23.09.2013 Views

Jaarboek Thomas Instituut 1997 - Thomas Instituut te Utrecht

Jaarboek Thomas Instituut 1997 - Thomas Instituut te Utrecht

Jaarboek Thomas Instituut 1997 - Thomas Instituut te Utrecht

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

46 PIM VALKENBERG<br />

Christians in Spain is so big that it is sometimes embarrassing to read<br />

some <strong>te</strong>xts suggesting that real freedom exis<strong>te</strong>d, while in fact the only<br />

freedom for Jews in Christian Spain from the four<strong>te</strong>enth century<br />

onwards was the choice between conversion, expulsion, or death. This<br />

makes the study of <strong>te</strong>xts that describe the disputations or enforced<br />

dialogues between Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages fascinating<br />

but also very thorny.<br />

The most famous of these dispu<strong>te</strong>s was the confrontation in<br />

Barcelona between Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides) and Pablo<br />

Christiani in 1263. This disputation was held at the request of<br />

Raymund of Peüafor<strong>te</strong> o.p., who was mentioned earlier in the con<strong>te</strong>xt<br />

of Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles. We are happy to possess both<br />

Nachmanides' own account of the disputation in Hebrew, and an<br />

official Latin account ordered by the king of Aragon. Both versions<br />

disagree about the question who won the disputation, but with<br />

reference to the actual historical circumstances, it may be questioned<br />

whether it has any sense to speak of a 'winner' at alI102•<br />

3.3 France in the twelfth and thir<strong>te</strong>enib century<br />

The difference between this third section of the research program and<br />

the other sections is that the Northern part of France is culturally and<br />

religiously qui<strong>te</strong> homogeneous in the twelfth and thir<strong>te</strong>enth century.<br />

Therefore, the main question is not the in<strong>te</strong>rreligious communication<br />

between Muslims and Christians (first section) or Jews and Christians<br />

(second section), but the incorporation of these in<strong>te</strong>rreligious<br />

communications in Christian theology.<br />

As we saw in the <strong>te</strong>xts of <strong>Thomas</strong> Aquinas that belong to this<br />

section of the research program, it is of<strong>te</strong>n not very clear whether this<br />

incorporation leads to a philosophical or to a theological discourse,<br />

because the Muslim partner is of<strong>te</strong>n not perceived in his religious<br />

identity, but as a philosopher against whom one has to use the<br />

arguments of natural reason.<br />

102 Cp. H. Maccoby, Judaism on trial, London 1982; W. Zuidema,<br />

"Sefer ha-Wikkoeach (De oorlogen des Heren): fragmen<strong>te</strong>n uit de Disputatio<br />

van Nachmanides met Pablo Christiani uit 1263", M. van Loopik (red.),<br />

Tweespalt en verbondenheid, pp. 54-76. See also footno<strong>te</strong> 89.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!