Christian-Muslim Relations in History

By: Thomas E. Burman December 22, 2021

Christianity and Islam grow out of the same Jewish monotheism, but this presentation will focus on three crucial but even less widely known matters:

1) that they are also joined at the hip in other ways too, with the same philosophical tradition and theological language;

2) that, while there has often been violent conflict, there has also been continuous, amiable interaction and cultural borrowing between Christians and Muslims;

3) that much of the modern tension between the Christian and Muslim worlds is the result of non-religious factors.

PRESENTER: Thomas E. Burman, Professor of History and Robert Conway Director of the Medieval Institute at University of Notre Dame. Professor Burman's research and teaching focus on the intellectual and cultural interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the medieval Mediterranean world. The author of Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, c. 1050-1200 and Reading the Qur'an in Latin Christendom, 1140-1560.