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Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the...
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Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2024) | Viewed by 5331

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Golda Akhiezer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Associate Professor, The Department of Jewish History, Ariel University, Ramat Ha-Golan St 65, Ariel 40700, Israel
Interests: historical thought; Jewish currents and movements; religious polemics; polemical literature; history of religion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Religious polemics are a multifaceted phenomenon which can be defined as a discursive conflict, or a tool for discovering and disseminating “the truth,” motivated by a sense of mission. Their typology can be classified into strategies, methods, or arguments. A religious polemic manifests itself in literature intended for internal use or addressed to dispute opponents. It often includes the coercion of the opposite side to participate in public disputation, frequently ending in forced conversion, as we have encountered in medieval Christian–Jewish polemics. There are also examples of the voluntary participation of Jews, Muslims, and various Christian denominations in religious disputations, as in the case of radical Protestants in Poland. Religious polemics have been studied as part of research in theology, philosophy, sociology of religion, and history, with a focus on case studies and specific disputations or varieties of polemics.

This Special Issue is aimed at exploring religious polemics from the phenomenological standpoint, seeking to deepen our understanding of religious polemics in a wide cultural, historical, and social context. The articles will deal with a variety of religious polemics between monotheistic religions, sects, and denominations, as well as with polytheistic involvement in religious polemics. The chronological frame of the articles will encompass the early Middle Ages through to the 19th century. Articles presenting new methodological or comparative perspectives will be especially welcome. 

Scholars are invited to submit essays on specific and general topics:

  • Public disputation as social practice, its strategies, tactics, and tools; its role in the phenomenon of conversion;
  • The typology of the polemics’ argumentation (e.g., exegetical, philosophical, or historical);
  • Dynamics and changes in religious polemics through the lens of history;
  • Polemical literature: authors, aims, and target audiences;
  • Constructing the “religious other” through religious polemics;
  • Research on religious polemics—new perspectives and methodologies.

Proposed deadlines:

  • Abstract (about 200 words) submission deadline: 10 July 2023.

The abstracts are to be sent to the issue Editor, Professor Golda Akhiezer [email protected]  or to the Religions Editorial Office [email protected]

  • Notification of abstract acceptance: 3 September 2023
  • Full manuscript deadline: 29 February 2024

Dr. Golda Akhiezer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religious polemics
  • public disputations
  • polemical literature
  • theology
  • methodology
  • typology
  • comparative religions

