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Rémi Brague
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The Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam Kindle Edition

by Rémi Brague (Author), Lydia G. Cochrane (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

This volume presents a penetrating interview and sixteen essays that explore key intersections of medieval religion and philosophy. With characteristic erudition and insight, RémiBrague focuses less on individual Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thinkers than on their relationships with one another. Their disparate philosophical worlds, Brague shows, were grounded in different models of revelation that engendered divergent interpretations of the ancient Greek sources they held in common. So, despite striking similarities in their solutions for the philosophical problems they all faced, intellectuals in each theological tradition often viewed the others’ ideas with skepticism, if not disdain. Brague’s portrayal of this misunderstood age brings to life not only its philosophical and theological nuances, but also lessons for our own time.

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  1. Print length
    276 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The University of Chicago Press
  4. Publication date
    September 14, 2020
  5. File size
    4.8 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly recommended to scholars of the Middle Ages as well as those in philosophy and religion more generally. They will all be enlightened by careful reading of this book." ― Library Journal

"This account will illuminate novices as well as adepts embarked on a shared journey into a fascinating world. . . . By using contemporary reflections on hermeneutics and other sophisticated tools . . . [Brague] deftly introduces us into this world in a way that helps us attain the consciousness demanded to understand 'the other,' so as to better appreciate our own limitations. In fact, that correlative activity of coming to understand ourselves as we seek to understand the other fairly defines the journey on which these essays launch us. So it could best be described as an exercise in self-understating, facilitated by a rich store of historical examples, deftly employed." -- David Burrell ― Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“Brague artfully explicates the commonalities of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian philosophy in the Middle Ages.” ― Religious Studies Review

"All of the essays offer fascinating insights into all manner of topics of interest to medieval thinkers. . . . Brague shows not only an encyclopedic and detailed grasp of his sources, but also a penchant for tying these to contemporary interests in intriguing, creative ways. . . . This truly is an informative, engaging, and very readable book that will be very useful to anyone with an intellectual interest in things medieval." ― Choice

“A definitive statement on the wealth, complexity, and historicity of medieval Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophy. It is a substantially worthwhile and stylistically enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in medieval philosophy and the history of religion in the Middle Ages.” ― Philosophy East and West Published On: 2015-01-26

“A compelling argument that the medieval philosophical (and broader intellectual) tradition is a highly integrative body of work that ought to be considered on its own terms. . . . A trusty guide for the beginner, a reappraisal worthy of consideration by and interchange with the experts, a sublime reflection on the academic life, and a legacy worthy of the author’s career.” ― Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean Published On: 2015-01-26

“Brague is one of the few scholars alive who is equally an expert on medieval Arabic, Jewish, and Latin philosophy (as well as on ancient Greek philosophy). He is an extraordinary linguist in both ancient and modern languages, which enables a truly subtle analysis of texts and ideas. The Legend of the Middle Ages demonstrates his special ability to discover profound philosophical implications in notions and questions in medieval texts that modern scholars would usually pass over.”

-- Kent Emery, Jr., University of Notre Dame

"Brague shows [how] the subtle, often acrimonious interplay between Judaism, Christianity and Islam helped to create the advanced thought of the Middle Ages—a phrase that, after reading Brague's book, no longer sounds like an oxymoron." -- Adam Kirsch ― Nextbook

About the Author

Rémi Brague is professor of philosophy at the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and at the University of Munich. He is the author of nine other books, including The Law of God and The Wisdom of the World, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Lydia G. Cochrane has translated numerous books for the University of Chicago Press.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B4G35GB8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of Chicago Press (September 14, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 14, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.8 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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Rémi Brague

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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Penelope
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great copy!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    This book looks great and was very clean!
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  • Atlantico
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another anti-Arab screed
    Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2021
    This is a solidly researched, well-written book by a world-renowned scholar. It presents, compares, and contrasts the role of philosophy in medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is literally the best book that I have read on this subject. And I have dozens of them on my bookshelf. Most importantly it is beautifully written and very readable.

