Shared Identities

Zusatztext In Shared Identities: Medieval and Modern Imaginings of Judeo-Islam, Aaron W. Hughes reminds us of the important role of intellectuals, historiographers, and deconstructionists who decode the past in finding a solution for today's conflicts... For academics and activists, Hughes not only suggests a philological reading of the past but also a critical re-reading of the literature that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries, which has shaped our understandingsof, and approaches to, the 'Other.' Thus, this could be considered an important contribution to the history of religion, religious studies, and the Middle East. Informationen zum Autor Aaron W. Hughes holds the Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester. A specialist in Islamic and Jewish Studies, he is the author of many books including Abrahamic Religion: On the Uses and Abuses of History and Rethinking Jewish Philosophy: Beyond Particularism and Universalism. Klappentext Received opinion imagines two distinct religions, Judaism and Islam, interacting in the centuries immediately following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes these relations using the trope of "symbiosis." In this revisionist study, Aaron W. Hughes instead argues that various porous groups-neither fully Muslim nor Jewish-exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process ofIslamicization Zusammenfassung In this controversial study, Aaron W. Hughes breaks with received opinion, which imagines two distinct religions, Judaism and Islam, interacting in the centuries immediately following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes these relations using tropes such as that of "symbiosis." Hughes instead argues that various porous groupsâneither fully Muslim nor Jewishâexploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds inresponse to the rapid process of Islamicization. What emerged as normative rabbinic Judaism on the one hand, and Sunni and Shi'a Islam on the other were ultimately responses to such marginal groups. The so-called "Golden Age" in places such as Muslim Spain and North Africa continued to see thearticulation of this "Islamic" Judaism in the writings of luminaries such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides.Drawing on social theory, comparative religion, and primary texts, Hughes presents a compelling case for rewriting our understanding of Jews and Muslims in their earliest centuries of interaction. Not content to remain solely in the past, he examines the continued interaction of Muslims and Jews, now reimagined as Palestinians and Israelis, into the present. ...

Auteur
Aaron W. Hughes holds the Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester. A specialist in Islamic and Jewish Studies, he is the author of many books including Abrahamic Religion: On the Uses and Abuses of History and Rethinking Jewish Philosophy: Beyond Particularism and Universalism.

Texte du rabat

Received opinion imagines two distinct religions, Judaism and Islam, interacting in the centuries immediately following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes these relations using the trope of "symbiosis." In this revisionist study, Aaron W. Hughes instead argues that various porous groups--neither fully Muslim nor Jewish--exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process of Islamicization

Résumé
In this controversial study, Aaron W. Hughes breaks with received opinion, which imagines two distinct religions, Judaism and Islam, interacting in the centuries immediately following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes these relations using tropes such as that of "symbiosis." Hughes instead argues that various porous groups--neither fully Muslim nor Jewish--exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process of Islamicization. What emerged as normative rabbinic Judaism on the one hand, and Sunni and Shi'a Islam on the other were ultimately responses to such marginal groups. The so-called "Golden Age" in places such as Muslim Spain and North Africa continued to see the articulation of this "Islamic" Judaism in the writings of luminaries such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides. Drawing on social theory, comparative religion, and primary texts, Hughes presents a compelling case for rewriting our understanding of Jews and Muslims in their earliest centuries of interaction. Not content to remain solely in the past, he examines the continued interaction of Muslims and Jews, now reimagined as Palestinians and Israelis, into the present.

Contenu

• Acknowledgments

• Preface

• Introduction

• Chapter One: Symbiosis: Rethinking a Paradigm

• Chapter Two: Origins

• Chapter Three: Messianism in the Shadows

• Chapter Four: The Manufacture of Orthodoxy

• Chapter Five: Et in Arcadia Ego

• Chapter Six: Re-Frame

• Conclusions: Two Solitudes