Books by Mehmet Karabela
Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge, 2021
Early modern Protestant scholars closely engaged with Islamic thought in more ways than is usuall... more Early modern Protestant scholars closely engaged with Islamic thought in more ways than is usually recognized. Among Protestants, Lutheran scholars distinguished themselves as the most invested in the study of Islam and Muslim culture. Mehmet Karabela brings the neglected voices of post-Reformation theologians, primarily German Lutherans, into focus and reveals their rigorous engagement with Islamic thought.
Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi'a).
This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity.
Political Theology on Edge: Ruptures of Justice and Belief in the Anthropocene (eds. Clayton Crockett and Catherine Keller), Fordham University Press, 2021
In Political Theology on Edge, the discourse of political theology is seen as situated on an edge... more In Political Theology on Edge, the discourse of political theology is seen as situated on an edge, that is, on the edge of a world that is grappling with global warming, a brutal form of neoliberal capitalism, protests against racism and police brutality, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This edge is also a form of eschatology that forces us to imagine new ways of being religious and political in our cohabitation of a fragile and shared planet. Each of the essays in this volume attends to how climate change and our ecological crises intersect and interact with more traditional themes of political theology.
While the tradition of political theology is often associated with philosophical responses to the work of Carl Schmitt—and the critical attempts to disengage religion from his right-wing politics—the contributors to this volume are informed by Schmitt but not limited to his perspectives. They engage and transform political theology from the standpoint of climate change, the politics of race, and non-Christian political theologies including Islam and Sikhism. Important themes include the Anthropocene, Ecology, Capitalism, Sovereignty, Black Lives Matter, Affect Theory, Continental Philosophy, Destruction, and Suicide. This book includes world-renowned scholars and emerging voices that together open up the tradition of political theology to new ideas and new ways of thinking.
Mustafa Sabri Efendi, Opsi Press, 2021
Published in Indonesia, this book concentrates on the life and thought of the Ottoman Şeyhülislâm... more Published in Indonesia, this book concentrates on the life and thought of the Ottoman Şeyhülislâm Mustafa Sabri Efendi (1869-1954), the chief jurisconsult of the Ottoman State and head of the religious establishment. As a leading scholar and politically active figure of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Sabri was appointed Şeyhülislâm four times in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, lived half of his life in exile in various countries, and died in Egypt. Unlike 19th and 20th century Muslim reformers, who believed Islam needed a "Reformation" like Protestants to regain their former political glory, Sabri scorned the acquisition of earthly power at the expense of Muslim values. Although Sabri wrote on theology, philosophy, Islamic law, and the Qur’an, the merit of his thought lies in its full reflection of the economic, political, and social problems of his day. Sabri’s ideas on religion and social justice remain relevant to the critique of neo-liberalism and the "spirit" of capitalism.
Reviews of My Book by Mehmet Karabela
Jeremy Fradkin, "Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes," Global Intellectual History, 2024
In this fascinating book, Mehmet Karabela reveals the many roles assigned to Islam, Islamic histo... more In this fascinating book, Mehmet Karabela reveals the many roles assigned to Islam, Islamic history, the Ottoman Empire, 'Turks', and 'Arabs' by northern European Protestant intellectuals, mostly German Lutherans, from 1650 to 1800. He does so by translating and analyzing university dissertations and disputations that are largely unknown to English-speaking scholars of the period. This rich collection of source material needs to reach as many interested readers as possible, so it is excellent news that Routledge, the publisher, has recently made it available as a more affordable paperback. It should become an indispensable resource for anyone interested in early modern intellectual history, the history of Islamic Studies and Orientalism, and Christian attitudes toward the non-Christian world. Seventeen Latin sources appear here in a lively and readable modern English, which will make them accessible to interested scholars and readers from many backgrounds. The authors were intellectuals affiliated with Lutheran universities between the early seventeenth and late eighteenth centuries, with the exception of a nineteenth-century Köthen schoolmaster who belonged to the Reformed Church. While trained primarily in theology, philosophy, or both, many held additional specializations in 'Oriental' languages like Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, or Persian. In some places, Karabela's translation is attentive to the loaded meanings that specific words could carry in the Lutheran intellectual environment of the period, notably when discussing August Pfeiffer's 1687 denunciation of Islam as 'Syncretic' (p. 156). It might have been useful for the volume to have included even more linguistic analysis of this sort. One example would have been to probe the significance, in a Christian theological context, of one author's negative description of Islam's supposed moral 'laxity' (laxitas) and 'populist' (popularem) character. The texts cover many topics that famously captivated European thinkers during a period which Karabela elects to call 'post-Reformation' rather than 'Enlightenment'. There are comparative studies of religion, philosophy, and literature. There are theories of historical change and the movement from 'barbarism' to civilization; these range from cyclical and contingent to progressive and stadial. There are theories of racial and cultural difference which emphasize, to varying degrees, the effects of environment, politics, and national 'genius'. There is a principled argument against censoring books. There are calls to reform educational institutions steeped in empty and narrow-minded conservatism. There are self-congratulatory declarations that Lutheran Christianity is the only rational faith and attacks on other Christian groups who apparently fall short of this lofty goal. There are sober reflections on fanaticism, sectarianism, and the degeneration of monarchy into tyranny. Of course, not every topic has the whiff of potential 'Enlightenment' about it. Seventeenth-century specialists will not be surprised to find the earlier writers, notably Wendeler (1655), Kromayer (1668), and Calixt (1687), indulging in characteristic bouts of apocalyptic speculation: the identity of the 'Little Horn' in Daniel 7, the whereabouts of Gog and Magog, and so forth. With each text, the reader is provided with an intriguing snapshot of how these preoccupations influenced, and were in turn influenced by, views on Islam and the steady development of Oriental scholarship in Protestant Europe. When read together, the texts interact with one another in many ways, leaving the reader free to draw conclusions about continuity and change over time, as Reformation-era attitudes and concerns gave way to more modern,
Hussam S. Timani, Review of Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, 2023
"Mehmet Karabela’s Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes is a welcome contribution to the field... more "Mehmet Karabela’s Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes is a welcome contribution to the fields of religious studies and Islamic studies. Karabela brings to light a topic that has long been neglected by historians and scholars of religion, one that is of great importance to Christian-Muslim relations and to our understanding of 17th- and 18th- century European views on Islam..."
