Saracens

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 400 pages
• Published by: Columbia University Press June 15, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0231123337
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0231123334
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

Product Review
"A significant contribution to the study of Islam's place in the medieval Christian imagination, this work is highly recommended." -- Choice "Tolan's book is welcome as a rare systematic treatment of medieval Christian attitudes toward Muslims Tolan's remarks invite us to explore the important question of why that is so." -- Tomaz Mastnak, Speculum " Saracens contains comprehensive notes, a thorough bibliography, and an great index A useful summary of the current state of hitoriography in the field." -- William E. Watson, History "Tolan's model for Christian attitudes toward Islam is the reactions of early Christians to the Roman Empire Tolan's book is full of interesting details on individual thinkers' views on Islam and provides a welcome addition." -- Anna Sapir Abulafia, American Historical Review "Medievalist Tolan shows how the relatively fluid European beliefs about Islam turned rigid in the 13th century, leading to strict laws that separated Christians from Muslims and produced even greater distortions in perception." -- Saudi Aramco World "Had the late Edward Said and Daniel Norman collaborated to produce a volume incorporating their particular hermeneutical expertise and scholastic grasp of religious polemics it may well have looked something similar to John V. Tolan's Saracens Tolan's work, which is superbly researched, explores the plethora of distorted representations of Islam perpetuated throughout the period." -- Mohammed Siddique Seddon, Muslim World Book Review "The best of all recently published books on Christian-Islamic relations." -- Gregory Miller, Riligious Studies Review "A thoroughgoing reference work like Saracens was long overdue; it is also quite timely." -- David Blanks, Catholic Historical Review

Product Review


"A significant contribution to the study of Islam's place in the medieval Christian imagination, this work is highly recommended." -- Choice



"Tolan's book is welcome as a rare systematic treatment of medieval Christian attitudes toward Muslims. Tolan's remarks invite us to explore the important question of why that is so." -- Tomaz Mastnak, Speculum



" Saracens contains comprehensive notes, a thorough bibliography, and an great index A useful summary of the current state of hitoriography in the field." -- William E. Watson, History



"Tolan's model for Christian attitudes toward Islam is the reactions of early Christians to the Roman Empire Tolan's book is full of interesting details on individual thinkers' views on Islam and provides a welcome addition." -- Anna Sapir Abulafia, American Historical Review



"Medievalist Tolan shows how the relatively fluid European beliefs about Islam turned rigid in the 13th century, leading to strict laws that separated Christians from Muslims and produced even greater distortions in perception." -- Saudi Aramco World



"Had the late Edward Said and Daniel Norman collaborated to produce a volume incorporating their particular hermeneutical expertise and scholastic grasp of religious polemics it may well have looked something similar to John V. Tolan's Saracens. Tolan's work, which is superbly researched, explores the plethora of distorted representations of Islam perpetuated throughout the period." -- Mohammed Siddique Seddon, Muslim World Book Review



"The best of all recently published books on Christian-Islamic relations." -- Gregory Miller, Riligious Studies Review



"A thoroughgoing reference work like Saracens was long overdue; it is also quite timely." -- David Blanks, Catholic Historical Review

Reader Reviews
The role of the Saracen(Arab) in literature has been a perennial theme of medieval studies and culture, and particularly in the means by which alterity(or Otherness) is constructed and perceived. In Tolan's book, Tolan reveals a range of medieval attitudes towards the Saracen as the "Other", whether a demonized Other in the eyes of the Latin West, an honourable Other who possesses immense valour and integrity of character in the eyes of Eastern Monophysites at quarrel with the Roman Catholic Church, or a stubborn and illogical Other which would not convert to Christianity given the polemical and apologetical tools harnessed against the Islam faith. It is in this range of medieval attitudes towards the Saracen as "Other" that modern issues like the status of dispossession faced by Arabs in the modern Western world and the heightened Christian-Muslim debates after September 11 in USA find their ideological and historical roots. Tolan's research is impeccable in its consideration of various sources ranging from texts as obscure as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius to the writings of John of Damascus, from Isidore of Seville's anti-Jewish and Christian-eschatological discourses to Ramon Llul's "A Debate between Three Wise Men", from Aquinas' Dominican discourses to Spanish-Castilian historical sources and hagiographies and Hrotswitha of Gandersheim. One point that might be noticeable in his writing is however a notable contempt for Christendom in the Middle Ages which he actually associates with modern twentieth century Christianity after the 17th century Reformation(catalyzed through Luther, Calvin and Zwingli and the Anabaptist Revolt against church-state structures). This is probably a wrong-headed move in that not only does it appear to be highly ecumenical in its thrust, but that it appears to ignore the historical differences between modern Christianity and medieval Christendom. At times, when using the Dominicans and Franciscans or such to prove how medieval Christians use the Bible as a case for proving first and foremost the nature of Islam as a "heresy" in medieval Christian terms, he is conveying another impression of dislike of modern day Christianity that appears to be more subjective than objectively balanced and weighed out. I would recommend this book for those who are seriously interested in knowing how the configuration of the Saracen as the "Other" in literature of the Christian West and also the East evolved over the centuries from the earlier part of the Middle Ages right through to the High Middle Ages and then 14th century Europe. It does seem however at times, due to the highly emotive content that has a chance to appear every once in a while in some of the chapters, readers should take extra caution and weigh what Tolan says with a grain of salt and some serious reason.