DOCSLIB.ORG

Religious Studies and the Study of Islam: Mutual Misperceptions, Shared Promises

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Religious Studies and the Study of Islam: Mutual Misperceptions, Shared Promises CHRISTIAN LANGE Religious Studies and the Study of Islam: Mutual Misperceptions, Shared Promises ABSTRACT The relationship between scholars working in the field of Islamic Studies and those affiliating themselves with Religious Studies (in the Netherlands, but also beyond) is plagued by a number of mutual misperceptions. These misperceptions should, and in fact can, be overcome. To argue this point, I (1) sketch the institutional framework of Islamic and Religious Studies in the Netherlands; (2) discuss a current area of fruitful interaction, viz., the study of Islamic ritual; and (3) end by some methodological reflections on future possibilities for collaboration between the two disciplines. In recent decades, the relationship between scholars working in the field of Islamic Studies and those affiliating themselves with Religious Studies (in the Netherlands, but also beyond) has been plagued by a number of mutual misperceptions.1 These misperceptions, as I argue in this essay, should, and in fact can, be overcome. After sketching the disciplinary and institutional framework in which the (at times uneasy) cohabitation of Religious Studies and Islamic Studies is embedded in the current Dutch context, I discuss the example of an area in Islamic Studies in which, to my mind, fertile cross-overs into the literature produced by scholars operating in Religious Studies are already happening and in fact commonplace: the area of Islamic ritual. The essay closes with a consideration of some of the methodological challenges to Islamic Studies recently raised by the late Shahab Ahmed, and with an analysis of how these challenges may stimulate a further rapprochement between the two disciplines. Mutual misperceptions The first misperception I want to address is that Islamic Studies is currently at the receiving end of a disproportional interest by Dutch politicians and _____________ 1 This essay is a revised and enlarged version of a talk I gave at the symposium ‘Past Trajectories – New Directions: The Study of Religion Today’ (Utrecht University, 18 September 2013), organized by Birgit Meyer, Christoph Baumgartner, and myself. I thank the two guest editors of this special issue of the NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, Birgit Meyer and Arie L. Molendijk, for allowing me to publish this piece in the conversational style in which it was originally presented. www.ntt-online.nl NTT 71/1, 2017, 31-43 Guest (guest) IP: 170.106.33.14 32 CHRISTIAN LANGE university administrators. This sentiment is not merely the stuff of whispers on university corridors. Rather, it is articulated openly. For example, the chair of the ministry-appointed committee charged in 2012 with evaluating the research of the Theology and Religious Studies departments in six Dutch universities told the Reformatorisch Dagblad that there is an ‘exaggerated interest’ (overdreven aandacht) in Islamic Studies in the Netherlands, at the cost of the study of the Christian tradition. ‘The number of degrees in Islamic Studies increases’, he mused, ‘but why? Is this to do with the Dutch situation, or do we study Islam because it somehow also matters? So, a separate department of Islamic Studies is created, because “that is also important”.’2 The difficulties involved in participating in, let alone chairing, an evaluation committee whose unenviable task it is to rank academic sister departments are easily fathomed, and my intention here is not to criticize the committee in question, which in my eyes acquitted itself rather admirably of its responsibility, or its chair, who, it should be noted, made the above-quoted comment on a personal basis. Nor do I mean to point a finger at scholars active in the study of the Christian tradition, of whom the interviewee happens to be a representative. Scholars rooted in the Study of Religion (understood, in this context, as a nomothetic and comparative enterprise) have issued similar statements. For example, the organizers of the symposium titled ‘Past trajectories - new directions: The Study of Religion today’ (Utrecht, 18 September 2013) announced in their call that the ‘new orientation toward Islam… occurs often at the expense of research expertise with regard to other religious traditions, including Christianity’. This is a formulation that strikes a more factual, sober tone (note that the notion that there is an ‘exaggerated’ interest in Islam is absent). In fact, arguably, this is not an altogether inaccurate description of the dynamics