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Chapter 15
Islam and Judaism in the Middle Ages
Questions to be addressed in this
chapter
1. What is Islam?
2. In what ways did Islamic philosophy influence Christian
thought in the Middle Ages?
3. What were some of the central tenets of Jewish thought in
the Middle Ages, and how did they influence Christian ideas
about God’s nature and existence?
4. What were some of the major issues involved in Christian
encounters with these other faiths?
What is Islam?
• Muhammad Ibn Abdullah born in Mecca c. 570.
• In 610 Muhammad withdraws to cave and receives
revelations, which continue until his death in 632.
• In 630 Muhammad unites warring tribes and returns to
conquer Mecca.
The Five Pillars of Islam (p. 255)
1. Bearing of witness. This is where a Muslim publicly and
with all sincerity declares that “There is no God but Allah,
and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”
2. Prayer. An activity which is to be performed by Muslims five
times daily.
3. Giving of Alms. Muslims believe that everything belongs to
God, and so they should provide out of their surplus for
those in need.
4. Fasting. For the month of Ramadan, Muslims are to abstain
from food and drink from the first light of dawn to sunset.
5. The Pilgrimage. If possible, all Muslims must make the
pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.
Avicenna and Averroës
• By 700 CE the Muslim Empire could boast cultural and
intellectual sophistication beyond that of Western Christianity.
• Avicenna (Ibn-Sina 980-1037) was influenced by Aristotle and
Plotinus, and he developed important metaphysical concepts
that influenced Christian thought in the Middle Ages.
• Averroës (Ibn Rushd 1126-1198) advocated the theory of
double truth, by which faith and reason are seen as different
levels of meaning and not in conflict.
Jewish influences
• Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon 1135-1204) was a
rationalist who sought to integrate Jewish faith with classical
Greek thought.
• Jewish mysticism was a reaction to rationalists and culminated
in the Kabbalah. It offers commentary and mystical
interpretations of the Torah.
Christian encounters with Islam and
Judaism
• Muslims and Jews charged Christians with heresy in the
Middle Ages because of their doctrine of the Trinity.
• The city of Jerusalem was occupied by Muslims, and so
theological debate was fueled by militaristic conflict.
Summary of main points
1. Islam is a monotheistic religion, founded by Muhammad in the
sixth century, which is based on the Qur’an and which
emphasizes the Five Pillars.
2. Two of the greatest Islamic thinkers of the Middle Ages,
Averroës and Avicenna, developed philosophical methods of
integrating religion and philosophy.
3. There were two great strands of Jewish thought in the Middle
Ages which had some influence on later Christian theology and
practice: a rationalism based on Greek philosophy and
promulgated by Moses Maimonides, and an esoteric mysticism
rooted in various texts of the Kabbalah.
4. In the Middle Ages Christians were confronted with radically
different religious beliefs, and these encounters—both
intellectual and political—required new apologists to defend the
orthodox faith against new heresies and non-Christian religion.