A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism

A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism PDF Author: Merlin Swartz
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004453261
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
This study consists of a critical edition of Ibn al-Jawzī’s Kitāb Akhbār as-Sifāt (KAS) along with an annotated translation and introduction. KAS is a critique of anthropomorphic conceptions of God, directed in the first instance against Ibn al-Jawzī’s fellow Hanbalī, but also against Sunnī traditionalists more generally. As an intra-Hanbalīr polemic, KAS sheds important new light on the intellectual fault-lines within medieval Hanbalism, and reveals the extent to which kalām had penetrated the Hanbalite school by the 12th century. In his work, Ibn al- Jawzī’s makes extensive use of kalām, drawing on its technical language and crafting his arguments against anthropomorphism on the basis of the dialectical methods developed within the great theological schools of medieval Islam. The study also contains a translation of al-ʿAlthī's Risāla, a pointed response to Ibn al-Jawzī, written by a fellow Hanbalī from a traditionalist perspective.

A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism

A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism PDF Author: Merlin Swartz
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004453261
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study consists of a critical edition of Ibn al-Jawzī’s Kitāb Akhbār as-Sifāt (KAS) along with an annotated translation and introduction. KAS is a critique of anthropomorphic conceptions of God, directed in the first instance against Ibn al-Jawzī’s fellow Hanbalī, but also against Sunnī traditionalists more generally. As an intra-Hanbalīr polemic, KAS sheds important new light on the intellectual fault-lines within medieval Hanbalism, and reveals the extent to which kalām had penetrated the Hanbalite school by the 12th century. In his work, Ibn al- Jawzī’s makes extensive use of kalām, drawing on its technical language and crafting his arguments against anthropomorphism on the basis of the dialectical methods developed within the great theological schools of medieval Islam. The study also contains a translation of al-ʿAlthī's Risāla, a pointed response to Ibn al-Jawzī, written by a fellow Hanbalī from a traditionalist perspective.

Anthropomorphic Depictions of God

Anthropomorphic Depictions of God PDF Author: Zulfiqar Ali Shah
Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
ISBN: 1565645758
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 765

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Book Description
This monumental study examines issues of anthropomorphism in the three Abrahamic Faiths, as viewed through the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur’an. Throughout history Christianity and Judaism have tried to make sense of God. While juxtaposing the Islamic position against this, the author addresses the Judeo-Christian worldview and how each has chosen to framework its encounter with God, to what extent this has been the result of actual scripture and to what extent the product of theological debate, or church decrees of later centuries and absorption of Hellenistic philosophy. Shah also examines Islam’s heavily anti-anthropomorphic stance and Islamic theological discourse on Tawhid as well as the Ninety-Nine Names of God and what these have meant in relation to Muslim understanding of God and His attributes. Describing how these became the touchstone of Muslim discourse with Judaism and Christianity he critiques theological statements and perspectives that came to dilute if not counter strict monotheism. As secularism debates whether God is dead, the issue of anthropomorphism has become of immense importance. The quest for God, especially in this day and age, is partly one of intellectual longing. To Shah, anthropomorphic concepts and corporeal depictions of the Divine are perhaps among the leading factors of modern atheism. As such he ultimately draws the conclusion that the postmodern longing for God will not be quenched by pre-modern anthropomorphic and corporeal concepts of the Divine which have simply brought God down to this cosmos, with a precise historical function and a specified location, reducing the intellectual and spiritual force of what God is and represents, causing the soul to detract from a sense of the sacred and thereby belief in Him.

Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times PDF Author: Albrecht Classen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110245485
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 864

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Book Description
Despite popular opinions of the ‘dark Middle Ages’ and a ‘gloomy early modern age,’ many people laughed, smiled, giggled, chuckled, entertained and ridiculed each other. This volume demonstrates how important laughter had been at times and how diverse the situations proved to be in which people laughed, and this from late antiquity to the eighteenth century. The contributions examine a wide gamut of significant cases of laughter in literary texts, historical documents, and art works where laughter determined the relationship among people. In fact, laughter emerges as a kaleidoscopic phenomenon reflecting divine joy, bitter hatred and contempt, satirical perspectives and parodic intentions. In some examples protagonists laughed out of sheer happiness and delight, in others because they felt anxiety and insecurity. It is much more difficult to detect premodern sculptures of laughing figures, but they also existed. Laughter reflected a variety of concerns, interests, and intentions, and the collective approach in this volume to laughter in the past opens many new windows to the history of mentality, social and religious conditions, gender relationships, and power structures.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes PDF Author: Miriam Ovadia
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004372512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
In Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and the Divine Attributes Miriam Ovadia offers a thorough discussion on the hermeneutical methodology applied in the theology of the Ḥanbalite traditionalistic scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350), the most prominent disciple of the renowned Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328). Focusing on Ibn al-Qayyim's voluminous – yet so far understudied – work on anthropomorphism, al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Mursala, Ovadia explores his modus operandi in his attack on four fundamental rationalistic convictions, while demonstrating Ibn al-Qayyim's systemization of the Taymiyyan theological doctrine and theoretical discourse. Contextualizing al-Ṣawāʿiq with relevant writings of thinkers who preceded Ibn al-Qayyim, Ovadia unfolds his employment of Kalāmic terminology and argumentations; thus, his rationalized-traditionalistic authoring of a theological manifesto directed against his contemporary Ashʿarite elite of Mamluk Damascus.

