Mohammedan Learning (650-1200 A.D.) and Its Effects on Christian Education in the West
Abstract
One of the most important influences in awakening medieval Europe was the revival of learning and education that came through the advent of the Moselms into Spain. In the early part of the seventh century, when Moslemism first appeared one would hardly suppose that it could become a means of renewing education. Mohammed, the founder of the religion, was almost illiterate and the revelations that he claimed to have received were for nearly a generation handed down by tradition. The Koran, or sacred book of this faith, was not committed to writing until about 650. It appears to be a mixture of the Judiastic, Christian and other religious elements with which Mohammed had become acquainted during his early travels.At the beginning of the seventh century, the Arabs were still a semi-barbaric people, but in their contact with the more highly cultured people whom they conquered Persians, hellinized Egyptians, and Syrians they soon developed a brilliant civilization.As long as their religion was confined to the ignorant and unreflecting tribes of Arabia, it served its purpose without change but when it spread into Syria and other cultured lands, it came into contact with Greek philosophy and it had to be interpreted in those terms in order to appeal to the people there. Antioch, Edessa, Nisibis and other places in Syria had become famous for the Greek learning cultivated by their catechetical schools. Through the eastern Christian schools, especially that of Nisibis, they became acquainted with the works of Aristotle.
Subject Area
Religious education|Religion
Recommended Citation
Lanigan, Catherine Cully, "Mohammedan Learning (650-1200 A.D.) and Its Effects on Christian Education in the West" (1929). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31189664.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31189664