"This book is an excellent illustration of post- Reformation Protestant scholarly engagement with Islamic literature."
Gary K. Waite, "Islamic Thought through Protestant Eyes," The Seventeenth Century, 37/2: 342-344, 2022
"Karabela’s volume is an extremely helpful resource for research and advanced-level classrooms. W... more "Karabela’s volume is an extremely helpful resource for research and advanced-level classrooms. With an annotated bibliography of selected primary sources, a glossary of terms, and an extensive bibliography and index, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes should be in every Reformation and religious studies library."
Jose Abraham, "Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes," in Renaissance and Reformation 45/1(2022): 225-227
By exploring the Protestant Reformations, in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Mehmet Kara... more By exploring the Protestant Reformations, in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Mehmet Karabela is dealing with one of the critical chapters in the history of Christianity. Historians generally considered the Reformations solely a European and Christian phenomenon and, therefore, focused their attention on the Protestant-Catholic divide and the conflict between orthodox and Pietist Lutheran factions with their Calvinist opponents. A cursory look at the titles and indexes of the books on the history of the Protestant Reformations published in the last few decades reveals to us that, even in our contemporary times, the term “Islam” has not been generally associated with the study of Protestant Reformations.
. . .
Therefore, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes is an essential resource for libraries, graduate students, and scholars interested in studying the genealogy of Orientalism, the formation of Protestant traditions, European interactions with Islamic thought, and the construction of Protestant identity in the post-Reformation periods.
Paul Strauss, "Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes", Lutheran Quarterly 36/4 (2022): 444-446
Mehmet Karabela expands our understanding of how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European Pro... more Mehmet Karabela expands our understanding of how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European Protestant scholars understood Islam and learning in the Islamic world and often deployed this understanding for their own intra-Christian debates.
Edward Moad, "Review of Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes," The International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Association (IJAPA), 15/2 (2022): 240-241
Chapters by Mehmet Karabela
"Islam and Protestantism" in A Global Sourcebook in Protestant Political Thought, Volume I: 1517–1660, 2024
This first volume of A Global Sourcebook in Protestant Political Thought provides a window into t... more This first volume of A Global Sourcebook in Protestant Political Thought provides a window into the early Protestant world, and the ways in which Protestants wrestled with politics and religion in the wake of the Reformation. This period saw political authorities and church hierarchies challenged and defended by scholars, clerics, and laypeople alike. The volume engages the full spectrum of Protestants, with reference to theology, geography, ethnicity, historical importance, socio-economic background, and gender. This diversity highlights how Protestants felt pulled towards di ering political positions and used several maps to chart their course -conscience, custom, history, ecclesiastical tradition, and the laws of God, nature, nation, or community. On most important issues, Protestants lined up on opposing sides. Additionally, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox political thought, as well as interactions with Jewish and Muslim texts and thinkers, profoundly influenced di erent directions taken in the history of Protestant political thought. Even as our own time is fraught with deep disagreement and political polarisation, so too was early modern Europe, and we might read it in the anxieties, uncertainties, hopes, and expectations that the sources vividly express. This sourcebook will enrich both research and classroom teaching in politics, theology, and history, whether geared towards general political or religious history, or towards more specialised courses on colonialism, warfare, gender, race, or religious diversity.
"What is Political about Political Islam?" in Political Theology on Edge, Eds. Clayton Crockett and Catherine Keller. Fordham University Press, 2022
Mehmet Karabela draws upon Carl Schmitt’s analysis more explicitly to interrogate and understand ... more Mehmet Karabela draws upon Carl Schmitt’s analysis more explicitly to interrogate and understand how Islamic and Western scholars have conceptualized an “apolitical” Islam that could then be politicized. He applies Schmitt’s friend/enemy distinction as characteristic of the political to the study of Islam and shows how Islam has always been political and religious at the same time in this context. Liberalism posits a separate realm of religion and politics that it charges Islam and other political religions wrongly mix, but there is no intrinsic separation of politics from religion in a post-secular context, and we have many lessons to learn of and from Islam. Rather than the modern nation-state, which is the locus for Schmitt, the polity of Islam is more situated on the Muslim community, which is less determinate and defined. Every community, particularly every religious community, is potentially political in the Schmittian context.