    By now, most of us are aware that the ‘Myth of the Andalusian Paradise’ under Islamic rule in medieval Spain was a hoax. However, Brague’s skill as a historian, philosopher and linguist enables him to clearly debunk this, and many other naïve myths dreamed up by westerners. He actually backs up his opinions with facts. And he presents his ideas evenhandedly and without rancor.

    The book is well laid out, section-by-section, including introductions and conclusions. This is a great help to the reader in retaining the information. It is not an easy read, but it is accessible even to a layman. I highly recommend to all who have an interest in this topic.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Important book debunking Islamic culture.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Book known as important in its field. Debunks to some extent the notion that Muslim culture was ever truly universal or had any understanding of cultures beyond Islam or was even capabe of translating works from other cultures.
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  • John L. Murphy
    4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly revisionist vs. "the golden age of Moorish Spain"
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2009
    Rémi Brague, a French historian, seeks to revise our notions of medieval thought, or what we mistakenly perceive as that era's lack of reason. His essays collected as "The Legend of the Middle Ages," explore philosophical intersections of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian pursuits of truth.

    Modern intellectuals look at science differently than their medieval, yes, predecessors did. It's not that they did not study it, but that they studied it with an eye, literally, to seek another reason why to study natural phenomena. Here's a summary of key arguments Brague makes.

    The Jewish scholars of the time looked to the world as they did to the heavens. There was not the separation from the Creator that distinguishes for most moderns who enter the laboratory or the observatory today the walling off of God from matter. Modernity itself would not have emerged, the professor opines, without the tremendous push from the medievals who sought in Aristotle the summa of knowledge, next to the Prophet, for the Arabic translators in Spain who transferred Greek wisdom and ancient knowledge into their own language. Once carried over, the Greek could be discarded by the Arab: their sacred tongue then subsumed that of the infidel's vernacular.

    Certainly, this differed from those Jews who learned Arabic to rescue, as it were, the Greek storehouse of Aristotelian science, or the Catholics who did the same by learning Hebrew to delve more deeply into the shared scholarship of their own times. Brague goes on to insist that the legacy of Aristotle we inherit comes from Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians who turned the texts into Latin for dissemination across Christian Europe. The Arabs, contrarily, held that once the Greeks had been rendered into the language of the Qur'an, that no more transmission was needed. Perfection had been attained in the tongue of the Prophet.

    For the Jews, they bridged the divide opened in Spain by their expulsion from the southern part of Iberia by the Almohid dynasty in the twelfth century. The Spanish Jews fled north and brought with them fluency in Arabic and a knack for polyglot survival. The Christians learned what the Jews had learned from the Muslims, who had found what they wanted in Aristotle's Greek.

    Brague contrasts the relative openness of Jews and Christians towards their "pagan" inspirations with the rather more smug confidence of those in power and tenure, as it were, over Moorish Spain. The Arabs threw away the Greek corpus, so to speak, once it was safely transformed into the holy Arabic. The context fell away; the core remained intact, if approved for incorporation into what jibed with Islamic understanding.

    Greeks gained commentary, line-by-line, when edited by Jews and Christians, contrarily. By keeping a sense of the original source texts along with what the Spanish intellectuals added or remarked upon, they allowed greater interaction between the Greek and Arab contexts and their own application of such complex frameworks to a wider European audience.

    I wonder if the commonplace observation of Islamic stagnation intellectually under centralized power and fear of unorthodox opinions that would run counter to the Qur'an can be traced back to such diasporic forces? These foreshadow, in their institutional arrogance and clerical domination, the dispersion of both the Jews and the last Muslims from Spain. That final conquest by Christians ended in 1492 with the great Sephardic scattering-- when some fleeing Jews found themselves back in Salonika, speaking of Greece, at the source again?
    26 people found this helpful
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  • John B. Rasche
    4.0 out of 5 stars review
    Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2009
    This book presents several highly philosophical and intellectual discussions. Yet it is written in a very beautiful and readable style. A layman such as myself obtained much knowledge and pleasure from this book.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • satya
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in India on April 20, 2016
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    very happy about the product
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