Islam and the West
Two Dialectical Fantasies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20245219 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Nirenberg (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-33 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religion in Europe (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1874-8910 • E-ISSN: 1874-8929 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/187489208x285459 |
| OpenAlex | W2093134122 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
This article discusses two prominent and seemingly very different schools of thought about the historical relationship of the West to Islam—the first of which we might call a 'clash of civilizations' and the second an 'alliance'—in order to show the common roots of both in Christian dialectics. As an example of the first school, the article focuses on Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 Regensburg lecture on the European synthesis of 'faith' and 'reason,' with its attempt to define Islam as a religion of faith and not of reason. As an example of the second, it focuses on five centuries of European debate over the contribution of Arabic poetry to the birth of a modern and rational European poetic subjectivity. The article suggests that dialectics of inclusion and exclusion are inseparable from each other, and concludes by pointing to some contemporary political implications of this inseparability
Alliance · Dialectic · Epistemology · Faith · History of religions · Islam · Linguistics · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Subjectivity · Theology · Education and Islamic Studies · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies
| Citations per year | 0.22 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2008 - 2021 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |