Encountering Islam: The Qu'ran in the European Enlightenment

Please join us for a series of public lectures exploring the findings and implications of our research "Cultural Encounters: Travel, Religion, and Identity in the Early Modern World"

The years between 1550 and 1700 saw the birth of our modern world. The rumbling legacy of the Reformations shaped the social and political landscape of Europe, and drove evangelical missions at home and abroad. Thanks to the trading influence and military prowess of the Ottoman Empire, Europeans were confronted by strange ideas, novel societies, and unfamiliar faiths, as well as sophisticated mathematical and scientific knowledge. Voyages of business and exploration brought travellers into contact with the peoples of the Far East, South Asia, and the Americas.
This lecture series will roam across early modern Europe and beyond, investigating the effects of these turbulent centuries, and their centrality to our own social and cultural inheritance.See further information about the series at: http://www.york.ac.uk/crems/conversion/news/publiclectures/

Lectures will take place in the wonderful surroundings of the York Medical Society, on Stonegate, and will start at 20.00. Refreshments will be provided, and all are welcome to attend.
For directions please see: http://yorkmedsoc.org/how-to-find-us.html

Dr Ziad Elmarsafy, Department of English, University of York

The Qur’an was something of a bestseller in Europe, despite (or perhaps because of) the endless warnings about its dangerous effects. The early modern period (roughly 1600-1800) saw the publication of the first translations of the complete received text of the Qur’an into modern vernacular European languages as well as Latin. This lecture will survey the history of this process and the intellectual conditions that made it possible.