaching whenever he deems it necessary to draw the class s attention to some theological, philological and philosophical nuances that originate from the translation of the Arabic texts into English. - Course s Description: This course aims at visiting some of the earliest Christian-Muslim theological debates and then looking specifically at the Arabic apologetic theological texts of some of the earliest original theological writers in Arabic, who belonged to the Christians communities of Greater Syria during the Umayyad and Abbasid ears. The course aims at 1

2 taking the students through some of the major theological texts which these Christians wrote in Arabic to defend Christian faith and to respond to critical questions against Christian theology from the Muslims they lived with in the shadow of the Muslim Caliphate. It endeavors to introduce them to the contextual, intellectual and religious sitz im leben these Christians lived in and participated in developing with their Muslim neighbors and how such setting influenced their theological interpretation and representation of their religious faith during that early era of Christian-Muslim history. -Course s Objectives: by the end of the course, students would: 1- acquire basic knowledge on some Christian authors theological discourses in the extant Arabic apologetic texts for early Islamic period. 2- examine if the theological claims of these Christian theologians remain within the orthodox doctrinal stream of thought, or they diverge from it, or even compromise it, sometimes for the sake of making Christian theology acceptable to Islam 3- learn to analyze and interpret the theological content, and reconstruct the dialogical and apologetic strategies, of some exemplary Arabic Christian conversing voices with early Islam. - Course s Object in Relation to the Study Program (MA #1): At the end of the course the students would have the chance to 1- To acquire foundational and critical knowledge of Christian religion. 2- To accumulate knowledge of the practices of Christian religious tradition 3- To acquire knowledge and skills for dialogical and constructive engagement with diversity. Course s Outlines and Sessions Reading Assignments I- Week One: (the Historical and Contextual) Setting - Session. 1: Introducing the Syllabus and the subject of the course - Session. 2: The Middle East in the Seventh Century [ R.R: J. Howard-Johnston, Witnesses to a World Crisis, pp ] 2

3 II- Week Two: - Session. 3: Religiosity in the Pre-Muslim Arab Peninsula [R.R: I. Shahid, Islam and Oriens Christianus: Makka AD, in The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, pp. 9-31; and S. Trimingham, Christianity Among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times, pp ] - Session. 4: the Arab Christians and Islam [R.R: David Thomas, Arab Christianity, in The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity, Ken Parry (ed.), pp. 1-22] III- Week Three: - Session. 5: Christians in the Shadow of Islam [R.R: John Lamoreaux, Early Christian Responses to Islam, in Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam, John V. Tolan (ed.), pp. 3-31] - Session. 6: Some Textual Attitudes on Islam in Early Christian Literatures [R.R: N.G. Awad, Orthodoxy in Arabic Terms, pp ] IV- Week Four: - Session. 7: Philosophy and Greek Heritage in Early Islam [R.R: D. Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, pp ; and John Watt, The Strategy of the Baghdad Philosophers: the Aristotelian Tradition as a Common Motif in Christian and Islamic Thought, in Redefining Christian Identity, J. van Ginkel; H. Murre-van Den Berg and T. Lint (eds.), pp ] - Session. 8 the Beginning of Christian-Muslim Kalām [R.R: Sidney Griffith, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque, Ch. III, p ] V- Week Five: (Christian-Muslim Controversies in Early Islam) Textual Samples - Session. 9: Dialogue between Patriarch John Sedra and a Muslim Amīr [R.R: Michael Penn, John and the Emir: A New Introduction, Edition and translation, in Le Muséon, 121(1-2), pp ] - Session. 10: Dialogue of Umar II and Leo III [R.R: N.A. Newman (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue, pp ] 3

4 VI- Week Six: - Session. 11: John of Damascus on Islam (1) [R.R: D. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam Revisited, in Abr-Nahrain, XXIII ( ), pp.] - Session. 12: John of Damascus on Islam (2) [R.R: John Damascene, the Chapter 100/101 of the De Haeresibus, in John of Damascus on Islam, D. Sahas, pp ] VII- Week Seven: - Session. 13: Dialogue between Patriarch Timothy I and The Caliph al-mahdī (1) [R.R: N.A. Newman (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue, pp ] - Session. 14: Dialogue between Patriarch Timothy I and the Caliph al-mahdī (2) [R.R: N.A. Newman (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue, pp ] VIII- Week Eight: - Session. 15: The Apology of al-kindī and al-hāshimī (1) [R.R: N.A. Newman (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue, pp ] -Session. 16: The Apology of al-kindī and al-hāshimī (2) [R.R: N.A. Newman (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue, pp ] IX- Week Nine: - Session. 17: the Melkite text of On the Triunity of the One God [R.R: On the Triune Nature of God, in An Arabic Version of the Acts of the Apostles and the Seven Catholic Epistles, Margaret D. Gibson (trans & ed.), pp. 2-36] - Session. 18: The Disputation between a Muslim and a Monk of Bēt Ḥālē [R.R: The Disputation between a Muslim and a Monk of Bēt Ḥālē: Syriac Text and Annotated English Translation, in Christsein in der islamischen Welt, David G.K. Taylor (trans. & edi.), pp. 1-42] 4

