>While lay Christians in an Arabic-speaking community might not be direct
>targets, might not their clergy have needed information about Islam,
>perhaps even for very practical purposes. I am not convinced that all
>works nominally addressed to Muslims - or to Jews, especially in my own
>period, the 15th century. Some, like Pius II's letter to Mohammed II,
>were intended only nominally for non-Christian audiences. There even is
>an element of wishful thinking evident in Cusanus' writings, elevating the
>discourse in De pace fidei to a celestial plane.
>
>tom izbicki
>
Dear Tom,
I agree that the local clergy would have been less unconceivable as an
intended audience for the _Collectio Toletana_ than, as Tim Rayborn had
suggested, Arabic-speaking "Spanish Christians, living in the 'dangerous'
frontier areas where they may have been tempted by Islam". Nevertheless the
objective of this project, as expressed in Peter the Venerable's letters and
in his _Summa_, and as indicated also by the evidence of the textual
history, was not confined to instruct the local clergy (if the local clergy
was addressed at all), but had a much broader range. The center of diffusion
was Cluny, not the Cluniac houses in Spain which Peter had visited. And the
"ignorantia" Peter had complained about was the ignorance of Christians or
rather of the Christian clergy in general, but not especially of those
living in Spain or in frontier areas. The translations of the _Collectio
Toletana_ clearly intended to inform Christian leaders like Peter himself
and Bernard of Clairvaux (who was provided by Peter with a copy of the
Pseudo-Kindian Apology, in order to win him as an ally in writing against
Islam). And when Peter made use of these materials in his own _Summa_, he
did not deny, but even stated explicitly that his intended audience included
Christian readers in order to prepare them to produce their own writings
against Islam ("Ista breviter prenotavi, ut qui legerit intelligat. Et si
talis est, qui contra totam heresim istam scribere et velit et possit, cum
quali hoste pugnaturus sit agnoscat"). Kritzeck, btw, against whom Tim had
wanted to caution us because I had referred to his edition of Peter's
writings, was far from ignoring this. However one may disagree with him in
pondering the details, it was Kritzeck who had carefully edited and
annotated Peter's texts, after having discussed and cited the relevant
passages also in his shorter treatment _Peter the Venerable and the Toledan
Collection_, in: Studia Anselmiana 40 (1956), p.176-201.
Otfried
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otfried Lieberknecht
Schoeneberger Str. 11
D-12163 Berlin
Tel.: ++49 30 8516675 (fax on request)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Homepage for Dante studies: http://members.aol.com/lieberk/welcome.html
ORB Dante: http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/lit/Italian/Danindex.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|