Webinar "Maghribi Theology in Manuscript: Reason, Belief, and the Common Folk"

By Caitlyn Olson (New York University Abu Dhabi) and Jan Thiele (ILC, CSIC, Madrid)

Organized by: Near Eastern Studies Lecture, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (online by Zoom)

12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) | 18:00 Madrid

The history of Islamic theology in the Maghrib is an understudied field, due in part to the fact that many relevant sources remain in manuscript. This presentation will begin by addressing the contours of the manuscript archive and then turn to some of the major themes that we have found in our initial study of the sources therein. We highlight in particular the significance that pre-modern Maghribi theologians assigned to reason in their conceptualization of religious belief. After examining the theoretical underpinnings of this discussion, we examine the ways that theologians debated its implications for the general, less educated Muslim populace and their status as believers.