Books by Salam Rassi
Papers by Salam Rassi
Book chapter in Études syriaques 16 on late medieval encounters between Syriac and Arabo-Islamic ... more Book chapter in Études syriaques 16 on late medieval encounters between Syriac and Arabo-Islamic philosophy. In particular, I examine the historical processes that led to the transformation of Syriac Christian philosophical praxis from its Greco-Arabic origins to its assimilation of post-Avciennan ideas from the 12th to 13th centuries. To this end, my contribution explores two hitherto unstudied works: a commentary on the Organon by Dionysius bar Ṣalībī (d. 1171) and the metaphysics of a philosophical compendium entitled the Book of Dialogues by Jacob bar Šakkō (1241).
Book Chapters by Salam Rassi
Conference Presentations by Salam Rassi
Unpublished invited talk, 2022
My slides for a talk I gave at the After Rome Seminar in Oxford (12 May 2022). It attempts to pla... more My slides for a talk I gave at the After Rome Seminar in Oxford (12 May 2022). It attempts to place the epistemology of Paul the Persian (fl. 6th century) in its late antique context by comparing it with the thought of Babai the Great (d. 628) and other Syriac thinkers.
Unpublished conference presentation on the impact of Avicennism on the thought of Gregory Abū l-F... more Unpublished conference presentation on the impact of Avicennism on the thought of Gregory Abū l-Faraj Barhebraeus, a 13th-century Syriac contemporary of Thomas Aquinas who is of comparable significance to the Syrian Orthodox Church. I explore Barhebraeus’s doctrine of being and its theological implications. Profoundly influenced by Avicenna, Barhebraeus articulates a proof of God’s existence from radical contingency—i.e., the idea that a being which derives its existence from something other than itself is contingent on another: a Necessary Being by virtue of Itself. How, then, does the Necessary Being’s existence differ from our own? In the Categories of his Cream of Wisdom, Barhebraeus introduces a mode of predication previously unknown to earlier Syriac thinkers: ambiguity or modulation (purtḵānā), equivalent to Avicenna's tashkīk. In the metaphysics of the same work, Barhebraeus holds that being is common to existents by way of modulated equivocity (ba-znā purtḵāyā d-šawyūṯ šmā). This is to say, being is shared across different types of existents, be they contingent or necessary. However, the former shares in being in a lesser and posterior way, while the latter does so in a greater and prior way.
My paper examines this modulation of being in the context of debates among Barhebraeus’ Muslim interlocutors, namely, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. To fully appreciate Barhebraeus’ position on this issue, we must understand the philosophical paideia that emerged in the Islamicate world some 200 years after Avicenna’s death. As such, Barhebraeus’ (post-)Avicennism represents a significant break from the late antique Syriac philosophical tradition. The site of this earlier tradition tended to be commentaries on Aristotle and Alexandrian-style prolegomena. Barhebraeus, on the other hand, is among the first Syriac thinkers to make extensive use of the philosophical summa, a genre that had become highly commonplace in post-Avicennan discourse. Thus, I argue that any comprehensive history of the reception of Avicennism must integrate Syriac Christian sources—material that few scholars have systematically studied.
Public-Facing Scholarship (blogposts, media, etc.) by Salam Rassi
https://www.islamicoccult.org/salam_rassi
Syllabi by Salam Rassi
This course explores Muslim-Christian interactions from the 7 th to the 13 th centuries. Through ... more This course explores Muslim-Christian interactions from the 7 th to the 13 th centuries. Through a close reading of texts spanning theology, philosophy, historiography, and poetry, we will examine the intricate and creative ways in which members of these two world faiths engaged with each other. Throughout the course, we will consider how theological and religious issues intersect with social, intellectual, and literary encounters within each tradition.
Abstracts by Salam Rassi
Uploads
Books by Salam Rassi
Papers by Salam Rassi
Book Chapters by Salam Rassi
Conference Presentations by Salam Rassi
My paper examines this modulation of being in the context of debates among Barhebraeus’ Muslim interlocutors, namely, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. To fully appreciate Barhebraeus’ position on this issue, we must understand the philosophical paideia that emerged in the Islamicate world some 200 years after Avicenna’s death. As such, Barhebraeus’ (post-)Avicennism represents a significant break from the late antique Syriac philosophical tradition. The site of this earlier tradition tended to be commentaries on Aristotle and Alexandrian-style prolegomena. Barhebraeus, on the other hand, is among the first Syriac thinkers to make extensive use of the philosophical summa, a genre that had become highly commonplace in post-Avicennan discourse. Thus, I argue that any comprehensive history of the reception of Avicennism must integrate Syriac Christian sources—material that few scholars have systematically studied.
Public-Facing Scholarship (blogposts, media, etc.) by Salam Rassi
Syllabi by Salam Rassi
Abstracts by Salam Rassi
My paper examines this modulation of being in the context of debates among Barhebraeus’ Muslim interlocutors, namely, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. To fully appreciate Barhebraeus’ position on this issue, we must understand the philosophical paideia that emerged in the Islamicate world some 200 years after Avicenna’s death. As such, Barhebraeus’ (post-)Avicennism represents a significant break from the late antique Syriac philosophical tradition. The site of this earlier tradition tended to be commentaries on Aristotle and Alexandrian-style prolegomena. Barhebraeus, on the other hand, is among the first Syriac thinkers to make extensive use of the philosophical summa, a genre that had become highly commonplace in post-Avicennan discourse. Thus, I argue that any comprehensive history of the reception of Avicennism must integrate Syriac Christian sources—material that few scholars have systematically studied.