Coercive Force in Early Arabic True Religion Apologies

A series of hybrid research seminars presented by the IICPT TORCH Network and the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford

Kindly note that the seminar title and speaker have been changed.

In person: The Schwarzman Centre, Seminar Room 56 (University Members Only)

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Week 1: Coercive Force in Early Arabic True Religion Apologies

Speaker: Steven Firmin, University of Oxford 

This paper will query the extent to which the True Religion Apologies of the Jacobite theologian Abū Rāʾiṭa al-Takrītī  (d. c. 835)  and Nestorian theologian ʿAmmār al-Baṣrī (d. after 838) offer a coherent understanding of the relationship between religion and coercive force. Attention is given both to the 'true religion' apologies themselves, and also, concerning Abū Rāʾiṭa, to his "Refutation of the Melkites Concerning the Union" (III).