UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title The Speculum of Divine Justice and Obedience in Christian and Islamic Mirrors fro Princes
Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/64835625
Author Puignau, Maria del Rosario Jazmin
Publication Date 2014
Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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Santa Barbara ! !
The Speculum of Divine Justice and Obedience in Christian and Islamic Mirrors for Princes ! !
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of
Philosophy in Religious Studies !
by !
Maria del Rosario Jazmín Puignau ! !
Committee in charge:
Professor Juan Campo, Chair
Professor Stefania Tutino
Professor Kathleen Moore ! !
December 2014
The dissertation of Maria del Rosario! Jazmín Puignau is approved. ! ! ! ! ! ______Juan Campo, Committee Chair ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ______Kathleen Moore ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ______Stefania Tutino ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! September 2014
Acknowledgments
This study on the theological anxiety of political principles reflects my personal anxiety regarding the legitimate origin of authority and its commitment with justice. Although my original intention was to show the rebellious stream in the traditional views of Christianity and Islam, I finally negotiated into a more moderate approach to both traditions showing the struggle between the competing political and theological principles of justice and obedience. Although all this discussion on justice and the questioning of authority may sound rebellious, this dissertation took shape and was finished while building a more traditional project: my !beautiful family. I want to thank my committee, and especially to acknowledge the role of my mentor and advisor, Professor Juan Campo, who trusted and encouraged my self motivation and my capacity to overcome difficulties. His calm but acute synthesis of Christianity and Islam has always been inspiring. I would also like to thank Professor Kathleen Moore. I have had the pleasure to learn from her analysis of the traditions of Islamic law in modern political systems, as well as from her work in the interfaith dialogue Initiative. I am indebted also to Professor Stefania Tutino for illuminating classic Christian texts with the sparkles of the tension between submission and revolution. Professor Tutino is a model scholar for women in the field of medieval Christian political theory. I also would like to mention the fruitful experiences of the interfaith dialogue encounters organized by the Kuftaro Foundation in Damascus, Syria, where I experienced the discussion of key values of monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). I owe my gratitude to Dr. Amanda Stansell for helping me editing and coping with my awkward translations from different languages. Special thanks is due to my friend and colleague Dr. Sonia Zuñiga-Lomeli, for her constant support and advice. She gave me the strength to cope with times of trial at the final stages of this !dissertation and provided invaluable critical feedback. Lastly I would like to thank my family, especially Marcos and my little son Marcos Matias for their continuous support, and for dealing with my level of anxiety while writing this dissertation. This study is lovingly dedicated to my mother Margarita and grandmother Nicasia Margarita. Both of them taught me obedience and respect for authority, although conditional to its values. But most importantly, they taught me to strive for unconditional justice, no matter the problems and setbacks this search may cause in this life. To the memory of my father who I did not meet, but whose travels from Latin America to the Middle East, and whose readings of the Qurʾān inspired me.