John of Damascus and Islam
Subtitle: Christian heresiology and the intellectual background to earliest Christian-Muslim relations
By: by Peter Schadler
Series: History of Christian-Muslim relations -- volume 34; History of Christian-Muslim relations -- v. 34.
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng; grc
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9789004349650
Subjects: Christianity and other religions; Islam; Relations; Christianity; Christian heresies; Interfaith relations
Description: How did Islam come to be considered a Christian heresy? In this book, Peter Schadler outlines the intellectual background of the Christian Near East that led John, a Christian serving in the court of the caliph in Damascus, to categorize Islam as a heresy. Schadler shows that different uses of the term heresy persisted among Christians, and then demonstrates that John's assessment of the beliefs and practices of Muslims has been mistakenly dismissed on assumptions he was highly biased. The practices and beliefs John ascribes to Islam have analogues in the Islamic tradition, proving that John may well represent an accurate picture of Islam as he knew it in the seventh and eighth centuries in Syria and Palestine.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.