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John of Damascus and Islam
Christian Heresiology and the Intellectual Background to Earliest Christian-Muslim Relations
Series: - The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Volume: 34
Author:
How did Islam come to be considered a Christian heresy? In this book, Peter Schadler outlines the intellectual background of the Christian Near East that led John, a Christian serving in the court of the caliph in Damascus, to categorize Islam as a heresy. Schadler shows that different uses of the term heresy persisted among Christians, and then demonstrates that Johnâs assessment of the beliefs and practices of Muslims has been mistakenly dismissed on assumptions he was highly biased. The practices and beliefs John ascribes to Islam have analogues in the Islamic tradition, proving that John may well represent an accurate picture of Islam as he knew it in the seventh and eighth centuries in Syria and Palestine.
Peter F. Schadler, D.Phil (2011), University of Oxford, is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Dickinson College. He has published articles on Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Relations, early Christian Hagiographical Methodology, and early Christian conceptions of Conciliar Authority in the Eastern Roman Empire and Near East.
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Heresy and Heresiology in Late Antiquity
âProblems in Associating Islam with Heresy
âManichaeism: The Exception that Proves the Rule
âHeresy as Opposition to the Church
âOther Understandings of Heresy in Late Antiquity
âEarly Christian Use of Heresiology
âThe Demonic Nature of Heresy
âHeresy as the Result of Philosophical Speculation
âOther Typical Traits of Heresiology
2 Aspects of the Intellectual Background
âThe Encyclopedism of Christian Palestine
âHeresiology as History?
âThe Sociological Imperative to Institution Building as a Force for Islamâs Inclusion
âFrom Heresiology to Panarion and from Panarion to Anacephalaeosis: The Shifting Nature of Heresiology
âJohn of Damascus and non-Christian Philosophy
âThe Definition of Heresy in Johnâs Works
âDemons and the Heresiology of John
3 The Life of John of Damascus, His Use of the Qurʾan, and the Quality of His Knowledge of Islam
âThe Life of John of Damascus
âJohn of Damascus and Arabic
âThe Qurʾan and its Apparent Use Among Christians
âJohn of Damascus and the Qurʾan
âAnastasius of Sinai and the Qurʾan
âThe Alleged Leo-Umar Correspondence
âLives of the Prophets and Other Sources
4 Islamic and Para-Islamic Traditions
âScholarly Accounts of Early Islam
âRevisionist Islamic Studies and its Antecedents
âContemporary Islamic Studies
âJohn of Damascus, the Black Stone, and the Kaâba
âThe Kaâba, the Black Stone, and the MaqÄm IbrÄhÄ«m in the Islamic Tradition
âAn Untraditional Perspective
âThe Damasceneâs Observations Given the Untraditional Perspective
âRivers in Paradise
âThe Monk and an-Nasara
âFemale Circumcision
âPillars of Faith
5 John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah on Islam
âProblems Authenticating Abu Qurrahâs Greek Corpus
âTheodore Abu Qurrah on Islam
âTheodore, the Qurʾan, and Muhammad
âThe Arian Monk
âTheodore and Heresy
âTheodore and John: Some Differences and Conclusions
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Greek Text and English Translation of âOn Heresies 100â
Appendix 2: Potential Qurʾanic References in âOn Heresies 100â
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Heresy and Heresiology in Late Antiquity
âProblems in Associating Islam with Heresy
âManichaeism: The Exception that Proves the Rule
âHeresy as Opposition to the Church
âOther Understandings of Heresy in Late Antiquity
âEarly Christian Use of Heresiology
âThe Demonic Nature of Heresy
âHeresy as the Result of Philosophical Speculation
âOther Typical Traits of Heresiology
2 Aspects of the Intellectual Background
âThe Encyclopedism of Christian Palestine
âHeresiology as History?
âThe Sociological Imperative to Institution Building as a Force for Islamâs Inclusion
âFrom Heresiology to Panarion and from Panarion to Anacephalaeosis: The Shifting Nature of Heresiology
âJohn of Damascus and non-Christian Philosophy
âThe Definition of Heresy in Johnâs Works
âDemons and the Heresiology of John
3 The Life of John of Damascus, His Use of the Qurʾan, and the Quality of His Knowledge of Islam
âThe Life of John of Damascus
âJohn of Damascus and Arabic
âThe Qurʾan and its Apparent Use Among Christians
âJohn of Damascus and the Qurʾan
âAnastasius of Sinai and the Qurʾan
âThe Alleged Leo-Umar Correspondence
âLives of the Prophets and Other Sources
4 Islamic and Para-Islamic Traditions
âScholarly Accounts of Early Islam
âRevisionist Islamic Studies and its Antecedents
âContemporary Islamic Studies
âJohn of Damascus, the Black Stone, and the Kaâba
âThe Kaâba, the Black Stone, and the MaqÄm IbrÄhÄ«m in the Islamic Tradition
âAn Untraditional Perspective
âThe Damasceneâs Observations Given the Untraditional Perspective
âRivers in Paradise
âThe Monk and an-Nasara
âFemale Circumcision
âPillars of Faith
5 John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah on Islam
âProblems Authenticating Abu Qurrahâs Greek Corpus
âTheodore Abu Qurrah on Islam
âTheodore, the Qurʾan, and Muhammad
âThe Arian Monk
âTheodore and Heresy
âTheodore and John: Some Differences and Conclusions
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Greek Text and English Translation of âOn Heresies 100â
Appendix 2: Potential Qurʾanic References in âOn Heresies 100â
Bibliography
Index
All interested in the history of Christian-Muslim Relations, Christian Heresiology and Christian Theology of Islam, and early Christian understanding of Islam.