that shape the study of religion in Western universities in the early 21st century. However, as I hope the following comments will make clear, it is still a case of getting the emphasis wrong. Theology and Religious Studies programs in the Netherlands, like so many of their cognate disciplines in the humanities, are prey to political and financial strictures and pressures. What transpired at the University of Utrecht in 2011, when the department of theology was forced to close its gates—officially, because of an anticipated regression of numbers of students and in response to _____________ 2 See Reformatorisch Dagblad, 10 July 2013, ‘Internationale commissie: Positie theologie Nederlandse universiteiten beter doordenken’, http://www.refdag.nl/kerkplein/kerknieuws/internationale_commissie- _positie_theologie_nederlandse_universiteiten_beter_doordenken_1_753263, accessed 23 May 2016. NTT 71/1, 2017, 31-43 www.ntt-online.nl RELIGIOUS STUDIES AND THE STUDY OF ISLAM 33 the nationwide move towards bundling small areas of research and teaching in single universities (Dt. profilering) —, is a telling example.3 The worry that underlies statements such as the ones quoted above is therefore real. The fallacy, however, is to measure this perceived crisis against the trajectory of Islamic Studies in the Western academy. It is unnecessary here to dwell on the fact that Islam does deserve more rather than less scholarly interest, and that this can be shown to be true by considering the number of Muslims living among us in Western Europe, the conversion rate to Islam in Europe and on other continents, particularly Africa, or indeed the geopolitical and economic strategic interest of Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. Nor will I labour the obvious point that it is not the intention of scholars of Islam to swamp out other religionists from the academy. Rather, what I would like to foreground here is that Islamic Studies is not a post-9/11 fad. It has not grown suddenly over night to replace other disciplines. Here I take a broad view of Islamic Studies as a field of academic research and teaching that includes area studies of the Islamic world (defined as those parts of the world in which Muslims are culturally dominant, or live in sizeable immigrant communities), including the affiliated linguistic, social scientific, historical, and art historical disciplines, next to the study of Islamic religion in the narrow sense (however one is to conceive of Islam-as-religion, a question on which I will have more to say in the following text). For convenience, I call those scholars whose primary academic affiliation is with this field ‘Islamicists’ (kindly note the difference with ‘Islamists’). Islamicists have a keen awareness and appreciation of the history of Islamic Studies as an autonomous discipline.4 The Chair of Arabic at Leiden University was established in 1613; four years ago, the Leiden University Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies section celebrated its 400th anniversary. In Europe, the emancipation of Islamic Studies from Theology, as whose handmaiden it came into being, occurred as early as the 18th century, when scholars like the German Johann Jakob Reiske (d. 1774) began to develop and defend an interest in Arabic literature for its own sake, divorced from the role such knowledge could play in theological disputes with, or polemics against, Islam. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, who died in 1936, a professor in Leiden and a Dutch giant of Islamic Studies, famously defended _____________ 3 See Reformatorisch Dagblad, 31 January 2012, ‘Opleiding theologie in Utrecht verdwijnt’, http://www.refdag.nl/kerkplein/kerknieuws/opleiding_theologie_in_utrecht_verdwijnt_1_619466, accessed 23 May 2016. 4 On the history of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Netherlands, see the beautifully produced volume by A. Vrolijk, R. van Leeuwen, Arabic Studies in the Netherlands: A Short History, Leiden 2014. www.ntt-online.nl NTT 71/1, 2017, 31-43 34 CHRISTIAN LANGE the idea of Islamic Studies as a comprehensive discipline that has as its object the entirety of cultural expressions of Islamic civilization, much akin to what his German colleague, the Orientalist and Prussian minister of education, C.H. Becker (d. 1933), propounded as the kulturwissenschaftliche approach to the study of Islam.5 In sum, the suggestion that Islamic Studies in the Western academy, at the beginning of the 21st century, blossoms suddenly and somewhat coincidentally strikes me as a misrepresentation of the history of the discipline. It would be more accurate (though still not entirely true to facts, as will be explained below) to say that