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286 BOOK REVIEWS A Commentary on the Creed of Islam, Sa'd al Din al-Taftazilni on the Creed of Najm al Din al Nasafi. Tr. by EARL EDGAR ELDER. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950. Pp. 219, with index. $3.75. The Tevival of medieval studies in the last ~fty years is a matter of record. In almost all the great universities of the world, scholars have devoted much of their activity to the study of the institutions, literature, politics, arts and sciences extant during the long period which runs from the end of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance. Denifle, Grabmann, Mandonnet, Haskins, Chenu, Peatow, Powcocke, Gilson and Vignaux, among many others, have worked strenuously in this field. In the New World, institutes such as the Pontifical Institute of Toronto, the Institut d'Etudes Medievales of Montreal, the American Medieval Society, and Washington University and reviews such as Speculum, Traditio, and the Thomist, to mention a few, clearly show the depths of revived interest in the Middle Ages. Scholasticism, naturally, has profited by this interest. The teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and of the Franciscan School, particularly, have been studied with great care. Chronological criteria of the various works and the influence of historical background and context have been stressed without falling into a disintegration of doctrinal positions, at least among the best scholars. The Leonine Edition of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Canadian edition (Dominican) of the same work are good examples of the kind of work which has been accomplished. This interest shown in medieval studies has led necessarily to the study of the influence of foreign cultures on occidental medievalism. Among those, the Arabic and Islamic culture have attracted attention. Beyond all doubt, names like Avicenna, Averroes, Kindi, Farabi, to mention only the fields of philosophy and theology, were familiar to the great Scholastics, and we are not surprised to see Gilson, a great specialist in medieval studies, assert in one of his books: "La premiere illusion a dissiper est celle qui represente la pensee chretienne et la pensee musulmane comme deux mondes dont on pourrait connaitre l'un et ignorer l'autre," which is a fairly categorical statement as to the interdependence of the two systems of thought. Comparative studies have. been made by many scholars. In the field of the sciences, the monumental works of Professor George Sarton have shown in a practical way that the .study of the Arabic heritage is full of very suggestive comparisons between the different sectors of human knowledge . In philosophy, Horten, Bouyges, Asin Palacios, and Muller, and in mystical theology, the great scholars Massignon and Nicholson have presented a huge amount of material which· brings to non-Arabic students an important collection of facts which may be integrated into a comprehensive history of culture. BOOK REVIEWS ~87 On the other hand, this scientific approach to Arabic culture by means of medieval studies has been connected to some extent wiih ·missionary activity in regard to Islam. From the second half of the 19th century, French Jesuits, English and American Protestants, and Itali~ Franciscws had tried in the Near-East and in India to preach the Gospel among the Muslims. In the beginning, knowledge concerning Islam was not entirely unprejudiced; a polemic spirit prevailed and no scientific study was seriously undertaken. For the greater part, the studies of that day concerned folklore dr popular beliefs. In the course of time, however, serious scholars entered the field and works of high standard concerning Islam were produced. The name and works of Duncan Macdonald, for example, are known by all who deal with mission questions about the Muslim. The scientific studies of missionaries has, in fact, now attained a high level. It is a sign of the times that a review like Muslim World, edited by the Hartford Missionary School in Massachusetts, should have _a director of the stature of Professor Calverly and such collaborators as Professors Jeffery of Columbia University, Gibb of Oxford, and Winnet of Toronto. Important books, technical and, as far as possible, objective, have been written: The Muslim Creed of Wensinck, Islam and Christian Theology of Sweetman, the Introduction a...

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