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 356 KiB  
Article
Does the Mosaic Law Obligate Christians? The Fate of the Gentiles in Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah by 16th-Century Karaite Jewish Polemicist Isaac Ben Abraham of Troki
by Golda Akhiezer
Religions 2024, 15(12), 1465; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15121465 - 30 Nov 2024
Viewed by 632
Abstract
Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah (Faith Strengthened), written by the 16th-century Karaite Jewish scholar Isaac ben Abraham of Troki (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), was one of the most renowned Hebrew anti-Christian polemical works, meriting translation into most European languages. Troki authored his book during the Polish Reformation, a [...] Read more.
Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah (Faith Strengthened), written by the 16th-century Karaite Jewish scholar Isaac ben Abraham of Troki (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), was one of the most renowned Hebrew anti-Christian polemical works, meriting translation into most European languages. Troki authored his book during the Polish Reformation, a period marked by intense interactions and theological debates between Jews and Christians of various denominations. The author provides a comprehensive philological, grammatical, and historical analysis of the New Testament while relying heavily on the ideas and scriptural interpretations of radical Protestant theologians and Rabbanite scholars. Ḥizzuq ʾEmunah is unusual in a number of respects. This paper examines one such peculiarity—namely, the author’s view that the Torah and its commandments obligate Christians—as well as his eschatological model in which Christians will become part of Israel in the messianic age. His perspective is examined in our study with particular attention to the range of argumentative methods employed. Among these are the use of evidence from the New Testament, especially the accounts of Jesus and his disciples observing the commandments, and the contrast of early Christians’ conceptions and practices, which he views as close to the Mosaic law, with later Christian interpretations of the Old and the New Testament. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period)
16 pages, 3005 KiB  
Article
The Prophet Problem
by Reuven Firestone
Religions 2024, 15(11), 1406; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15111406 - 20 Nov 2024
Viewed by 432
Abstract
Because scripture represents the direct word of God, it is the most sacred source for authority in the scriptural monotheisms. Scripture is conveyed to humanity through extraordinary individuals known as prophets. But if the purported prophet is a false prophet, then the conveyed [...] Read more.
Because scripture represents the direct word of God, it is the most sacred source for authority in the scriptural monotheisms. Scripture is conveyed to humanity through extraordinary individuals known as prophets. But if the purported prophet is a false prophet, then the conveyed message is false, resulting in the collapse of the structure upon which religious authority rests. This problem was recognized in the Hebrew Bible, and accusations of flawed prophecy and deceitful prophets figure prominently in relations between the scriptural monotheisms. Jews do not accept the authenticity of Jesus’ role as messiah (and prophet) in the NT, and Jews and Christians do not accept the authenticity of Muhammad’s role as prophet in the Qur’an. But the rejection is unidirectional. As a rule, established religions cannot accept new prophets, while new religions accept the prophets that lived before, though with certain qualifications. Each of the three classic scriptural monotheisms also declares an “end” to prophecy after the canonization of its scripture. Yet despite these deadlines, each acknowledges that God could nevertheless send another prophet, leaving open the wild card for new prophecy, new revelation, and even new religion; within each of the classic scriptural monotheisms, individuals arose after the canonization of scripture who were deemed by many to be prophets or something “like” prophets. This essay presents a preliminary phenomenology of prophethood, around which much of the religious polemics between the scriptural monotheisms are constructed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period)
14 pages, 273 KiB  
Article
From Tillable Fields to Men’s Equal Partners: The Treatment of Women in Early Muslim–Christian Polemic
by Barbara Roggema
Religions 2024, 15(5), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050555 - 29 Apr 2024
Viewed by 883
Abstract
Even though women and questions of gender difference are not a core issue in medieval Eastern Christian–Muslim polemic, there are numerous arguments that go back and forth between Muslims and Christians that revolve around women. In the large corpus of polemical texts from [...] Read more.
Even though women and questions of gender difference are not a core issue in medieval Eastern Christian–Muslim polemic, there are numerous arguments that go back and forth between Muslims and Christians that revolve around women. In the large corpus of polemical texts from the Middle East between the 8th and the 13th centuries, it can be noted that criticism of the other religion involves pointing out illogicalities and absurdities in each other’s doctrines and rituals. Carefully constructed arguments against the claim to Divine endorsement of the faith of the other party are frequently interlaced with criticism of their alleged immoral behavior. Although women feature mostly in the emotive sections of the polemical compositions, there are also reasoned debates about the issue of gender equality in the eyes of God. The discussion of these texts here brings out a range of diverse ideas about women that function primarily as sources for subsidiary arguments against the religious other. At the same time, this study reveals that these arguments were not invented ad hoc. They show the interconnectedness of works within a corpus of polemical texts that spans five centuries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period)
13 pages, 406 KiB  
Article
Naskh (“Abrogation”) in Muslim Anti-Jewish Polemic: The Treatise of Rashīd al-Dīn Hamadānī (1247–1318)
by Y. Tzvi Langermann
Religions 2024, 15(5), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050547 - 28 Apr 2024
Viewed by 919
Abstract
A strong case can be made that the concept of naskh, “abrogation” or “annulment”, was the most potent weapon in the arsenal of Muslim polemicists seeking to convert Jews (Burton‘s Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān is highly informative but deals almost exclusively with naskh [...] Read more.
A strong case can be made that the concept of naskh, “abrogation” or “annulment”, was the most potent weapon in the arsenal of Muslim polemicists seeking to convert Jews (Burton‘s Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān is highly informative but deals almost exclusively with naskh in its internal Islamic contexts, e.g., hermeneutics and legal theory). Naskh did not necessarily involve any rejection of Jewish scripture or tradition as fraudulent or corrupt. It rested on the simple premise, explicitly confirmed by the Qur’an, that the deity may alter or replace His legislation over the course of time. In the first part of this paper, I will briefly review the topic, adding some texts and observations that, to the best of my knowledge, have not appeared in the academic literature (comprehensively surveyed in Adang’s Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: From Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm, 1996; also in Adang and Schmidtke’s Polemics (Muslim-Jewish) in Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, 2010). The bulk of this paper will consist of a fairly detailed summary of an unpublished tract on naskh written by Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī (RD) (1247–1318), himself a Jewish convert to Islam and a monumental politician, cultural broker, historian, and author. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period)
21 pages, 331 KiB  
Article
All or Nothing: Polemicizing God and the Buddhist Void in the Jesuit Mission to East Asia
by James Matthew Baskind
Religions 2024, 15(4), 424; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040424 - 29 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1113
Abstract
The Jesuit mission to East Asia highlights the polemical difficulties inherent in the process of introducing, translating, and creating a new theological paradigm within a host culture without a common religious worldview. Both Matteo Ricci in China and Ricci’s erstwhile teacher, Alessandro Valignano, [...] Read more.
The Jesuit mission to East Asia highlights the polemical difficulties inherent in the process of introducing, translating, and creating a new theological paradigm within a host culture without a common religious worldview. Both Matteo Ricci in China and Ricci’s erstwhile teacher, Alessandro Valignano, in Japan, both inveighed against Buddhism for positing a “void” as the Absolute rather than God. The East Asian Jesuit mission had an incomplete understanding of what emptiness/nothingness/void referred to until the native Japanese convert and former Zen monk, Fukansai Habian, took up the mantle as the Jesuit polemicist against native systems of thought, in particular, Buddhism. Whereas Ricci and Valignano attacked the “void” within the context of a negation of “something”, Habian correctly understood the void as akin to the pleroma, the fullness of possibility, and the creative principle, but used his more nuanced understanding as a polemical expedient to deny or negate all Buddhist doctrines as expressing nothingness (which he erroneously equates with the void), even such form-affirming schools as the Pure Land school with its clearly defined goal of a physical post-mortem Pure Land. The polemical paradigm engendered by this encounter also served as the starting point for Buddhism’s appearance in the Western imagination. This paper will make a comparative investigation of the polemical discourse between the Jesuits and Buddhists regarding the Absolute and demonstrate how this historical instance would have far-reaching consequences that have ongoing relevance regarding the interplay of Christian and Buddhist teachings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interfaith Encounters: Religious Polemics from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period)
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