Islamic Studies is showing some signs of recovering from a period in the second half of the 20th century in which it was sidelined in Western humanities. In the 1990s, certainly in Germany, where I began to study Islam, Islamic Studies eked out a modest existence at the margin of humanities faculties, drawing no more than a handful first-year students every year. In Germany, Orientalistik, as it was then called in many places, was considered an Orchideenfach. In my recollection (though perhaps I am romanticizing an imagined past when universities were not yet neo-liberated), nobody seemed to think this was a cause of concern. In my student cohort, as far as I remember, not a single student had entered the field because of the wish to study the security threat posed by Islam. The average student profile was closer to that of a bookish dreamer and collector of ‘exotic’ languages, beliefs and customs than to that of an aspiring media ‘expert’ on Islam.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Arabic Studies in the Netherlands and the Prerequisite of Social Impact – a Survey
    Arabic Studies in the Netherlands 13 Chapter 1 Arabic Studies in the Netherlands and the Prerequisite of Social Impact – a Survey Arnoud Vrolijk On 14 May 1613 Thomas Erpenius (1584–1624) accepted his nomination as the first professor of Arabic at Leiden by pronouncing his inaugural address ‘On the Excellence and Dignity of the Arabic Language’1 (Figure 1.1). In 2013 the fourth centenary of Arabic studies was celebrated with a great variety of activi- ties.2 A tradition of 400 years in one single discipline is a long time by any standard, especially if one realizes that the University, founded in 1575, is not much older than that itself. Yet few people know that Arabic is the only lan- guage to have been taught almost continuously at Leiden apart from Latin, Greek and Biblical Hebrew. Dutch made its first appearance in the late eigh- teenth century; modern languages such as English, French and German only followed suit in the course of the nineteenth century. The Classics and Biblical Hebrew, however, were all extinct languages, even though Neo-Latin played an important role in scholarly communication. Moreover, Latin, Greek and Hebrew were traditionally regarded as the pillars of our own culture and reli- gion. Arabic, on the other hand, was not only a living language, but also the vehicle of an alien culture which was very much alive, literally exotic and often 1 T. Erpenius, Oratio de lingvae Arabicae praestantia et dignitate, dicta in Illvstri Batavorvm Academia mense Maio M.D.CXIII. Cum ejus Linguae, et aliarum Orientalium Professionem aus- picaretur, printed Leiden, 1615 or later.
    [Show full text]
  • 5. Yurtdnda Kelam Aratrmalar SON FORMAT
    İ.Ü. İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Güz 2014/5(2) 67-79 Yurtdışında Kelam Araştırmaları -Aydınlanma Dönemi Almanya Örneği- Özcan Taşcı * Özet: Batıda oryantalizm özellikle son beş yüzyıldır İslam ve İslam üzerine yapılan çalışmalarla öz- deşleşmiş bir kavram olarak tanınmaktadır. Aydınlanma döneminde başta Alman bilimci Johann Ja- kob Reiske’nin yoğun uğraşları neticesinde oryantalizmin teolojiden ayrılmak suretiyle bağımsız bir disiplin haline dönüştüğü tespit edilmektedir. Bu andan itibaren daha önceki dönemlere nazaran ay- dınlanmacı yazarlar tarafından İslam üzerine nispeten daha objektif ve bilimsel yazıların üretildiği gözlemlenmektedir. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Gottfried Herder ile eserleri Almancaya ter- cüme edilen Giambattista Toderini ve Adrian Reland bu yazarlar arasında zikredilebilir. İşte bu ma- kalede Kelam ile alakalı aydınlanmacı yazarlar tarafından ortaya konulan eserlerden örnekler sunu- lacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Aydınlanma dönemi, İslam, Kelam, Oryantalizm Abstract: Kalamstudy Abroad- Germany in the Period of Enlightenment: In West is orientalistik a definition, which is identical especially since five centuries with the studies about Islam and Islamic World. It became an independent disciplines, by distancing itself from theology in the age of en- lightenment. From this period began the objectiv studies about Islam according to the previous peri- ods. The most prais of this change must be given to the German scholar Johann Jakob Reiske, who was a close friend of Lessing. The same applies to the Kalam. In the Kalam science were many schi- entific works written espacially by German enlightenment philosophers as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Gottfried Herder. But further there were Works of other non German scholar, which were translated from other languages in to German as Giambattista Toderini and Adrian Reland.
