Common Knowledge

Rawson, Claude

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254120

Hamilton, Alastair

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254084

O’Brien, Peter;Zgourides, Christiana

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4253810

This contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium on xenophilia defines Islamophilia as expressed praise for or admiration of Muslims (and their accomplishments) by non-Muslims. The analysis underscores three indicators of Islamophilia: fascination with Muslim culture, awe regarding Muslim prosperity, and admiration of Muslim governance. The period from the invasion of the Iberian peninsula by Arab forces in 711 until the final expulsion of the “Moors” in 1492 marked the longest direct, daily contact between Muslims and Christians (and Jews) in the history of Europe. In large areas and for long periods, Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived side by side peacefully. Christians and Jews eventually adopted and admired aspects of the dominant Arab culture and lifestyle. Even after Muslim-controlled lands were retaken in the Reconquista, the conquering Christians often continued to explore and prize the many achievements of the vanquished Muslims. This article summarizes the development, during the medieval period, of such positive Christian attitudes toward Islam.

Bynum, Caroline Walker

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254204

Platt, Kevin M. F.

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4253890

Tolentino, Armin

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4253914

Chace, William M.

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254060

Bynum, Caroline Walker

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254156

Harman, Oren

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4254096

Davis, Richard H.

2018 Common Knowledge

doi: 10.1215/0961754X-4253822

Thoreau was likely the first American to entertain seriously the possibility of identifying himself as a yogi. “Depend upon it that rude and careless as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully,” he wrote to his friend Harrison Blake in 1849: “To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a yogin.” But what did he mean in saying so? Thoreau’s understanding of the term yoga derived entirely from ancient Indian texts. In the 1840s, he read avidly and empathetically in key Indic works such as the Laws of Manu and the Bhagavad Gita. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s notion of “one mind” as a hermeneutical principle, Thoreau sought to overcome temporal and spatial distance in his reading and to integrate ideas and practices of these Hindu texts from ancient India selectively within his own life. Listening to the voices of Indic sages reinforced Thoreau’s own inclinations toward austerity and equanimity. They gave him a foundation for his life experiments in voluntary simplification and yogic contemplation at Walden Pond. This essay, which is a contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium on xenophilia, traces Thoreau’s engagement with ancient Indian works during the 1840s and contrasts his way of reading with those of other scholars during the period. The hermeneutic of “one mind” was the foundation of his xenophilic reading.