Christian-Muslim Relations 600-1500 (CMR600)

CMR600 comprises the first five volumes of the Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History series and covers the period from the rise of Islam in the early 600s until the year 1500. It encompasses encounters within the extended Mediterranean basin, including the Islamic, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires.

Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History seeks to produce an encyclopaedic compilation of the records of past encounters in a single history, thus providing an essential research tool to understand the roots of Christian-Muslim relations. CMR600 was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and ran from 2006-2011. 2012 saw the beginning of the second phase of the project, CMR1900, also funded by the AHRC. CMR1900 will cover the period 1500-1914. The five volumes of CMR600 are divided as follows:

cover vol 5Volume 1: 600-900     (2009)

Volume 2: 900-1050   (2010)

Volume 3: 1050-1200 (2011)

Volume 4: 1200-1350 (2012)

Volume 5: 1350-1500 (2013)

  

Each volume includes:

 
  • Introductory essays with a focus on Christian-Muslim interaction

  • Accounts of historical, geographical, literary and legal works that refer to the other religious community

  • Detailed bibliographical entries on the works specifically about and against the other faith, their authors, their manuscript and publication history, and details of relevant studies.

There is also an accompanying online reference work Christian Muslim Relations Online. This is hosted by Brill. It includes introductory essays on topics such as 'Arabic-Islamic perceptions of Western Europe in the Middle Ages', 'Christians and Christianity in Ḥadīth works before 900', and 'Muslims in Canon Law', as well as access to more than two hundred detailed entries on all the works recorded, both surviving and lost. Various subscriptions are available.

The CMR600 team were:

*affiliations correct at time of involvement

  • Andalusian Arabic: Professor Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala, University of Cordoba
  • Christian Arabic: Professor Mark Swanson, Luther School of Theology at Chicago
  • Greek: Professor Johannes Pahlitzsch, University of Mainz
  • Latin and Romance Vernaculars: Professor John Tolan, University of Nantes 
  • Muslim Arabic and Project Director: Professor David Thomas, University of Birmingham
  • Research Officer: Dr Alex Mallett, University of Exeter
  • Syriac: Professor Herman Teule, Radboud University Nijmegen