    [Show full text]
  • Co-Operation Between the Viking Rus' and the Turkic Nomads of The
    Csete Katona Co-operation between the Viking Rus’ and the Turkic nomads of the steppe in the ninth-eleventh centuries MA Thesis in Medieval Studies Central European University Budapest May 2018 CEU eTD Collection Co-operation between the Viking Rus’ and the Turkic nomads of the steppe in the ninth-eleventh centuries by Csete Katona (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2018 Co-operation between the Viking Rus’ and the Turkic nomads of the steppe in the ninth-eleventh centuries by Csete Katona (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2018 Co-operation between the Viking Rus’ and the Turkic nomads of the steppe in the ninth-eleventh centuries by Csete Katona (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2018 I, the undersigned, Csete Katona, candidate for the MA degree in Medieval Studies, declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography.
    [Show full text]
  • Taal Is Als Water
    Tilburg University Formulaicity in Jbala poetry Gintsburg, S.Y. Publication date: 2014 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Gintsburg, S. Y. (2014). Formulaicity in Jbala poetry. Tilburg University. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. sep. 2021 Formulaicity in Jbala Poetry Formulaicity in Jbala Poetry PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. Ph. Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Ruth First zaal van de Universiteit op dinsdag 11 februari 2014 om 16.15 uur door Sarali Yurievna Gintsburg geboren op 10 december 1976 te Sint-Petersburg, Rusland Promotores: prof. dr. Ad Backus prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Das Wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon Im Internet (Wibilex)
    Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (WiBiLex) Griesbach, Johann Jakob (1745-1812) Martin Mulzer erstellt: Mai 2012 Permanenter Link zum Artikel: http://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/75127/ Griesbach, Johann Jakob Martin Mulzer 1. Leben Johann Jakob Griesbach wurde am 4. Januar 1745 als Sohn des Predigers und späteren Konsistorialrates Konrad Kaspar Griesbach und der Johanna Dorothea Rambach, Tochter des Gießener Theologieprofessors Johann Jakob Rambach (1693-1735), in Butzbach (Hessen-Darmstadt) geboren. Er wuchs in Frankfurt a.M. auf und studierte von 1762 bis 1768 in Tübingen, Halle und Leipzig. Er wurde ein Schüler von Johann Salomo → Semler (1725-1791) in Halle und hörte u.a. bei Johann August → Ernesti (1707-1781) und dem Orientalisten Johann Jakob Reiske (1716-1774) in Leipzig. Von 1769 bis 1770 unternahm er Abb. 1 Johann Jakob Griesbach eine Forschungsreise zur Kollationierung (zeitgenössisches Gemälde). neutestamentlicher Handschriften in den großen Bibliotheken Englands und Frankreichs. Nach seiner Habilitation 1771 in Halle war er dort zunächst Privatdozent und ab 1773 außerordentlicher Professor. 1775 folgte er einem Ruf als Professor für Neues Testament nach Jena. Dort lehrte er bis zu seinem Tod am 24.3.1812. Er war seit 1775 verheiratet mit Friederike Juliane Schütz (1758- 1836), Tochter des Oberpredigers Gottfried Schütz in Aschersleben. Die Ehe blieb kinderlos. 2. Wirken Griesbachs Name ist bis heute durch eine von ihm ausgearbeitete Hypothese zur literarischen Abhängigkeit der ersten drei Evangelien bekannt, die sogenannte „Griesbachsche Hypothese“ (→ Synoptische Frage; s.u. 3.). Er gilt als einer der Begründer der neutestamentlichen Textkritik (s.u. 4.) und hat die WiBiLex | Griesbach, Johann Jakob 1 Termini „Synopse“ und „synoptisch“ in die moderne neutestamentliche Wissenschaft eingeführt (s.u.
