Reason and Revelation in Byzantine Antioch: The Christian Translation Program of Abdallah ibn al-Fadl

by Alexandre M. Roberts

Overview

What happened to ancient Greek thought after Antiquity? What impact did Abrahamic religions have on medieval Byzantine and Islamic scholars who adapted and reinvigorated this ancient philosophical heritage? Reason and Revelation in Byzantine Antioch tackles these questions by examining the work of the eleventh-century Christian theologian Abdallah ibn al-Fadl, who undertook an ambitious program of translating Greek texts, ancient and contemporary, into Arabic. Poised between the Byzantine Empire that controlled his home city of Antioch and the Arabic-speaking cultural universe of Syria-Palestine, Egypt, Aleppo, and Iraq, Ibn al-Fadl engaged intensely with both Greek and Arabic philosophy, science, and literary culture. Challenging the common narrative that treats Christian and Muslim scholars in almost total isolation from each other in the Middle Ages, Alexandre M. Roberts reveals a shared culture of robust intellectual curiosity in the service of tradition that has had a lasting role in Eurasian intellectual history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520974821
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Series:	Berkeley Series in Postclassical Islamic Scholarship , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Alexandre M. Roberts teaches in the Department of Classics at the University of Southern California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 
Introduction 

PART I. TRANSLATION 

1. A Scholar and His City 
§1 Abdallah ibn al-Fada of Antioch 
§2 Byzantine Antioch 

2. A Translation Program 
§1 Scripture and Liturgy 
§2 Late Antique Biblical Exegesis 
§3 Pro-Chalcedonian Dogma at the Dawn of Islam 
§4 Collected Wisdom 
§5 In Praise of Saints 
§6 Conclusion 

3. A Byzantine Ecclesiastical Curriculum 
§1 Greek Manuscripts 
§2 Chrysostom and the Cappadocian Fathers 
§3 Orthodoxy, Education, and Orations for Saints 
§4 Contemporary Georgian Translators 
§5 Georgian Book Culture 
§6 Conclusion 

PART II. PHILOSOPHY 

4. Purpose in the Prefaces 
§1 The Psalter 
§2 The Garden 
§3 Demetrios
§4 Isaac the Syrian
§5 Chrysostom and Paul 
§6 Kaisarios and a Litany of Philosophical Questions 
§7 Conclusion 

5. Education in the Margins
§1 The Garden 
§2 Sophronios 
§3 John of Thessaloniki 
§4 Chrysostom on Hebrews: Substantial Images 
§5 Conclusion 

6. Logic 
§1 Moses Contemplating: Beings, Substances, and Accident 
§2 Dog Logic and the Arabic Aristotle 
§3 Logic in the Garden 
§4 Conclusion 

7. Physics 
§1 Types of Causes 
§2 Qualities as Bodies or Nothing at All 
§3 Relative Corporeality of Angels
§4 Matter and Atoms, Plenum and Void 
§5 Conclusion 

8. Cosmology 
§1 The Sky’s Elements 
§2 Infinity and the Eternity of the World 

9. Astronomy 
§1 Translating Astronomical Terminology 
§2 The Stars, Byzantine Marginalia, and an Arabophone Byzantine Astronomer 
§3 Astrology 
§4 Conclusion 

10. A Shared Scholarly Culture 
§1 Method and Madness 
§2 Twin Paideias 
§3 West of Samarqand 

Bibliography 
General Index 
Arabic Index 
Greek Index 
Index of Manuscripts

Editorial Reviews

"Ultimately Reason and Revelation sharpens our understanding of “translation” in the premodern period and points the way forward for further scholarship on the intricacies and implications of translation."

Studies in Late Antiquity

"Roberts has produced not only an impressive work of intellectual and social history but also an accomplished exemplar of the exploration of unpublished sources with insightful philological and linguistic examinations."

Al-‘Usur al-Wusta

"Roberts’s is an important book, not just for its many new editions of texts by Ibn al-Fadl,̣ but also for the light it sheds on his life and historical context. Scholars of Christian Arabic will find it essential reading, as will those investigating Byzantine intellectual culture and its interactions with the world of Islam."

Speculum

"This monumental work will be of great interest to scholars. . . .Reason and Revelation is a welcome contribution to the intellectual history of the pre-modern Middle East that should inspire a great deal of scholarship to come."

Medieval Encounters

"Reason and Revelation remains a truly impressive scholarly accomplishment. This rich portrait of a previously neglected figure, requiring impressive command of both classical literature and Arabic manuscript studies, should inspire future work on the fascinatingly multi-lingual, multi-religious traditions of learning that bridged the medieval Mediterranean’s many worlds."

The Catholic Historical Review

Roberts  has  produced  not  only  an  impressive  work  of  intellectual  and  social  history  but  also  an  accomplished  exemplar of the exploration of unpublished sources with insightful philological and linguistic  examinations.”

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā