Description:
This book explores the history of Muslim-Christian theological exchanges in Iran during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Focused on the work of the renegade missionary 'Ali Quli Jadid al-Islam (d. 1734), it contributes to ongoing debates on the nature of confessionalism, interreligious encounters, and cultural translation in early modern Muslim empires. By disentangling the connections between polemics and other forms of Islamic learning and by emphasizing the Shi'i character of the case in question, this study accounts for the dynamism of polemics as an ever-evolving genre capable to adapt to different historical contexts.
Brief description: Alberto Tiburcio (PhD McGill 2015) is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He previously held a research appointment at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Philipps University of Marburg.
Review Quotes: On the whole Tiburcio provides a coherent analysis of Jadīd al-Islām's writings, and his close attention to primary sources in non-European languages is commendable [...] Tiburcio is able to situate Jadīd al-Islām's writings within the broader intellectual context of Muslim-Christian engagement in Safavid Iran.--Kioumars Ghereghlou "Journal of the American Oriental Society"