    [Show full text]
  • Buch Denkströme Heft 3 Final.Indb
    Detlef Döring Die »Erleuchtung der Welt« Ein Bericht über die Jubiläumsausstellung anlässlich des 600. Jahrestages der Gründung der Universität Leipzig Vom 8. Juli bis zum 6. Dezember 2009 war im Alten Rathaus zu Leipzig die zentrale Ausstellung zum 600. Jubiläum der Gründung der Universität Leipzig (1409) zu besichtigen. Sie bildete das Ergebnis gemeinsamer Anstrengungen der Universität, der Stadt Leipzig und der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissen­ schaften zu Leipzig. Die Einführung von Säkularfeiern, andersgeartete antike Vorläufer lasse ich außer Acht, erfolgte erstmals im Mittelalter im kirchlichen Raum. Die Er­ klärung des Jahres 1300 zum Heiligen Jahr durch Papst Bonifaz VIII. kann als Beginn der Tradition von Jubelfeiern betrachtet werden. Im profanen Bereich stoßen wir auf solche Feierlichkeiten erst im 16. Jahrhundert, und zwar bei den Universitäten.1 Im 17. Jahrhundert folgten Feiern des Beginns der Reformation (1517)2 und der Erfindung des Buchdruckes.3 1578 und 1587 wurden in Tübin­ gen und Heidelberg Feiern zum hundertsten bzw. zweihundertsten Jahrestag 1 Vgl. Winfried Müller, »Erinnern an die Gründung. Universitätsjubiläen, Universi­ tätsgeschichte und die Entstehung der Jubiläumskultur in der frühen Neuzeit«, in Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 21 (1998), S. 79–102. Zur Problematik von Jubelfeiern über­ haupt vgl. Ders., »Instrumentalisierung und Selbstreferentialtät des historischen Jubilä­ ums. Einige Beobachtungen zu Eigengeschichte und Geltungsanspruch eines institutionel­ len Mechanismus«, in Gert Melville und Hans Vorländer (Hg.), Geltungsgeschichten. Über die Stabilisierung und Legitimierung institutioneller Ordnungen, Köln, Weimar, Wien 2002, S. 265–284. 2 Vgl. Wolfgang Flügel, Konfession und Jubiläum. Zur Institutionalisierung der lu­ therischen Gedenkkultur in Sachsen 1617–1830, Leipzig 2005. Speziell zu den Leipziger Feiern vgl. Siegfried Hoyer, »Reformationsjubiläen im 17.
    [Show full text]
  • Johann Jacob Reiske – Leben Und Wirkung
    Beiträge zur Leipziger Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte (BLUWiG) Reihe B, Band 6 Johann Jacob Reiske – Leben und Wirkung Ein Leipziger Byzantinist und Begründer der Orientalistik im 18. Jahrhundert Herausgegeben von Hans-Georg Ebert und Thoralf Hanstein Stefan Heidemann: Die Entwicklung der Methoden in der Islamischen Numismatik im 18. Jahrhundert – War Johann Jacob Reiske ihr Begründer? 147-202. EVANGELISCHE VERLAGSANSTALT Leipzig 2005 (ISBN 3-374-02327-4) Inhaltsverzeichnis Vorwort der Reihenherausgeber 5 Vorwort 7 Hans Georg Ebert: 11 Johann Jacob Reiske: Geist und Verständnis Holger Preißler: 19 Orientalische Studien in Leipzig vor Reiske Jan Loop: 45 Kontroverse Bemühungen um den Orient. Johann Jacob Reiske und die deutsche Orientalistik seiner Zeit Sebastian Kolditz: 87 Johann Jacob Reiske und die byzantinistischen Studien Detlef Döring: 117 Johann Jacob Reiskes Verbindungen zum wissenschaftlichen und literarischen Leben in Leipzig Gotthard Strohmaier: 141 Johann Jacob Reiske, ein Orientalist ohne Orientalismus Stefan Heidemann: 147 Die Entwicklung der Methoden in der Islamischen Numismatik im 18. Jahrhundert – War Johann Jacob Reiske ihr Begründer? Auswahlbibliographie gedruckter Schriften von und über Reiske 203 Personenregister 215 Autoren und Herausgeber 221 STEFAN HEIDEMANN Die Entwicklung der Methoden in der Islamischen Numismatik im 18. Jahrhundert – War Johann Jacob Reiske ihr Begründer? 1. EINLEITUNG „Wer zuerst einen Weg bähnet, der muß sich nothwendig verirren. Glücklich werde ich seyn, wenn solches von mir nicht zu oft geschiehet“1. Mit der Behauptung ‚keinen Vorgänger’2 gehabt zu haben, setzte sich Johann Jacob Reiske (1716-1774)3 selbst an den Beginn der Orientalischen Münzkunde. Auf der letzten Tagung vor 27 Jahren, die sich mit J. J. Reiske beschäftigte, folgte ihm Hermann Simon, damals Mitarbeiter am Münzkabinett in Berlin, und bestimmte ihn zum ‚Begründer der orien- talischen Numismatik’4.