In book: Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes (pp.1-55), 2021
Although Protestant theologians and scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries closely ... more Although Protestant theologians and scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries closely engaged with Islamic thought, modern historians of religion have primarily focused on the Protestant-Catholic divide as the critical chapter in the history of Christianity. This approach resulted in their seeing the Reformation and its aftermath as a European Christian phenomenon, isolated from other religious thought, including Islam. Therefore, this book addresses this gap by exploring the engagement of post-Reformation scholars with Islamic thought, as well as Protestant disruptions with Catholicism and Judaism, using previously unstudied dissertations and academic works of Protestant scholars— primarily Lutheran theologians—from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
“Lovers in the Age of the Beloveds: The Classical Ottoman Divan Literature and the Dialectical Tradition” in The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures: The Culture of Love and Languishing, Eds. Michael Beard, Hanadi al-Samman & Alireza Korangy. I.B. Tauris, 2017
This chapter analyzes traditional archetypes of divan literature—‘āşık (lover), ma‘şūk (beloved),... more This chapter analyzes traditional archetypes of divan literature—‘āşık (lover), ma‘şūk (beloved), and rakīb (opponent)—to show the presence of a dialectical discourse in classical Ottoman divan love poems. In both style and content divan poems display a comprehensive understanding of the postclassical Islamic philosophical conception of dialectic and argumentation theory, known as ādāb al-baḥth wa al-munāẓara. The focus on Ottoman love poetry and argumentation theory in this paper aims to demonstrate how the love poetry that developed in Ottoman culture is more dialectical in form and content than Ottoman literary studies have recognized.
"First Arabic Edition of the Qur'an among the Europeans," in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.107-126), 2021
Johann Michael Lange's dissertation considers the first Arabic edition of the Qur’an printed in E... more Johann Michael Lange's dissertation considers the first Arabic edition of the Qur’an printed in Europe in the sixteenth century. He is not concerned with the Qur’an’s contents or with Islam per se, but rather with proving the existence of this early edition, about which there was some doubt in Europe at the time. Lange wrote his dissertation, he says, because of false information passed down by philologists about certain editions of the Qur’an. He sets out to recount the history of the first printed edition, destroyed by the Catholic Church, laying out the evidence in the writings of several European scholars who refer to this first edition, known as Alcorano di Macometto. He then evaluates whether the Church was justified in suppressing it. Lange thus tries to prove not only that a sixteenth-century Arabic edition of the Qur’an existed, but also that its destruction by the Catholic Church could not be justified on religious or any other grounds.
. . .
Son of a Nuremberg pastor, Johann Michael Lange was born in 1664 in Etzelwang in the Duchy of Sulzbach. Lange studied philosophy, medicine, and theology at the University of Altdorf beginning in 1682. In 1687, he received the title of poet laureate and also his Master’s degree. In 1688, he began his advanced theological studies at Jena University with Johann Wilhelm Baier (d.1695), a disciple of the well-known Lutheran Johannes Musäus (d.1681), the representative of the middle party in the Syncretistic Controversy. In 1690, he became an adjunct in the Faculty of Philosophy at Jena. In 1692, he served as a pastor in Vohenstrauss in Sulzbach’schen, and studied theology at Halle in 1694. In 1697, Lange received his Doctor of Theology and was Professor of Theology at Altdorf until 1709. He also served as the rector of the university in 1704 and 1705. In 1709, he was involved in a dispute with his colleagues over his adherence to Pietism. Consequently, Lange was accused of open deviation from the confessions of the Orthodox Lutheran Church and he was forced to resign his position. He spent the rest of his career as an ecclesiastical inspector in Prenzlau in the Uckermark, where he died in 1731.
Variant Names: Johannes Michael Lang, Johann Michael Lang, Johann Michael Langius, Iohannes Michael Lange, Joh. Mich. Langi, and Joh. Michaelis Langii
"Moral Laxity of Islam" in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.59-79), 2021
Christian Benedikt Michaelis ends his disputation by dismissing the ritual ablutions of Islam as ... more Christian Benedikt Michaelis ends his disputation by dismissing the ritual ablutions of Islam as mere outward cleanliness and contrasts such rituals with Protestant inner purity and piety. As a Pietist, he concludes that Islam is, like Catholicism, morally lax, superfcial, and concerned only with external appearances. Reformation scholars claimed that Islam’s rapid expansion was due to the sword, the political weaknesses of Islam’s enemies, Christian divisions, and God’s punishment. However, post-Reformation Pietist scholars’ preferred reason for Islam’s popularity was moral laxity; this allowed them to assert the moral superiority of Protestantism.
. . .
Christian Benedikt Michaelis was born in 1680 in Ellrich in modern Thuringia, where he attended school. In 1694, Michaelis’ uncle Johann Heinrich Michaelis (d.1738) brought him to Halle, a Lutheran university and center for Pietism in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In 1697, he went to the Gymnasium in Gotha and, in 1699, Michaelis moved to Halle to study theology and oriental languages, acquiring a Master’s degree in 1706.
