Anti-Islamic Polemics, Scholarship and Encyclopedism in the Greek Orthodox World: Nicholas Karatzas and His Summa Saracenica
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Octavian-Adrian Negoiță
Abstract
This study offers the first analysis of a hitherto unknown Phanariot miscellaneous codex preserved in the collections of Princeton University Library (MS Gr. 112) that contains anti-Islamic Greek polemical texts. Entitled Sarakēnika, it was produced by the famous Phanariot intellectual and bibliophile Nicholas Karatzas in Constantinople. Taking this codex as a starting point, this paper tackles the larger discussion about the format and genres in which Greek-speaking audiences were informed about Islam, Prophet Muḥammad and the Qur’ān during the Ottoman rule. I argue that Sarakēnika is not a simple miscellany of polemical texts, but it can be considered a Summa Saracenica in which the Phanariot intellectual gathered the most authoritative literary pieces and arranged them according to specific criteria that reflect his encyclopedic approach towards anti-Muslim literature.
Abstract
This study offers the first analysis of a hitherto unknown Phanariot miscellaneous codex preserved in the collections of Princeton University Library (MS Gr. 112) that contains anti-Islamic Greek polemical texts. Entitled Sarakēnika, it was produced by the famous Phanariot intellectual and bibliophile Nicholas Karatzas in Constantinople. Taking this codex as a starting point, this paper tackles the larger discussion about the format and genres in which Greek-speaking audiences were informed about Islam, Prophet Muḥammad and the Qur’ān during the Ottoman rule. I argue that Sarakēnika is not a simple miscellany of polemical texts, but it can be considered a Summa Saracenica in which the Phanariot intellectual gathered the most authoritative literary pieces and arranged them according to specific criteria that reflect his encyclopedic approach towards anti-Muslim literature.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- Prolegomena to Eastern Christians’ Engagement with Islam and the Qur’ān 1
- An Early Syriac Response to the Charge of Taḥrīf in George of Bʿeltan’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 7
- Qur’ānic Letter versus Spirit: Approaches to the Qur’ān in Kitāb Usṭāt al-rāhib and Masāʾil wa-ajwiba ʿaqliyya wa-ilāhiyya 45
- “Becoming All Things to All People”: Positive Readings of Qur’ānic Christianity in Arabic Christian Apologetics 77
- Continuities and Discontinuities in Byzantine Anti-Islamic Polemics from the Seventh to the Thirteenth Century: The Mount Athos, Great Lavra, MS gr. Ω 44 101
- Michael Synkellos and His Lost Refutation of Islam in the Medieval Byzantine-Slavic Literary Tradition 125
- The Qur’ān in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Qur’ān: Textual Connections and Circulation among Muslims and Christians of al-Ḥabasha 153
- The Armenian Confutatio Alcorani and Its Polemical Function for the Armenian Communities in Pre-Modern Iran 173
- Anti-Islamic Polemics, Scholarship and Encyclopedism in the Greek Orthodox World: Nicholas Karatzas and His Summa Saracenica 201
- System and Muhammadan Religion by Sofroniy Vrachanski: The Bulgarian Translation of Dimitrie Cantemir’s Kniga Sistima 251
- Russian Orthodox Qur’ān Translations of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century and Tatar-Muslim Responses 277
- Epilogue: Christian Reading of the Qur’ān in the Islamic World 309
- List of Contributors 317
- Index of Manuscripts and Prints 321
- Index 325
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- Prolegomena to Eastern Christians’ Engagement with Islam and the Qur’ān 1
- An Early Syriac Response to the Charge of Taḥrīf in George of Bʿeltan’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 7
- Qur’ānic Letter versus Spirit: Approaches to the Qur’ān in Kitāb Usṭāt al-rāhib and Masāʾil wa-ajwiba ʿaqliyya wa-ilāhiyya 45
- “Becoming All Things to All People”: Positive Readings of Qur’ānic Christianity in Arabic Christian Apologetics 77
- Continuities and Discontinuities in Byzantine Anti-Islamic Polemics from the Seventh to the Thirteenth Century: The Mount Athos, Great Lavra, MS gr. Ω 44 101
- Michael Synkellos and His Lost Refutation of Islam in the Medieval Byzantine-Slavic Literary Tradition 125
- The Qur’ān in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Qur’ān: Textual Connections and Circulation among Muslims and Christians of al-Ḥabasha 153
- The Armenian Confutatio Alcorani and Its Polemical Function for the Armenian Communities in Pre-Modern Iran 173
- Anti-Islamic Polemics, Scholarship and Encyclopedism in the Greek Orthodox World: Nicholas Karatzas and His Summa Saracenica 201
- System and Muhammadan Religion by Sofroniy Vrachanski: The Bulgarian Translation of Dimitrie Cantemir’s Kniga Sistima 251
- Russian Orthodox Qur’ān Translations of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century and Tatar-Muslim Responses 277
- Epilogue: Christian Reading of the Qur’ān in the Islamic World 309
- List of Contributors 317
- Index of Manuscripts and Prints 321
- Index 325