Anthropomorphism in Islam

Anthropomorphism in Islam PDF Author: Livnat Holtzman
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748689575
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Through a close, contextualized, and interdisciplinary reading in Hadith compilations, theological treatises, and historical sources, this book offers an evaluation and understanding of the traditionalistic endeavours to define anthropomorphism in the most crucial and indeed most formative period of Islamic thought.

كتاب أخبار الصفات

كتاب أخبار الصفات PDF Author: Merlin L. Swartz
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004123762
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
This study contains a critical edition of Ibn al-Jawz s "Kit b Akhb r as-Sif t (KAS)" along with an annotated translation and introduction. "KAS" is primarily a critique of anthropomorphic conceptions of God, directed against fellow Hanbalis and traditionalists generally. It sheds important new light on the intellectual fault-lines within medieval Hanbalism, and reveals the extent to which "kal m" had penetrated the school by the 12th century.

Dialogue Against the Jews

Dialogue Against the Jews PDF Author: Alfonsi Petrus
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 0813213908
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Never before translated into English, this work presents to the reader perhaps the most important source for an intensifying medieval Christian-Jewish debate.

Ibn Taymiyya and the Attributes of God

Ibn Taymiyya and the Attributes of God PDF Author: Farid Suleiman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004499903
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
In Ibn Taymiyya and the Attributes of God (orig. published in German, 2019), Farid Suleiman pieces together, on the basis of statements scattered unsystematically over numerous individual treatises, an overall picture of the methodological foundations of Ibn Taymiyya’s doctrine of the divine attributes. He then examines how Ibn Taymiyya applies these foundational principles as exemplified in his treatment of selected divine attributes. Throughout the book, Suleiman relates Ibn Taymiyya’s positions to the larger context of Islamic intellectual history. The book was awarded the Dissertation Prize 2019 by the Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG) and the Classical Islamic Book Prize by Gorgias Press (2020).

The Formation of Post-classical Philosophy in Islam

The Formation of Post-classical Philosophy in Islam PDF Author: Frank Griffel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190886323
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 665

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Book Description
In recent decades, scholars have come to recognize the importance of classical Islamic philosophy both in its own right and in its preservation of and engagement with Western philosophical ideas. At the same time, the period immediately following the so-called classical period has often been seen as a sort of dark age, in which Islamic thought entered a long period of decline. In this monumental new work, Frank Griffel seeks to overturn this conventional wisdom, arguing that what he calls the "post-classical" period has been unjustly maligned and neglected by previous generations of scholars.The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam is a comprehensive study of the far-reaching changes that led to a re-shaping of the philosophical discourse in Islam during the twelfth century. Earlier Western scholars thought that Islam's engagement with the tradition of Greek philosophy ended during that century. More recent analyses suggest that Islamic thinkers instead integrated Greek thought into the genre of rationalist Muslim theology (kalam). Griffel argues that even this view misses a key point. In addition to the integration of Greek ideas into kalam, Muslim theologians picked up the discourse of philosophy in Islam (falsafa) and began to produce books on philosophy. Books in these two genres, kalam and philosophy, argue for opposing teachings on the nature of God, the world's creation, and on the afterlife - even when written by the same authors. Griffel explains the emergence of a new genre of philosophical books called "hikma," works that stand opposed to Islamic theology and at the same wish to complement it. Offering a detailed history of philosophy in Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia during the twelfth century, together with an analysis of the way philosophy was practiced during this time, Griffel shows how works of falsafa, written by major Muslim theologians such as al-Ghazali developed step-by-step into critical assessments of philosophy that try to improve philosophical teachings, and eventually become fully fledged philosophical summas in the work of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. Griffel's examination of the different methods of kalam and hikma demonstrate both the coherence and ambiguity of a Muslim post-classical philosopher's oeuvre.A work of extraordinary breadth and depth, The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Philosophy or the history of Islam.

Kitāb Fī Al-ālāt Al-falakīyah

Kitāb Fī Al-ālāt Al-falakīyah PDF Author: François Charette
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004130159
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
This study of mathematical instrumentation in the Mamluk world contains the edition and translation of a unique, richly-illustrated treatise, and provides a fascinating historical account of several instrument models that were thus far unknown or inadequately documented.