"Concept of Fate among the Turks," in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.161-177), 2021
German Lutheran scholar Johann Friedrich Weitenkampf (d.1758) sets out to explain and refute the ... more German Lutheran scholar Johann Friedrich Weitenkampf (d.1758) sets out to explain and refute the Turkish concept of fate, dividing his dissertation into two sections: the first outlining the Turkish-Muslim view of fate; and the second seeking to prove the invalidity of the Muslim concept of fate with philosophical argumentation. He begins with some brief notes on the historical origin of the Turks, turning then to the backstory of the Qur’an, which he claims can be divided into six sections or topics, the last of which concerns its teachings on fate. According to Weitenkampf, in mainstream Islamic thought, fate is predetermined and immutable. Weitenkampf categorizes most Turks as Jabrites who believe that God is the source of all evil and that men do not have free will. Therefore, men are compelled to do evil or good through God’s omnipotence. He offers examples of how this belief is manifested in the actions and values of the Turks. According to Weitenkampf, since Turks believe in predestination, they do not flee plague-ridden cities or shun contact with those infected. They do not fear death. If they suffer, they believe fate decreed it. In battle, this makes them brave to the point of foolhardy. Weitenkampf also paraphrases an exhortation from the Qur’an in which Muslims are told not to avoid danger, as God has already determined their fate.
. . .
Weitenkampf’s dissertatio is a symptom of the struggle between the weakened Lutheran orthodoxy and the rise of Pietism and rationalism in the wake of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Unlike other Lutheran authors, he analyzes Islamic thought through systematic philosophical argumentation, deeply influenced by his logic and metaphysics teacher Knutzen, who tried to combine Wolffan Enlightenment rationalism with pietistic spirituality.
"Investigation of Religions" in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.289-304), 2021
In his disputatio, Hieronymus Kromayer tries to construct a position about what is ‘true’ in reli... more In his disputatio, Hieronymus Kromayer tries to construct a position about what is ‘true’ in religion, based on its relationship to Christianity. In so doing, rather than providing an analysis of Islam as a single entity, he presents it in relation to its Abrahamic predecessors, with a focus on Qur’anic conceptions of Christ. Islam, therefore, represents a ‘true’ religion, according to Kromayer, because, unlike paganism, it consists of conceptions of divinity that are reflected in Christian doctrine.
Although Kromayer’s title refers to Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, his disputation focuses on comparing Islam to various heresies. However, Kromayer’s title, Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, implies that the two main Islamic sects (Sunni and Shi'a) and their theological dispute were restricted to the Ottoman-Safavid political tension. In contrast, Pfeiffer’s use of "Alishiis" and "Sunnitis" in his title indicates, to a certain extent, a familiarity with the Sunni and Shi‘a schools of thought. In other words, for Kromayer, Muslim denominations are ethnic and political as much as theological.
"Muhammadan Religion" in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.80-106), 2021
Unlike other Lutheran authors, Friedrich Ulrich Calixt's dissertatio is a clear indication of his... more Unlike other Lutheran authors, Friedrich Ulrich Calixt's dissertatio is a clear indication of his close engagement with the Syncretic movement, which supported the idea of conversion and ecumenism. As the Calixtinians wanted to create a bridge between Lutherans and other Christian sects, including Roman Catholics and the Reformed Church, the struggle between the Orthodox Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg against the more liberal Calixtinian theologians of Helmstedt reached an impasse toward the end of the seventeenth century. Therefore, for Calixt, unlike Orthodox Lutherans, Muslims are not just a tool to criticize Catholicism, but present an opportunity to save souls through the adoption of universal basic Christian teachings, which are unanimously agreed upon. For him, only unity among Christian sects can accomplish this goal of conversion.
. . .
Friedrich Ulrich Calixt was born in Helmstedt in 1622. His father, Georg Calixt, was a well-known theologian at the University of Helmstedt. Young Calixt studied philosophy and medicine at Helmstedt and Leipzig before turning to the study of theology. In 1650, he became professor of theology at Helmstedt and, in 1652, he became a Doctor of Theology. He upheld the theological opinions of his father, dubbed ‘Calixtinian,’ which argued against the claim to the theological and ecclesiastical exclusivity of Lutheran orthodoxy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole seventeenth century of Helmstedt theology was dominated by the two Calixts: the younger Calixt and his more famous father. For his views, the elder Calixt had been accused of ‘syncretism’ and being a ‘crypto-Catholic’ during the Syncretic Controversy, which set the more extremist Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg, led by Abraham Calov, against the more liberal Lutheran theologians of Helmstedt. The Syncretic Controversy (1640–1686) was a theological debate provoked by the elder Calixt and his supporters; they wanted to provide a means to bridge the gap between Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and the Reformed churches. After the assumption of his professorship at Helmstedt, the younger Calixt renewed the Syncretic Controversy in 1662, arguing that all sects of Christianity contain some of the universal truths needed for salvation. He viewed the first five centuries of the Church as a pure and nearly uncorrupted age, with the worst heresies and corruption setting in afterwards. He believed the Roman Catholic Church was the most corrupt due to the papacy’s claims to supremacy and superstitious additions to fundamental articles of the faith, but he was also critical of various aspects of Reformed and Lutheran theology.
