Presented By: Judaic Studies
Golden Ages and Other Myths: On Jewish Culture in Islamic Spain
Sarah Stroumsa
The legendary splendor of Islamic Spain (al-Andalus) is often associated with the emergence of a cultural “golden age” for the Jews. Between the tenth and the twelfth centuries science, philosophy and poetry, written in both Hebrew and Arabic, flourished among Andalusian Jews, producing such luminaries as Samuel Ibn Gabirol, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides. The undeniable effervescence of Jewish culture in al-Andalus, however, must be seen as part of a more complex reality, in the Iberian peninsula itself as well as in the broader world of Islam. The lecture will discuss this complex reality, in an attempt to replace some myths with a nuanced picture of the multi-religious culture of Islamic Spain.
Sarah Stroumsa is the Alice and Jack Ormut Professor Emerita of Arabic Studies. She taught in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature and the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she served as the Rector of the University from 2008 until 2012. Her area of academic focus includes the history of philosophical and theological thought in Arabic in the early Islamic Middle Ages, Medieval Judaeo-Arabic literature, and intellectual history of Muslims and Jews in Islamic Spain.
Sarah Stroumsa is the Alice and Jack Ormut Professor Emerita of Arabic Studies. She taught in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature and the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she served as the Rector of the University from 2008 until 2012. Her area of academic focus includes the history of philosophical and theological thought in Arabic in the early Islamic Middle Ages, Medieval Judaeo-Arabic literature, and intellectual history of Muslims and Jews in Islamic Spain.
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