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.

About the Author

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

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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

Reviews

"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

"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’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

"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 provides the first comprehensive account of the intellectual and social milieu in Antioch during the Byzantine reconquest of the city, focusing on the outstanding theologian and translator Abdallah ibn al-Fadl. Much of Roberts’s analysis is completely fresh, often based on manuscripts that he has edited and translated for the first time. This book is a veritable tour de force."—Alexander Treiger, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Dalhousie University.

"A fascinating book revealing the importance of intellectual exchanges between Byzantium and the Islamic Empire. Ibn al-Fadl translated Greek religious and theological texts, but his notations highlight the impact of the Arabic Aristotelian philosophical tradition and its vocabulary. Roberts shows the unique role Antioch played in these exchanges, making a welcome contribution to an emerging area of research."—Thérèse-Anne Druart, Professor of Medieval Philosophy in Islamic Lands, The Catholic University of America

About the Book

About the Author

From Our Blog

#MESA2020: New and Notable in Middle Eastern Studies

Table of Contents

Reviews