The Western Perception of Islam between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: The Work of Nicholas of Cusa

by Marica Costigliolo, Cary J. Nederman (Foreword by)

Overview

In the Middle Ages, as Christian sources on the Islamic world show, Muslim culture was perceived as extremely threatening: there were many defenses of Christianity, like the treatise on the "mistakes" of the followers of Allah. This book shows, through an analysis of the works of Nicholas of Cusa and of other authors, that in the course of time this textual attitude was modified, as European authors aimed to point out the Christian truth in comparison with the "falsity" of Islamic theology, in order to reinforce Christian identity through the presupposition of its own absolute truth. The apologetic aim was gradually replaced by a systematic comparison based on partial translations of the Qur'an. The comparison with the "other" was also the basis for reinforcing identity, in order to demonstrate the truth and consequently the supremacy of one's own theoretical position.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498208208
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	10/27/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	180
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Marica Costigliolo received her PhD in Political Thought from the University of Genoa, Italy. She is the author of several articles on the history of philosophy. Her research is focused on the perception of alterity in the course of history.

Table of Contents

Foreword Cary J. Nederman xi

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1 Method and Theories 1

1 Introduction 1

2 Notes on Dialogue as a Genre in the Middle Ages 1

3 Methodology 4

4 The Theory of Jan Assmann 6

5 Comparative Political Theory 7

6 The Metaphor 9

7 Division of the Book 11

Chapter 2 De concordantia catholica, Metaphor of Body 16

1 Introduction 16

2 Context 16

3 Hierarchy 19

4 Church as Corpus Mysticum 23

5 Defense of Body 24

6 Relations between King and Emperor 25

7 Relations between Emperor and Pope 25

8 Emperor as Physician 27

9 Conclusions 28

Chapter 3 De docta ignorantia, Identity and Difference 30

1 Introduction 30

2 The Model of De docta ignorantia 31

3 Identity (Sameness), Difference and Diversity 34

4 The Metaphor of the Sphere: The Perspective 38

5 Interreligious Dialogue in De docta ignorantia 40

6 Conclusions 42

Chapter 4 De pace fidei and the Interreligious Dialogue 43

1 Introduction 43

2 Sources of De pace fidei 44

3 Difference and Diversity 54

4 Wisdom 57

5 Equality and Unity 59

6 The Metaphor of the King 62

7 The Psychological Foundations of Faith 64

8 Rituality: The Different and the Ridiculous 66

9 Tolerance 70

10 Peace 73

11 Identity, Difference, Unity 76

12 Freedom 80

13 Conclusions 82

Chapter 5 Cribratio Alkorani, The Change of the Perception of Islam 84

1 Introduction 84

2 Sources of the Cribratio Alkorani 85

3 Structure of Cribratio Alkorani 91

4 Manuductio and pia interpretation 93

5 The Metaphor of Glass 94

6 The Nestorian Heresy 96

7 Textual Differences: The Quran and the Gospel 99

8 Unity, Difference, and Equality 103

9 Sin 106

10 Heaven 108

11 Difference and Diversity 110

12 Method of Cusanus 111

13 Kalam 113

14 Happiness 115

15 Muhammad's Persecution of Christians 116

16 The Theme of War 117

17 The Speech to Muhammad II 121

18 Conclusions 124

Chapter 6 Cusanus and others: the Western Perception of Islam 125

1 Introduction 125

2 The Contra Legem Sarracenorum 126

3 Fazio degli Uberti 127

4 Byzantine Authors: Demetrius Kydones and George Trebizond 129

5 Use of Praesuppositio: Marsilio Ficino 135

6 Enea Silvio Piccolomini 137

7 Conclusions 141

Chapter 7 General Conclusions 143

Bibliography 151

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Marica Costigliolo has given us a remarkable and insightful book. It offers fresh, precise studies of Nicholas of Cusa’s two extraordinary works on Christian-Muslim relations, and links them to his political and theological writings. As Costigliolo examines Nicholas’s sources and discusses Renaissance and Byzantine writers on Islam, she redefines medieval interreligious dialogue, and traces shifting Western perceptions of Islam from ‘enemy’ to ‘other.’ This book thus has an ambitious agenda, and fulfills it admirably.”

—Donald F. Duclow, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Gwynedd Mercy University

Editorial Reviews

Marica Costigliolo has given us a remarkable and insightful book. It offers fresh, precise studies of Nicholas of Cusa’s two extraordinary works on Christian-Muslim relations, and links them to his political and theological writings. As Costigliolo examines Nicholas’s sources and discusses Renaissance and Byzantine writers on Islam, she redefines medieval interreligious dialogue, and traces shifting Western perceptions of Islam from ‘enemy’ to ‘other.’ This book thus has an ambitious agenda, and fulfills it admirably.”

—Donald F. Duclow, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Gwynedd Mercy University

From the Publisher