5 X- Week Ten: - Session. 19: Theodore Abū Qurrah on Islam [R.R: John Lamoreaux, Theodore Abū Qurrah, pp. xi-xxxv; and Lamoreaux, The Biography of Theodore Abū Qurrah Revisited, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 56(2002), pp ] - Session. 20: Abū Qurrah as Philosopher and Translator: His Contribution to the Translation movement XI- Week Eleven: - Session. 21: Abū Qurrah s Maymar, On the Existence of God and the True Religion [R.R: Theodore Abū Qurrah, On the True Religion, in Theodore Abū Qurrah, J. Lamoreaux, Ch.1, Ch. 3-5, pp. 1-25, 41-57] - Session. 22: between Abū Qurrah s Maymar, On the Existence of God and the True Religion and ʽAlī b. Rabbān aṭ-ṭabarī s text, On Religion and State [R.R: ʽAlī b. Rabbān aṭ-ṭabarī, The Book of Religion and Empire, A. Mingana (ed.), pp. 1-19; ] - Week Twelve: - Session. 23: Abū Qurrah s Maymar, On the Trinity [R.R: Theodore Abū Qurrah, On the Trinity, in Theodore Abū Qurrah, J. Lamoreaux, pp Session. 24: Abū Qurrah s Maymar, On Our Salvation [R.R: Theodore Abū Qurrah, On our Salvation, in Theodore Abū Qurrah, J. Lamoreaux, pp ] - Week Thirteen: - Session. 25: Abū Rā iṭah at-takrītī on Islam [R.R: Sandra T. Keating, Defending the People of Truth in the Early Islamic Period, pp ] - Session. 26: Abū Rā iṭah at-takrītī Letter, First Letter on the Holy Trinity [R.R: Sandra T. Keating, Defending the People of Truth in the Early Islamic Period, pp ] 5

6 - Week Fourteen: - Session. 27: Early Christian-Muslim Relations: Continuity or Antagonism? [R.R: M. Penn, Envisioning Islam: Syrian Christians and the Early Muslim World, pp ] - Session. 28: Final Remarks and Evaluation. - Course s Requirements 1) Assigned readings preparation and active class participation (30%): Students are required to read the required texts as thoroughly and perceptively as they can and then to demonstrate an active class participation by coming to the sessions with questions or comments on them and the taught materials therein. 2) Short Weekly Written Tasks (30%): the students will be asked to submit short summary of the main points of discussion that are found in the assigned texts from the literature of Christian Kalam with Islam that we will look at every week. 3) Term Papers (40%): students will be required to write a term paper of 8000 wordslong (approx pages-long, 1.5 space, 12 Time Romans font size and style) on a subject related to the topic of the course and the issues we talked in the sessions and discussed in the studies texts. - Grading Division: 1- reading s preparation and class participation (30%) 2- Short Tasks: (30%) 3- Term paper: (40%) - Grading Criterion Students are graded using the A, B, C, or F system, with + and markings allowed. For purposes of this course, these grades mean: A (95-100) Demonstrates excellent mastery of the subject matter, a superior ability to articulate this, and provides helpful connections to daily life or contemporary issues. Exceeds expectations of the course. A- (90-94) Demonstrates mastery of the subject matter, ability to articulate this well, and makes connections to daily life or contemporary issues. Exceeds expectations of the course. 6

7 B+(87-89) Demonstrates a very good understanding of the subject matter, able to articulate lessons learned in the assignment well. Meets expectations of the course. B (83-86) Demonstrates an understanding of the subject matter and the ability to articulate lessons learned. Meets expectations of the course. B-(80-82) Demonstrates an understanding of the material at hand, has some difficulty articulating this, and basic connection of the material to daily life or contemporary issues/life. Meets basic expectations for the course. C+(77-79) Demonstrates a basic comprehension of the subject matter, weak articulation and connections. Does not meet expectations for the course. C (70-76) Demonstrates a minimal comprehension of the subject matter and has difficulty making connections. Does not meet expectations of the course. F (below 70) Unable to meet the basic requirements of the course. Auditors are welcome to participate in discussion and assignments to the degree they wish and should clarify their intent with the instructor, but their work will not be graded. The students can find their course s grade posted in SONISWEB starting from January 10 th, Additional Policies: 1) Attendance: : Active attendance in class is required. If you know you will be unable to attend a class session please inform the professor in advance. Missing two sessions will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 10%. Missing three or more sessions will result in automatic failure of the course. 3-4 or more absences --- without a serious reason should be an automatic failure. 2) Plagiarism: Academic honesty and integrity are expected of all students. Plagiarism exists when: a) the work submitted was done, in whole or in part, by anyone other than the one submitting the work, b) parts of the work, whether direct quotations, ideas, or data, are taken from another source without acknowledgement, c) the whole work is copied from another source [especially a web based source], or d) significant portions of one s own previous work used in another course. See Plagiarism at 3) Appropriate Classroom Etiquette and Use of Technology: In order to respect the community within the classroom: 1) Mute all cell phones during class; 2) Utilize laptops for the sole purpose of taking class notes. Please do not surf the web, , or other programs during class time. Such use of the computer during class is disrespectful of the class and professor, and may result in lowering your participation grade. 4) Inclusive Language: Hartford Seminary is committed to a policy of inclusion in its academic life and mission. All members of the community are expected to communicate in language that reflects the equality of genders, openness to diverse cultural and theological perspectives, and sensitivity to one another s images of God. 7