"Turkish Muhammadan Theology," in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.127-152), 2021
Johann Karl Valentin Bauer's dissertation sets out to explain (Turkish) Islamic theology using th... more Johann Karl Valentin Bauer's dissertation sets out to explain (Turkish) Islamic theology using the Qur’an as the sole source in the spirit of the Lutheran belief in Sola Scriptura. He organizes points of interest into thirty-three sections, liberally quoting from the Qur’an in Arabic and providing a Latin translation. Although Bauer tends to portray Islam negatively, his dissertation is particularly worthy of study as he analyzes and compares Islamic and Christian theology articulated in the Qur’an and the Old and New Testaments, and as he examines intra-Christian differences between Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists (Reformed Church).
"Fate of Learning among the Arabs," in Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, Routledge (pp.254-266), 2021
Cornelius Dietrich Koch (d.1724) remarks that throughout history learning has originated, flouris... more Cornelius Dietrich Koch (d.1724) remarks that throughout history learning has originated, flourished, and declined in various parts of the world. Intending to trace the history of learning among the Arabs, he begins by listing the categories of knowledge valued by the pre-Islamic Arabs, namely poetry, rhetoric, astronomy, genealogy, dream interpretation, and medicine. However, he thinks that the advent of Islam and their wars of expansion distracted the Arabs from their literary studies. According to him, fifty years or so after Muhammad’s death, learning resumed, this time with a considerable interest in a new category: Islamic law.
. . .
Uploads
Books by Mehmet Karabela
Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi'a).
This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity.
While the tradition of political theology is often associated with philosophical responses to the work of Carl Schmitt—and the critical attempts to disengage religion from his right-wing politics—the contributors to this volume are informed by Schmitt but not limited to his perspectives. They engage and transform political theology from the standpoint of climate change, the politics of race, and non-Christian political theologies including Islam and Sikhism. Important themes include the Anthropocene, Ecology, Capitalism, Sovereignty, Black Lives Matter, Affect Theory, Continental Philosophy, Destruction, and Suicide. This book includes world-renowned scholars and emerging voices that together open up the tradition of political theology to new ideas and new ways of thinking.
Reviews of My Book by Mehmet Karabela
"This book is an excellent illustration of post- Reformation Protestant scholarly engagement with Islamic literature."
. . .
Therefore, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes is an essential resource for libraries, graduate students, and scholars interested in studying the genealogy of Orientalism, the formation of Protestant traditions, European interactions with Islamic thought, and the construction of Protestant identity in the post-Reformation periods.
Chapters by Mehmet Karabela
. . .
Son of a Nuremberg pastor, Johann Michael Lange was born in 1664 in Etzelwang in the Duchy of Sulzbach. Lange studied philosophy, medicine, and theology at the University of Altdorf beginning in 1682. In 1687, he received the title of poet laureate and also his Master’s degree. In 1688, he began his advanced theological studies at Jena University with Johann Wilhelm Baier (d.1695), a disciple of the well-known Lutheran Johannes Musäus (d.1681), the representative of the middle party in the Syncretistic Controversy. In 1690, he became an adjunct in the Faculty of Philosophy at Jena. In 1692, he served as a pastor in Vohenstrauss in Sulzbach’schen, and studied theology at Halle in 1694. In 1697, Lange received his Doctor of Theology and was Professor of Theology at Altdorf until 1709. He also served as the rector of the university in 1704 and 1705. In 1709, he was involved in a dispute with his colleagues over his adherence to Pietism. Consequently, Lange was accused of open deviation from the confessions of the Orthodox Lutheran Church and he was forced to resign his position. He spent the rest of his career as an ecclesiastical inspector in Prenzlau in the Uckermark, where he died in 1731.
Variant Names: Johannes Michael Lang, Johann Michael Lang, Johann Michael Langius, Iohannes Michael Lange, Joh. Mich. Langi, and Joh. Michaelis Langii
. . .
Christian Benedikt Michaelis was born in 1680 in Ellrich in modern Thuringia, where he attended school. In 1694, Michaelis’ uncle Johann Heinrich Michaelis (d.1738) brought him to Halle, a Lutheran university and center for Pietism in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In 1697, he went to the Gymnasium in Gotha and, in 1699, Michaelis moved to Halle to study theology and oriental languages, acquiring a Master’s degree in 1706.
. . .
Weitenkampf’s dissertatio is a symptom of the struggle between the weakened Lutheran orthodoxy and the rise of Pietism and rationalism in the wake of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Unlike other Lutheran authors, he analyzes Islamic thought through systematic philosophical argumentation, deeply influenced by his logic and metaphysics teacher Knutzen, who tried to combine Wolffan Enlightenment rationalism with pietistic spirituality.
Although Kromayer’s title refers to Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, his disputation focuses on comparing Islam to various heresies. However, Kromayer’s title, Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, implies that the two main Islamic sects (Sunni and Shi'a) and their theological dispute were restricted to the Ottoman-Safavid political tension. In contrast, Pfeiffer’s use of "Alishiis" and "Sunnitis" in his title indicates, to a certain extent, a familiarity with the Sunni and Shi‘a schools of thought. In other words, for Kromayer, Muslim denominations are ethnic and political as much as theological.