    [Show full text]
  • 3. Zur Biographie Von Jakob Brucker
    „Ich bitte mir Euer Hochedelgebohren Gedancken aus!“ Beiträge zur Erschließung und Analyse von Jakob Bruckers Korrespondenz Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophisch-Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Augsburg Vorgelegt von Christine Lüdke aus Augsburg Augsburg 2006 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Theo Stammen Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Olaf Asbach Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 26. Juli 2006 Danksagung Mein Dank gilt in erste Linie Prof. Dr. Theo Stammen. Er hat mich zu der Auseinandersetzung mit Jakob Brucker angeregt und hat die vorliegende Untersuchung betreut. Für die Übernahme des Zweitgutachtens danke ich Herrn Prof. Dr. Olaf Asbach. Die Studie wurde mittels DFG-Förderung durch das Graduiertenkolleg „Wissensfelder der Neuzeit – Entstehung und Aufbau der Europäischen Informationskultur“ am Institut für Europäische Kulturgeschichte der Universität Augsburg ermöglicht. Ich danke dem Sprecher des Kollegs, Prof. Dr. Johannes Burkhardt, sowie dem ge- schäftsführenden Direktor des Instituts, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang E. J. Weber für ihre konstruktive Kritik. Den Kollegiaten und anderen Interessierten, wie Dr. Helmut Zäh, danke ich für Quellen- und Literaturhinweise. Ich danke sämtlichen Archiven, die bereitwillig Auskunft erteilten und die Erschließung der Brucker-Autographen ermöglichten. Stellvertretend für alle Archivleiter und -mitarbeiter danke ich Barbara Anders vom Evangeli- schen Archiv des Dekanates und der Gesamtkirchenverwaltung Augsburg, sowie Prof. Dr. Christoph Eggenberger, von der Zentralbibliothek Zürich. Das Archiv der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften stellte freundli- cherweise den Band „Electoralis Academiae Scientiarum Boicae Primor- dia“ zur Verfügung. Ich danke Dr. Manfred Keßler und Jens Frommknecht für ihre Überset- zungen aus dem Lateinischen. Sonja und Michael Adam danke ich für ihre Unterstützung bei der Korrespondenz mit der Bibliothèques Metz. Anja Schönau leistete wertvolle Hilfestellung bei der Korrespondenz mit der Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Krakau.
    [Show full text]
  • Socinianism, Islam and the Radical Uses of Arabic Scholarship
    AL-QANÆARA XXXI 2, julio-diciembre 2010 pp. 549-586 ISSN 0211-3589 SoCiNiANiSm, iSlAm ANd ThE rAdiCAl uSES of ArAbiC SCholArShiP El SOCiNiANiSmO, El iSlAm Y lOS uSOS rAdiCAlES dE lA ErudiCióN árAbE MARTIN MULSOW Erfurt University Socinianism —or, broader: anti-trinitarian- El socinianismo, o más ampliamente el anti- ism— was often paralleled to islam: both trinitarismo, fue comparado muchas veces the Christian heresy and the muslim reli- con el islam: tanto la herejía cristiana como gion reject the doctrine of the Trinity and la religión musulmana rechazan la doctrina regard Jesus only as a prophet, not as a de la Trinidad y consideran que Jesús fue god. There are indeed numerous historical tan solo un profeta y no un dios. de hecho, connections between both currents. From hay numerosos vínculos históricos entre las michael Servetus onward, the Qur’ān and dos corrientes. desde miguel Servet, el Co- islamic writings had an impact on the rán y las escrituras islámicas tuvieron un emerging Socinian critique. Antitrinitarians gran impacto en la crítica emergente socinia- tried to establish a historical genealogy na. los antitrinitarios intentaron establecer from early (Ebionite) Christianity through una genealogía histórica que iba desde el islam (which preserved the true monotheis- primer cristianismo de los ebionitas hasta el tic idea) to the present. They often took presente, pasando por el islam (que preservó their knowledge from much more orthodox la verdadera idea monoteísta). A menudo los Christian Arabist scholarship, which pro- antitrinitarios adquirieron sus conocimientos vided e.g. translations of passages from al- de las obras mucho más ortodoxas de los Qarāfī’s critique of St.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Interior Essays on Literary and Cultural History
    Exploring the Interior Essays on Literary and Cultural History KARL S. GUTHKE EXPLORING THE INTERIOR Exploring the Interior Essays on Literary and Cultural History Karl S. Guthke https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2018 Karl S. Guthke. Copyright on the translations of chapters one, seven and eight are held by the translators. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for non-commercial purposes, providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that he endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Karl S. Guthke, Exploring the Interior: Essays on Literary and Cultural History. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2018. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0126 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https:// www.openbookpublishers.com/product/650#copyright Further details about CC BY-NC-ND licenses are available at https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Updated digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/650#resources Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. The publication of this volume is supported by a grant from the Anne and Jim Rothenberg Fund for Humanities Research at Harvard University.
