This collection of essays explores the complex relations between Christians and Muslims at the dawn of the modern age. It begins by examining two seminal works by Nicholas of Cusa: De pace fidei, a dialogue seeking peace among world religions written after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and Cribratio Alkorani (1460-61), an attempt to confirm Gospel truths through a critical reading of the Qur’an. After considering Nicholas, his sources, and his context, the book explores a wider range of late medieval texts on Christian-Muslim relations—not only Christian writings about Islam but also Muslim responses to Christianity. The book’s focus is historical, but it can also contribute to efforts at increasing Muslim-Christian understanding today.
Ian Christopher Levy is Associate Professor of Theology at Providence College in Providence Rhode Island. His work focuses on medieval biblical exegesis, ecclesiology, and sacramental theology. His most recent book is Holy Scripture and the Quest for Authority at the End of the Middles Ages (Notre Dame, 2012).
Rita George-Tvrtković, PhD in theology (2007) University of Notre Dame, is assistant professor of theology at Benedictine University in Illinois. She is author of A Christian Pilgrim in Medieval Iraq: Riccoldo da Montecroce’s Encounter with Islam (Brepols, 2012).
Donald F. Duclow, Ph.D. (1974) is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Gwynedd-Mercy College. He has published widely on the medieval Christian Neoplatonic tradition, including Masters of Learned Ignorance: Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus (Ashgate/Variorum, 2006).
List of Contributors
Foreword by Thomas E. Burman: Nicholas of Cusa and Peter the Venerable’s Request
Editors’ Introduction
Part I: Cusanus and Islam
Morimichi Watanabe: Cusanus, Islam, and Religious Tolerance
Walter Andreas Euler: A Critical Survey of Cusanus’s Writings on Islam
Pim Valkenberg: Una Religio in Rituum Varietate: Religious Pluralism, the Qur’an, and Nicholas of Cusa
Knut Alfsvåg: Divine Difference and Religious Unity: On the Relation Between De Docta Ignorantia, De Pace Fidei and Cribratio Alcorani
Joshua Hollman: Reading De pace fidei Christologically: Nicholas of Cusa’s Verbum Dialectic of Religious Concordance
Felix Resch: The Trinity as a Challenge to Christian-Muslim Dialogue: Nicholas of Cusa’s Philosophical Translation of Trinitarian Faith as a Response to Islamic Rejection
Part II: Historical Perspectives
Rita George-Tvrtković: Deficient Sacraments or Unifying Rites? Alan of Lille, Nicholas of Cusa, and Riccoldo da Montecroce on Muslim and Jewish Praxis
Marica Costigliolo: Perspectives on Islam in Italy and Byzantium in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Jesse D. Mann: Juan de Segovia on the Superiority of Christians over Muslims: Liber de magna auctoritate episcoporum in concilio generali 10.6
Paul Richard Blum: How to Deal with Muslims? Raymond Lull and Ignatius of Loyola
Part III: Muslim Responses to Christianity
Asma Afsaruddin: The Messiah ‘Isa, Son of Mary: Jesus in the Islamic Tradition
Sandra Toenies Keating: Revisiting the Charge of Taḥrīf: The Question of Supersessionism in Early Islam and the Qur’ān
Tamara Albertini: Ibn Ḥazm’s and al-Ghazzālī’s Most Divergent Responses to Christianity: A Question of Epistemology and Hermeneutics
Robert J. Dobie: Jesus in the Muslim and Christian Mystical Traditions: Ibn ‘Arabi and Meister Eckhart
Index
Graduate Students and Professors. Church History, Medieval History, Historical Theology, Christian-Muslim Relations