A series of hybrid research seminars presented by the IICPT TORCH Network and the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford
In person: The Schwarzman Centre, Seminar Room 63 (University Members Only)
Online: Register for Online Attendance
Week 8: The Miaphysite Abu Qurrah: Transmitting Christian-Muslim Polemic across Confessional Lines
Speaker: Shane Patrick, University of Oxford
The Miaphysite Abu Qurrah: Transmitting Christian-Muslim Polemic across Confessional Lines
In this paper, I intend to examine the Miaphysite recension(s) of the “Debate of Abu
Qurrah with Muslim scholars at the court of the Caliph al-Maʾmūn,” paying close attention to
confessionally-motivated editing, and considering its relevance to wider questions regarding
Christian confessional boundaries in the Islamic world and the role of Islam in transforming
intercommunal relations among Middle Eastern Christians.
The relevance of this topic to different subfields of history, theology, and philology is readily
apparent, but what might it portend for political theology? An obvious answer is that the political
theology of the Melkite and Miaphysite recensions vis-à-vis Islam may differ substantially. I also
propose the following answer, with a narrower focus on the political-theological dynamics of
intercommunal textual transmission. The relevance of the christological schisms to political
theology is well-known. Christian political leaders aligning themselves with particular
christological camps prompted subsequent developments in Christian political theology. A study of
the long-term aftereffects of Chalcedon in the Middle East and the transformation of christological
tensions following the Islamic conquests can provide us with a chance to see what happened to
christology-centric political theology when a new batch of christologically-indifferent rulers took
power. I tentatively suggest that the impact of Islam on Christian political theology, specifically in
the case of Chalcedon’s aftershocks, was to diminish the political-theological tensions between
warring christological factions, and instead enable their intercommunal boundaries to become more
porous. The idea that non-Christian conquest might resolve some of the problems of Christian
political theology may seem at first counterintuitive. But, it is important to recognize that while
there were new political-theological questions raised by the rise of Islam, there were other old
questions which were resolved, which in turn shaped the way that different Christian communities
interacted.
Find out more about the MT2025 seminar series here:
iicpt_cmcs_mt_seminar_short_poster_updated.pdf