. . .
Friedrich Ulrich Calixt was born in Helmstedt in 1622. His father, Georg Calixt, was a well-known theologian at the University of Helmstedt. Young Calixt studied philosophy and medicine at Helmstedt and Leipzig before turning to the study of theology. In 1650, he became professor of theology at Helmstedt and, in 1652, he became a Doctor of Theology. He upheld the theological opinions of his father, dubbed ‘Calixtinian,’ which argued against the claim to the theological and ecclesiastical exclusivity of Lutheran orthodoxy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole seventeenth century of Helmstedt theology was dominated by the two Calixts: the younger Calixt and his more famous father. For his views, the elder Calixt had been accused of ‘syncretism’ and being a ‘crypto-Catholic’ during the Syncretic Controversy, which set the more extremist Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg, led by Abraham Calov, against the more liberal Lutheran theologians of Helmstedt. The Syncretic Controversy (1640–1686) was a theological debate provoked by the elder Calixt and his supporters; they wanted to provide a means to bridge the gap between Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and the Reformed churches. After the assumption of his professorship at Helmstedt, the younger Calixt renewed the Syncretic Controversy in 1662, arguing that all sects of Christianity contain some of the universal truths needed for salvation. He viewed the first five centuries of the Church as a pure and nearly uncorrupted age, with the worst heresies and corruption setting in afterwards. He believed the Roman Catholic Church was the most corrupt due to the papacy’s claims to supremacy and superstitious additions to fundamental articles of the faith, but he was also critical of various aspects of Reformed and Lutheran theology.
. . .
Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi'a).
This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity.
While the tradition of political theology is often associated with philosophical responses to the work of Carl Schmitt—and the critical attempts to disengage religion from his right-wing politics—the contributors to this volume are informed by Schmitt but not limited to his perspectives. They engage and transform political theology from the standpoint of climate change, the politics of race, and non-Christian political theologies including Islam and Sikhism. Important themes include the Anthropocene, Ecology, Capitalism, Sovereignty, Black Lives Matter, Affect Theory, Continental Philosophy, Destruction, and Suicide. This book includes world-renowned scholars and emerging voices that together open up the tradition of political theology to new ideas and new ways of thinking.
"This book is an excellent illustration of post- Reformation Protestant scholarly engagement with Islamic literature."
. . .
Therefore, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes is an essential resource for libraries, graduate students, and scholars interested in studying the genealogy of Orientalism, the formation of Protestant traditions, European interactions with Islamic thought, and the construction of Protestant identity in the post-Reformation periods.
. . .
Son of a Nuremberg pastor, Johann Michael Lange was born in 1664 in Etzelwang in the Duchy of Sulzbach. Lange studied philosophy, medicine, and theology at the University of Altdorf beginning in 1682. In 1687, he received the title of poet laureate and also his Master’s degree. In 1688, he began his advanced theological studies at Jena University with Johann Wilhelm Baier (d.1695), a disciple of the well-known Lutheran Johannes Musäus (d.1681), the representative of the middle party in the Syncretistic Controversy. In 1690, he became an adjunct in the Faculty of Philosophy at Jena. In 1692, he served as a pastor in Vohenstrauss in Sulzbach’schen, and studied theology at Halle in 1694. In 1697, Lange received his Doctor of Theology and was Professor of Theology at Altdorf until 1709. He also served as the rector of the university in 1704 and 1705. In 1709, he was involved in a dispute with his colleagues over his adherence to Pietism. Consequently, Lange was accused of open deviation from the confessions of the Orthodox Lutheran Church and he was forced to resign his position. He spent the rest of his career as an ecclesiastical inspector in Prenzlau in the Uckermark, where he died in 1731.
Variant Names: Johannes Michael Lang, Johann Michael Lang, Johann Michael Langius, Iohannes Michael Lange, Joh. Mich. Langi, and Joh. Michaelis Langii
. . .
Christian Benedikt Michaelis was born in 1680 in Ellrich in modern Thuringia, where he attended school. In 1694, Michaelis’ uncle Johann Heinrich Michaelis (d.1738) brought him to Halle, a Lutheran university and center for Pietism in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In 1697, he went to the Gymnasium in Gotha and, in 1699, Michaelis moved to Halle to study theology and oriental languages, acquiring a Master’s degree in 1706.
. . .
Weitenkampf’s dissertatio is a symptom of the struggle between the weakened Lutheran orthodoxy and the rise of Pietism and rationalism in the wake of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Unlike other Lutheran authors, he analyzes Islamic thought through systematic philosophical argumentation, deeply influenced by his logic and metaphysics teacher Knutzen, who tried to combine Wolffan Enlightenment rationalism with pietistic spirituality.
Although Kromayer’s title refers to Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, his disputation focuses on comparing Islam to various heresies. However, Kromayer’s title, Turkish and Persian Muhammadanism, implies that the two main Islamic sects (Sunni and Shi'a) and their theological dispute were restricted to the Ottoman-Safavid political tension. In contrast, Pfeiffer’s use of "Alishiis" and "Sunnitis" in his title indicates, to a certain extent, a familiarity with the Sunni and Shi‘a schools of thought. In other words, for Kromayer, Muslim denominations are ethnic and political as much as theological.