8 5) Extensions: Extensions for papers will be given for illnesses or family emergencies only in consultation with the instructor. - Selected Bibliography: The books enlisted here are by no means exhaustive of all the literature on the subject of the course that is available in the field. Students are encouraged to look for other primary and secondary literature and to use every theological book they believe is helpful for their study of the course s subject. Awad, Najib. Orthodoxy in Arabic Terms: A Study of Theodore Abu Qurrah s Theology in its Islamic Context, Berlin: De Gruyter, Beaumont, Mark, Christology in Dialogue with Muslims, Eugene, Or: Wipf & Stock, Bertaina, David. Christian and Muslim Dialogues. Piscataway, NJ: Georgian Press, Cragg, Kenneth. Jesus and the Muslim: An Exploration, Oxford: Oneworld, Cotton, Hannah M; R.G. Hoyland; J.J. Price and D.J. Wasserstein (eds.), From Hellenism to Islam: Cultural and Linguistic Change in the Roman Near East, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Ebied, Rifaat and Herman Teule (eds.), Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage, Leuven: Peeters, Gervers, Michael and Ramzi J. Bikhazi (eds.), Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands, Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries, Ontario: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Haddad, Yvonne Y and Wadi Z. Haddad (eds.), Christian-Muslim Encounters, Gainsville: University Press of Florida, Howard-Johnston, James. Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Hoyland, Robert G. Seeing Islam as Others Saw it: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam, Princeton, JN: Darwin Press, Gibson, Margaret Dunlop, An Arabic Version of the Acts of the Apostles and the Seven Catholic Epistles, London: Cambridge University Press, Griffith, Sidney H. The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, The Beginning of Christian Theology in Arabic: Muslim-Christian Encounters in the Early Islamic Period, Aldershot & Burlington: Ashagte, Gutas, Dimitri. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, New York: Routledge, Kaegi, Walter E. Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Kofsky, Arieh and Guy G. Straumsa (eds.), Sharing the Sacred: religious Contacts and Conflicts in the Holy Land, First-Fifteenth Centuries CE, Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, Lamoreaux, John C. (trans & ed.), Theodore Abū Qurrah, Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press,

9 . The Biography of Theodore Abū Qurrah Revisited, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 56 (2002), pp Lawson, Todd. The Crucifixion and the Qur an: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought, Oxford: Oneworld, Newman, N.A. (ed.), The Early Christian-Muslim Dialogue: A Collection of Documents from the First Three Islamic Centuries ( A.D.). Translations with Commentary, Hatfield, Penn: Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute, Noble, Samuel and Alexander Treiger (eds.), The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, , An Anthology of Sources, DeKalb, IL: NIU, Palmer, Andrew (ed.), The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, Penn, Michael P. Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Renard, John. Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective, Berkeley: University of California Press, Ricks, Thomas W. Early Arabic Christian Contributions to Trinitarian Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Rosseau, P and J. Raithe (eds.), A Companion to Late Antiquity, Chichester: Blackwell Publishers, Samir, Khalil S and Jørgen S. Nielsen (eds.), Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period ( ), Leiden: Brill, Singg, David S (ed.), Jesus and the Incarnation: Reflections of Christians from Islamic Context, Eugene, Or: Wipf & Stock, Sweetman, James W. Islam and Christian Theology, Cambridge: James Clark & Co, Tolan, John V. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination, New York: Columbia University Press, ed., Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam, New York & London: Routledge, Thomas, David (ed.), Christians at the Heart of Islamic Rule, Leiden: Brill, Syrian Christians under Islam, the First Thousand Years, Leiden: Brill, with Emmanouela Grypeou and Mark Swanson (eds.), The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Leiden: Brill, Arab Christianity, in The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity, Ken Parry (ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2010, pp with Barbara Roggema (eds.), Christian-Muslim Relations, a Biographical History, , Leiden: Brill, 2009, Vol. I. Volf, Miroslav. Allah: A Christian Response, New York: HarperCollins, Wolfson, Harry A. The Philosophy of Kalam, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, Zahniser, Mathias H. The Mission & Death of Jesus in Islam & Christianity, Maryknoll: Orbis Books,