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Perceptions of Islam in the Christendoms

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Perceptions of Islam in the Christendoms PERCEPTIONS OF ISLAM IN THE CHRISTENDOMS A Historical Survey Nasir Khan i Contents Contents ........................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... vi Preface ....................................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. The rise of Christianity ............................................................................ 1 Sources for the historical Jesus ................................................................................... 2 The New Testament documents ............................................................................................................. 6 The Epistles of Paul .............................................................................................................................. 20 The non-Christian sources ................................................................................................................... 22 Historical uncertainty .......................................................................................................................... 26 The Jerusalem Church .............................................................................................. 28 Paul and the rise of Gentile Christianity ............................................................................................ 30 Chapter 2. Challenges to the Christian faith: heresies and schisms ..................... 38 Gnosticism .................................................................................................................. 38 Mani and Manichaeism ............................................................................................. 46 The expansion of Christian faith and power ........................................................... 49 The Arian controversy ......................................................................................................................... 52 Apollinarianism .................................................................................................................................... 58 Nestorianism ......................................................................................................................................... 59 Eutychianism ........................................................................................................................................ 62 Chapter 3. The pre-Islamic Middle East ................................................................. 67 The Persian empires .................................................................................................. 67 The Romans and the Middle East ............................................................................ 69 The Arabs ................................................................................................................... 77 The religious situation in Arabia ......................................................................................................... 80 Christian and Jewish communities in Arabia .................................................................................... 86 ii Chapter 4. The preaching of Islam ........................................................................... 89 The Prophet Muhammad .......................................................................................... 89 The Qur’an ................................................................................................................. 98 The marriages of the Prophet and Christian critics ............................................. 100 Islamic expansion ..................................................................................................... 107 Chapter 5. The Qur’anic view of Christian dogmas ............................................. 111 Jesus and Christianity ............................................................................................. 111 The corruption of the Injil ................................................................................................................. 119 The divinity of Christ and the Sonship issue .................................................................................... 124 The Trinity .......................................................................................................................................... 127 The question of Jesus’ death .............................................................................................................. 132 Chapter 6. Polemical encounters with Islam ......................................................... 139 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 139 The Oriental Christian polemic .............................................................................. 143 John of Damascus ............................................................................................................................... 147 The dialogue of Patriarch Timothy I with Caliph Mahdi .................................... 156 The Person and the Incarnation of Christ ........................................................................................ 158 The incorruptibility of the Gospel ..................................................................................................... 161 The status of Muhammad .................................................................................................................. 162 The Apology of al-Kindi .......................................................................................... 166 The reply of al-Kindi .......................................................................................................................... 170 Muslim reactions to the Oriental Christian polemic ............................................ 179 Chapter 7. Polemic in Byzantium, Muslim Spain and the Catholic West .......... 184 The Byzantine polemic ............................................................................................ 184 Nicetas of Byzantium .......................................................................................................................... 186 The Holosphyros Controversy ........................................................................................................... 190 Muslim Spain (Andalusia) and Christians ............................................................ 195 The martyrs of Cordova .................................................................................................................... 197 The Catholic West and Islam .................................................................................. 208 Chapter 8. The Christian counter-attack .............................................................. 212 The Reconquista ....................................................................................................... 212 The Crusades ............................................................................................................ 218 iii The First Crusade ............................................................................................................................... 224 The Second Crusade and Muslim counter-offensive ....................................................................... 233 Chapter 9. The impact of the Crusades on Christian-Muslim relations ............ 243 The perception of Islam during and after the Crusades ...................................... 245 Peter the Venerable ............................................................................................................................ 257 Chapter 10. Attack from the East: the Mongols ................................................... 265 The Christendoms and Islam on the eve of the Mongol conquests ..................... 265 The Mongol era of conquests .................................................................................. 266 The Mongol Ilkhans and Western Christendom .................................................. 280 Chapter 11.The changing perspectives on Islam .................................................. 289 Ramon Lull ............................................................................................................... 289 Roger Bacon ............................................................................................................. 292 St Thomas Aquinas .................................................................................................. 296 William of Tripoli .................................................................................................... 302 Ricoldo da Monte Croce .......................................................................................... 303 John Wycliffe ............................................................................................................ 306 Chapter 12. The Ottomans and the European response ...................................... 309 A vision of peace between rival faiths .................................................................... 313 Christian Europe’s perceptions of the Turkish threat ......................................... 317 The image
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