Between Polemics and Dialogue. Christianity and Islam

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: -Specify basic aspects related to the byzantine and post-byzantine literature towards Islam -Analyze the development stages of the byzantine and post-byzantine literature towards Islam -Distinguish between polemical literature and dialogue -Value the history, the spiritual benefits and the impact of this literature in the Christian and Muslim milieus

The Greek world, as well as Eastern Christianity, have met Islam since the first decades of the latter's emergence, in a variety of forms of war and confrontation, as well as dialogue and cultural communication. This meeting, which developed into a political and socially different shades of coexistence, coexistence and rivalry of centuries, from the 7th to the 19th century, when the Greek world became independent from the Ottoman Empire, was often expressed in the intellectual field with a specific form of theological dialogues and polemical writings, which defined the differences and positions of the two religions. Ιn this lesson, on the one hand, we examine the Byzantine and post-Byzantine literature on Islam, which developed during the long centuries of meeting of the Greek and Christian world of the East with the Muslim world, and on the other hand we turn to the sources, history and culture of Islam with a new objective view of this religion, according to the requirements of contemporary research. The course presents the experience of a lifetime of the Greek-speaking Christian world of the East from its relationship and coexistence with the world of Islam, and gives the reader an informative picture of the various understandings of Islam over time.

Byzantium, Ottoman Empire, polemical literature, Islam, Escatology

14-10-2020