    [Show full text]
  • Studia Orientalia 114
    Studia Orientalia 114 TRAVELLING THROUGH TIME Essays in honour of Kaj Öhrnberg EDITED BY SYLVIA AKAR, JAAKKO HÄMEEN-ANTTILA & INKA NOKSO-KOIVISTO Helsinki 2013 Travelling through Time: Essays in honour of Kaj Öhrnberg Edited by Sylvia Akar, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila & Inka Nokso-Koivisto Studia Orientalia, vol. 114, 2013 Copyright © 2013 by the Finnish Oriental Society Societas Orientalis Fennica c/o Department of World Cultures P.O. Box 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B) FI-00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND Editor Lotta Aunio Co-editors Patricia Berg Sari Nieminen Advisory Editorial Board Axel Fleisch (African Studies) Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila (Arabic and Islamic Studies) Tapani Harviainen (Semitic Studies) Arvi Hurskainen (African Studies) Juha Janhunen (Altaic and East Asian Studies) Hannu Juusola (Middle Eastern and Semitic Studies) Klaus Karttunen (South Asian Studies) Kaj Öhrnberg (Librarian of the Society) Heikki Palva (Arabic Linguistics) Asko Parpola (South Asian Studies) Simo Parpola (Assyriology) Rein Raud (Japanese Studies) Saana Svärd (Assyriology) Jaana Toivari-Viitala (Egyptology) Typesetting Lotta Aunio ISSN 0039-3282 ISBN 978-951-9380-84-1 Picaset Oy Helsinki 2013 CONTENTS Foreword .................................................................................................................... xi Kaj Öhrnberg: A Biographical sketch ..........................................................................1 HARRY HALÉN Bibliography of the Publications of Kaj Öhrnberg ..................................................... 9 An Enchanted
    [Show full text]
  • Learning Oriental Languages in the Ottoman Empire: Johannes Heyman (1667–1737) Between Izmir and Damascus
    294 Van Den Boogert Chapter 12 Learning Oriental Languages in the Ottoman Empire: Johannes Heyman (1667–1737) between Izmir and Damascus Maurits H. van den Boogert Johannes Heyman was the first Professor of Oriental Languages at Leiden who had properly mastered both colloquial and Ottoman Turkish and he co- authored the section on Oriental manuscripts in the catalogue of Leiden’s University Library which circulated widely in the eighteenth century. In his own time Heyman’s scholarly capabilities appear to have been held in high regard. His international fame rose even further as the co-author of an account of travels to the eastern Mediterranean published in Leiden after his death by his nephew, which was translated into English almost immediately.1 Never- theless, Heyman’s lack of academic productivity has adversely affected his modern reputation; in the history of Dutch Oriental studies Johannes Heyman is now considered a relatively marginal figure.2 In his official capacity as chaplain to the Dutch consul at Izmir (Smyrna), Heyman resided there for almost seven years, from June 1700 until May 1707. At his own request, Heyman was dismissed by the Directors of the Levant Trade on 30 September 1705, but he only gave his official farewell sermon on 6 July 1706.3 Even then it took almost another year before he set off on his second tour of the Fertile Crescent, the first having taken place from the end of June 1704 until early January 1705. As Dutch pastor in Izmir, Heyman was part of the consul’s so-called ‘family’, the consular household, whose members lived in the consular house and ate at the consular table.
    [Show full text]