. . .
Friedrich Ulrich Calixt was born in Helmstedt in 1622. His father, Georg Calixt, was a well-known theologian at the University of Helmstedt. Young Calixt studied philosophy and medicine at Helmstedt and Leipzig before turning to the study of theology. In 1650, he became professor of theology at Helmstedt and, in 1652, he became a Doctor of Theology. He upheld the theological opinions of his father, dubbed ‘Calixtinian,’ which argued against the claim to the theological and ecclesiastical exclusivity of Lutheran orthodoxy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole seventeenth century of Helmstedt theology was dominated by the two Calixts: the younger Calixt and his more famous father. For his views, the elder Calixt had been accused of ‘syncretism’ and being a ‘crypto-Catholic’ during the Syncretic Controversy, which set the more extremist Lutheran theologians of Wittenberg, led by Abraham Calov, against the more liberal Lutheran theologians of Helmstedt. The Syncretic Controversy (1640–1686) was a theological debate provoked by the elder Calixt and his supporters; they wanted to provide a means to bridge the gap between Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and the Reformed churches. After the assumption of his professorship at Helmstedt, the younger Calixt renewed the Syncretic Controversy in 1662, arguing that all sects of Christianity contain some of the universal truths needed for salvation. He viewed the first five centuries of the Church as a pure and nearly uncorrupted age, with the worst heresies and corruption setting in afterwards. He believed the Roman Catholic Church was the most corrupt due to the papacy’s claims to supremacy and superstitious additions to fundamental articles of the faith, but he was also critical of various aspects of Reformed and Lutheran theology.
. . .
. . .
Michael Wendeler was born in Schlettau in 1610. In 1628, he began his studies at Wittenberg, becoming a Magister in 1632. He initially studied philology with Erasmus Schmidt and mathematics and astronomy with Ambrosius Rhodius. Wendeler obtained his Master of Philosophy from the University of Wittenberg in 1633. He then advanced his study of theology with prominent Lutheran scholars, such as Jakob Martini, Paul Röber, Wilhelm Leyser, and Johann Hülsemann. Around 1637, he was an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Wittenberg. After a short training at the University of Helmstedt, he became professor of ethics at Wittenberg in 1640. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Helmstedt. In the same year, he became a professor of moral philosophy at Wittenberg. In 1650, he was a professor of theology, and in 1666, he became an assessor in the Faculty of Theology. As a Lutheran philosopher and theologian, Wendeler was a prolific writer, publishing many disputations on topics such as political philosophy, theology, moral philosophy, and Jewish political thought. He also wrote a manual on how to conduct an academic disputation, Breves observationes genuini disputandi processus, a handbook influential among Lutheran academic circles. He died in Wittenberg in 1671. Variant Names: Michael Wendler, Michael Wendelerus, Michaele Wendelero, Michael Wendlerus, Michaeli Wendelero, and Michaelis Wendeleri.
. . .
Johann Peter von Ludewig was born in 1668 at Schwäbisch Hall in Honhardt and, at an early age, he attended Latin school in Crailsheim, a town in modern Baden-Württemberg. He studied theology and humanities at Tübingen in 1688; then at Wittenberg he studied theology and philosophy and received his Master’s degree in 1690, before attending the University of Halle in 1693 to study law. After studying law and lecturing on the history of philosophy at Halle, Ludewig took up a professorship position there in theoretical philosophy in 1695. During his studies at Wittenberg and Halle, Ludewig was influenced by one of the most important figures in the evolution of German law, the jurist Samuel Stryk (d.1710). In this disputation written in 1699, Ludewig presents his ideas in a juristic systematic fashion by giving arguments and counter-arguments before expressing his own judgment.
. . .
August Pfeiffer was born in Lauenburg/Elbe in 1640. He was initially trained by a private tutor and then went on to study at the Hamburg Gymnasium, a humanist grammar school. As an adolescent, Pfeiffer was drawn to the mystical spiritualism of Christian Hoburg, but his professors influenced him away from this. Pfeiffer attended the University of Wittenberg in 1658 where he was fast-tracked in order to receive his Master’s degree in 1659. At Wittenberg, he studied with two champions of Lutheran orthodoxy in the seventeenth century, Abraham Calov (d.1686) and Johann Deutschmann (d.1706). In his works, Pfeiffer stressed the orthodoxy and the primacy of orthodox Lutheranism against Roman Catholicism as well as against all types of Pietism. He had a longstanding dispute with Philipp Jakob Spener, the ‘Father of Pietism’ and founder of the University of Halle. Pfeiffer is also considered to have strongly influenced the faith and thought of the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach and some of his works can be found in Bach’s theological library. He died in Lübeck in 1698.
. . .
Sebastian Kirchmaier was born in Uffenheim in 1641. He enrolled at the University of Altdorf in 1660 and at Wittenberg in 1661, where he earned a Magister der Philosophie in 1662. He became an adjunct professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in 1665. Kirchmaier’s school remembrance book (Stammbuch) written between 1660 and 1667 reveals his significant Lutheran network at Wittenberg. Most prominent figures of seventeenth-century orthodox Lutheranism, such as Abraham Calov, Johannes Musaeus, August Pfeiffer, and Hieronymous Kromayer, wrote entries in Kirchmaier’s Stammbuch. Later, in 1668, he became professor at the college in Regensburg.
