{"id":38,"date":"2023-06-08T22:28:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T22:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2023-07-31T13:48:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T13:48:55","slug":"reading","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My lectures for the tour deal with Islamic and Jewish thought in the Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century (lectures 1 and 2) and early Christian thought in North Africa in the 4th and 5th centuries (lectures 3 and 4). Accordingly, I&#8217;ve recommended two general books for the tour:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Francois Decret (tr. Edward L. Smither),\u00a0<em>Early Christianity in North Africa\u00a0<\/em>(Cascade Books, 2009)<\/li>\n<li>Sarah Stroumsa,\u00a0<em>Andalus and Sefarad: On Philosophy and Its History in Islamic Spain\u00a0<\/em>(Princeton University Press, 2019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For those who want more to read \u2014 and there are always some among you! \u2014 here&#8217;s a short additional, purely optional, reading list. For each lecture I list a primary text and at least one piece of relevant scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>Books listed here are readily available on Amazon (and elsewhere), many of them in kindle format (for easy portability): &lt;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3MQ8BCI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S MacDonald&#8217;s Amazon idea list<\/a>&gt;.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #057ea6;\">Lecture 1 \u2013 <em>Aristotle and the Qur\u2019an in Andalusian Islamic Thought<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>We&#8217;ll examine the famed Islamic philosopher Averro\u00ebs&#8217; (Ibn Rushd, died 1198) distinctive understanding of the importance of both the Qur\u2019an and Aristotelian thought to a sophisticated philosophical account of reality.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Primary text: Averro\u00ebs, <em>The Decisive Treatise<\/em><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>translated by George F. Hourani,\u00a0<em>On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy<\/em> (E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust, 1961) [also available in Charles E. Butterworth&#8217;s translation,\u00a0<em>Averro\u00ebs: Decisive Treatise &amp; Epistle Dedicatory\u00a0<\/em>(Brigham Young University Press, 2008)]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Scholarship<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Majid Fakhry,\u00a0<em>Averro\u00ebs (Ibn Rushd): His Life, Works, and Influence<\/em> (One World, 2001)<\/li>\n<li>Peter Adamson, <em>Philosophy in the Islamic World: A Very Short Introduction<\/em> (Oxford, 2015)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #057ea6;\">Lecture 2 \u2013 <em>Reading Hebrew Scripture as a Philosophical Text<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In his &#8220;Guide of the Perplexed,&#8221; Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon, died 1204) attempts to transform the Hebrew Bible into a philosophical text, using concepts and tools from the Greek philosophical tradition. In this lecture, we examine important principles of Maimonides\u2019 project.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Primary text: Maimonides,\u00a0<em>Guide of the Perplexed<\/em><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>translated by Chaim Rabin (abridged edition, Julius Guttmann), <em>Maimonides: The Guide of the Perplexed<\/em>\u00a0(Hackett Publishing Company, 1995)<\/li>\n<li>translated by Shlomo Pines (complete), <em>The Guide of the Perplexed<\/em> (University of Chicago Press, 1963)<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<em>Guide<\/em> is immense \u2014 here are some suggestions\n<ul>\n<li>If you&#8217;re reading in the Rabin\/Guttmann abridged edition (in order of importance):\n<ul>\n<li>Maimonides&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Maimonides-Epistle-Dedicatory-\u2013-tr.-Pines-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Epistle Dedicatory&#8221;<\/a> (which isn&#8217;t included in the abridgment)<\/li>\n<li>Maimonides&#8217; Introduction (pp. 41-49)<\/li>\n<li>The selections included from Book I (in order, pp. 51-87)<\/li>\n<li>Selections from Book 2, Chapters 13-35 (pp. 94-130)<\/li>\n<li>Selections from Book 2, Propositions &amp; Chapter 1 (pp. 89-94)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re reading from Pines&#8217; translation (or another complete edition):\n<ul>\n<li>Maimonides&#8217; Epistle Dedicatory and Introduction to Part I<\/li>\n<li>Part I, Chapters 1-2, 31-35, 50-71<\/li>\n<li>Part II, Chapters 13-35<\/li>\n<li>Part II, Introduction to Part II and Chapters 1-2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Scholarship<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Sarah Stroumsa,\u00a0<em>Maimonides in His World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker<\/em> (Princeton University Press, 2009)<\/li>\n<li>T.M. Rudavsky,\u00a0<em>Maimonides<\/em> (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)<\/li>\n<li>T.M. Rudavsky,\u00a0<em>Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages: Science, Rationalism, and Religion<\/em> (Oxford, 2018)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #057ea6;\">Lecture 3 \u2013 <em>Augustine\u2019s Vanquishing of Christian Anti-intellectualism<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In this lecture, we investigate Augustine\u2019s attack on Christian anti-intellectualism and his laying of the foundations of a Christian philosophy that would dominate Western thinking for more than a millennium.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Primary text: Augustine,\u00a0<em>Confessions<\/em><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>translated by Thomas Williams, <em>Augustine: Confessions<\/em> (Hackett Publishing Company, 2019) [there are many, many translations of the\u00a0<em>Confessions<\/em> \u2014 help yourself to any, but Williams&#8217; is the best]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Scholarship<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Henry Chadwick, <em>Augustine: A Very Short Introduction<\/em> (Oxford, 2001)<\/li>\n<li>Peter Brown, <em>Augustine of Hippo: A Biography<\/em> (University of California Press, 2013) \u2013 hefty but a classic, with a nice feel for Augustine&#8217;s North African environs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #057ea6;\">Lecture 4 \u2013 <em>Augustine on Mind, Human and Divine<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In this lecture, we examine how Augustine\u2019s distinctive theory of mind displays the fruitful interplay of religious doctrine and philosophical analysis.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Primary text: Augustine,\u00a0<em>On the Trinity\u00a0<\/em>(especially books 10-12 and 14)<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>edited and translated by Stephen McKenna and Gareth B. Matthews, <em>Augustine: <\/em><em>On the Trinity Books 8-15<\/em> (Cambridge University Press, 2002)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Scholarship (see above for Lecture 3)<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My lectures for the tour deal with Islamic and Jewish thought in the Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century (lectures 1 and 2) and early Christian thought in North Africa in the 4th and 5th centuries (lectures 3 and 4). Accordingly, I&#8217;ve recommended two general books for the tour: Francois Decret (tr. Edward L. Smither),\u00a0Early &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/reading\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Reading&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottmacdonald.net\/cau2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}