The Earliest Christian Views of Islam History 100WC Pomona College Ken Wolf Description Over the course of the century following Muhammad's death in 632, Muslim armies dominated the eastern, southern, and western shores of the Mediterranean, areas that had been in Christian hands for centuries. How Christian commentators came to terms with this dramatic religio-political transformation of their world is the subject of this seminar. Primary sources from the hands of contemporary Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, and Latin Christian authors will be supplemented by the works of modern scholars. Units Introduction: Texts in Search of Context. 1. Background: The Christian Roman Empire and its Enemies: Internal and External • Jenkins, Jesus Wars, vii-xv, 41-68, 131-265. • Howard-Johnston, "The Official History of Heraclius' Persian Campaigns," pp. 57-85. 2. Background: Islam • Donner, Muhammad and the Believers at the origins of Islam, xi-xiv, 1-144, 194-224. • Crone, "Among the Believers" (2010)--review article. • Ruthven, "The Birth of Islam: A Different View," New York Review of Books (2011)--review article. • Morony, "Religious Communities in Sasanian and Early Muslim Iraq," pp. 113-135. 3. Bits and Pieces: The Earliest Eastern Christian References to the Arab Conquests • Anonymous Syriac gospel notes (637) • Sophronius of Jerusalem (634-637) • Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati (634-640) • Anonymous Continuator of John Moschus (shortly after 637) • Maximus the Confessor (634-40) • Thomas the Priest, Chronicle (640) • A Nestorian of Khuzistan (660s/670s)