Interreligious Encounters in Polemics between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Iberia and beyond

Abstract

<p>Part of a growing body of published research on the subject of polemical exchanges between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the medieval and early modern period, this collection of ten chapters by different experts in the field of interreligious relations and art history is the fruit of research presented at a conference held in Madrid in 2014. Its content was originally published as articles in volume 24 (issues 1–3) of Brill's well-known journal Medieval Encounters in 2018 and now appears in paperback and e-book format by the same press. As Ryan Szpiech notes in a brief preface to the "new edition" (vii), the contents of the journal articles and the book chapters are identical except for some updated bibliographical information, the elimination of a few errata, and the creation of an index. Szpiech explains that the editors' decision to re-publish the articles as chapters in a book format so soon after the publication of the journal was motivated by a desire to "disseminate this important research to a wider body of scholars." Presumably, since few readers will purchase the new book in its paperback version, this means a desire to facilitate the availability of this research to university scholars and readers through library subscriptions to Brill's e-books. In their introduction (1–13), the editors note that the chronological focus of this volume is the so-called "long fifteenth century" in the Iberian Peninsula (spanning from the attacks on Jewish communities and mass forced conversions of Jews in 1391 to the forced conversion of the Muslim population of the Crown of Aragon in 1526). The editors note that whilst interreligious polemics and disputes are often the scene of aggression and insult, they are also a forum for the transmission of ideas and dialogue. In this way, the ten contributions seek to deepen our understanding of interreligious polemics.</p>