Neoplatonism Through the Renaissance

Islam’s Influence

How and why did Jewish and Islamic philosophy become part of the scholastic tradition?

Arabs, Berbers, and other Muslims invaded Christian Spain in the year 711 as part of their Islamic military campaigns. These military invasions were followed by a kind of colonization, which supported lasting cultural exchange. The Muslims were inclined to tolerate Judaism as well as Christianity because it was also a monotheistic religion “of the book” (that is, like both Islam and Christianity, Judaism had its own Bible with one God). As result of the dual tolerance of Jews and Christian by Muslim rulers, the scholastic tradition, which was originally a Christian tradition, came to incorporate both Jewish and Islamic philosophy.