The Western Perception of Islam between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: The Work of Nicholas of Cusa

In the Middle Ages as Christian sources on the Islamic world show Muslim culture was perceived as extremely threatening: there were many defenses of Christianity like the treatise on the mistakes of the followers of Allah. This book shows through an analysis of the works of Nicholas of Cusa and of other authors that in the course of time this textual attitude was modified as European authors aimed to point out the Christian truth in comparison with the falsity of Islamic theology in order to reinforce Christian identity through the presupposition of its own absolute truth. The apologetic aim was gradually replaced by a systematic comparison based on partial translations of the Quran. The comparison with the other was also the basis for reinforcing identity in order to demonstrate the truth and consequently the supremacy of ones own theoretical position. Marica Costigliolo has given us a remarkable and insightful book. It offers fresh precise studies of Nicholas of Cusas two extraordinary works on Christian-Muslim relations and links them to his political and theological writings. As Costigliolo examines Nicholass sources and discusses Renaissance and Byzantine writers on Islam she redefines medieval interreligious dialogue and traces shifting Western perceptions of Islam from enemy to other. This book thus has an ambitious agenda and fulfills it admirably. --Donald F. Duclow Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Gwynedd Mercy University Marica Costigliolo received her PhD in Political Thought from the University of Genoa Italy. She is the author of several articles on the history of philosophy. Her research is focused on the perception of alterity in the course of history.