Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background

Julien Decharneux

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Creation and Contemplation

The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background

Julien Decharneux

Volume 47 in the series Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110794083

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Creation and Contemplation, Julien Decharneux explores the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity.

The first part of the book studies how, in exhorting its audience to contemplate the world, the Qur’ān carries on a tradition of natural contemplation that had developed throughout Late Antiquity in the Christian world. In this regard, the analysis suggests particularly striking connections with the mystical and ascetic literature of the Church of the East, which was in effervescence at the time of the emergence of Islam.

The second part argues that the Qur’ānic cosmological discourse is built so as to serve the overarching theological message of the text, namely God’s absolute unity. Despite the allusive, and sometimes obscure, way in which the Qur’ān talks about the world’s coming into being and its maintenance in existence, the text betrays its authors’ acquaintance with cosmological debates of Late Antiquity.

In studying the Qur’ān through the prism of Late Antiquity, this book contributes to our understanding of the emergence of Islam and its relationship with other religious traditions of the time.

Winner of the 2022 Marie-Antoinette Van Huele Prize and the 2023 Richard Kreglinger Prize (both Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Free University of Brussels.

Author / Editor information

Julien Decharneux, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Julien Decharneux Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
General Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Natural Theology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
Chapter 2. Contemplation: Between Theory and Practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Chapter 3. Doctrine of Creation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
Chapter 4. Divine Economy and Continuous Creation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Chapter 5. On the Creation of the Heavens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Chapter 6. On the Creation of Angels and Men Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
General Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	254
Indexes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of History, Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Late Antique Studies, Syriac Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 9
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Tables: 5
Keywords: Quran; Eastern Christianity; Late Antiquitiy; Syriac world

eBook

Published: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9783110794083

Hardcover

Published: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9783110794014