. . .
Johannes Steuchius was a prominent Swedish Lutheran theologian and academic, a descendant of celebrated Lutheran bishops and academics. Born in 1676 in Härnösand in northern Sweden, Steuchius moved with his family to Lund in 1694 when his father, Matthias Steuchius, the renowned academic and theologian, was appointed Bishop of Lund. After completing his studies in logic and metaphysics at Uppsala University, Steuchius was given the opportunity to attend some of Europe’s foremost Protestant academic institutions, a luxury afforded to few. He continued his theological and philosophical studies as a visiting student at the universities of Rostock, Hamburg, Wolfenbüttel, Helmstedt, Wittenberg, Altdorf, London, Oxford, Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leiden. During this period, he studied under many prominent Lutheran academics, such as Professor Johann Fecht, one of Germany’s leading representatives of Lutheran orthodoxy. He also met Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and visited the famous library in Wolfenbüttel during this time.
His overall analysis depends on two unstated assumptions. First, that Aristotelian philosophy is the highest truth; and second, that the “true” Aristotle can be preserved only within a Protestant (rational) theological framework. Given the context that Walch was himself a Lutheran theologian and philosopher, whose own mode of thinking rested on the reconciliation of ‘true Aristotelian logic’ with Lutheran theology, he readily associates Arabic and, by extension, Jewish philosophy with Scholasticism.
. . .
Jacob Taubes (Author), Mike Grimshaw (Introduction), and Keith Tribe (Translator)
Within this context, Marta Spranzi’s The Art of Dialectic between Dialogue and Rhetoric offers a comprehensive legacy of the Aristotelian dialectic while exploring the significance of the art of dialectic in the development of philosophical methods of inquiry. Spranzi tries to reconstruct an “Aristotelian tradition” in dialectic by using Aristotle’s Topics as a source text for the later philosophical development of dialectic, both in form and content. Spranzi’s central argument is that Aristotle’s text holds the blueprint for the later development of two different types of dialectic: opinion-oriented disputational and truth-oriented aporetic.
. . .
French Abstract:
Cette dissertation est une analyse de l'évolution de la théorie dialectique et d'argumentation dans l'histoire intellectuelle islamique post-classique. Les préoccupations centrales de la thèse sont les suivantes: les traités sur la compréhension théorique de la notion de la théorie dialectique (de logique) et d'argumentation, et comment, en pratique, la notion dialectique, tel qu'elle est exprimée dans la tradition grecque classique, a été reçue et utilisée par les cinq collectivités du camp intellectuel islamique. Cette étude démontre comment la notion dialectique en tant que discours argumentatif a été diffusée dans cinq collectivités (théologiens, poètes, grammairiens, philosophes et juristes) et comment ces notions logiques locales, développées dans les différentes communautés, se sont fusionnées en un seul système pour former une théorie d'argumentation générale (adab al-bahth) applicable à tous les domaines. J'évalue un traité de Shams al-Din Samarqandi (d.702/1302), le fondateur de cette théorie générale, et les traités qui ont été écrits après lui en tant que succession de son travail. Je me concentre spécifiquement sur les travaux de 'Adud al-Din al-Iji (d.756/1355), Sayyid Sharif al-Jurjani (d.816/1413), Taşköprüzâde (d.968/1561), Saçaklızâde (d.1150/1737) et Gelenbevî (d.1205/1791) et analyse comment chaque auteur (de Samarqandi à Gelenbevî) a modifié la forme du discours argumentatif et comment les intellectuels, venus par après dans le monde post-islamique classique, ont répondu à ce discours transmis par leurs prédécesseurs.Ce qui est frappant, de la période que cette thèse étudie (de 1300-1800), est la persistance de ce qu'on pourrait appeler le tournant linguistique dans la théorie de l'argumentation. Après plusieurs siècles, la notion dialectique de la période classique basée sur jadal fût remplacée par une nouvelle théorie d'argumentation qui était principalement de caractère linguistique. Ce tournant linguistique dans l'argumentation est daté du dernier quart du quatorzième siècle dans le travail sur 'ilm al-wad' impressionnant et prémonitoire d'al-Iji. Cette idée, qui est finalement émergée dans la période post-classique, disant que l'argumentation décrit une définition et que, par conséquent, la définition est l'utilité du langage —et même peut-être, que le langage est le seul moyen disponible pour comprendre et être compris— a influencé la façon dont la théorie d'argumentation a été formulée dans la majeure partie de la période en question.Le discours argumentatif qui a commencé avec Ibn al-Rawandi au troisième/neuvième siècle a laissé une empreinte permanente dans l'histoire intellectuelle islamique qui s'est remplie de concepts, de terminologie et d'objectifs de ce discours jusqu'à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. Selon cette perspective, l'histoire intellectuelle islamique peut être lue comme une divergence entre deux langues: le "langage dialectique" (jadal) et le "langage démonstratif" (burhan), dont chacun se réfère non seulement à une caractéristique importante de cette histoire, mais à une caractéristique qui pourrait changer radicalement l'interprétation de cette histoire.