Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World

by Stephen O'Shea

Book Overview

An accessible history of conflict between Christian and Muslim in the Middle Ages, but with far greater scope than the usual crusade narratives. Starting with Yarmuk in 636 the book provides coverage... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802714986
• ISBN13: 9780802714985
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Walker & Company
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Best of the Books on the History of Islam-Christian Contact

I have read many books on the history of Islam and the contact of Islam with Christian Europe. In my judgment, this is the best overall study. O'Shea is himself a very intelligent writer, and shows a political and human insight into historical situations that is not commonly matched by other writers. The book is organized around a series of relatively decisive events, running from the 700s AD to the 1500s. Each chapter offers a rich development of the context for the event, and overall the sequence of chapters is a compelling story of the history of the Mediterranean world. Informative, insightful, and highly engaging. I recommend it very highly.

Highly Recommended

Enlightened, very well researched, excellently written, highly enjoyable read. I even enjoyed reading the chapter notes! Should be required reading in this age of darkness.

A Sea of Reading Pleasure

This has got to be the most pleasurable history book I have ever read. So wonderful is O'Shea's writing style that my previously dormant desire for history books has been revitalized and I'm ordering several more history books to gorge on. I am remembering now why I was a history major in college. As to the book - O'Shea discusses a wide swath of time from the rise of Islam to the Siege of Malta in 1565, all focusing on the monumental struggle, and at times cooperation (or convivencia), between the two major faiths - Islam and Christianity. O'Shea adumbrates this struggle by focusing on the Mare Nostrum - the Roman term for the Mediterranean ("the Sea of Faith") - via the episodic but epochal battles that proved the turning points in the balance of power, such as Yarmuk, Manzikert, Hattin, Las Novas de Tolosa, the 1453 annihilation of the Byzantines and the successful defense of Malta against overwhelming odds. Although the story focuses on these punctuated episodes, O'Shea successfully weaves the story together around the overall themes by fleshing out the linear connections between the battles and major players. Thankfully, this is not merely a military history book, though his descriptions, particularly of 1187, 1453 and 1565, had me literally on the edge of my seat feeling out of breath from the sheer thrill of human heroism and stupidity. Jean Parisot de la Valette - wow what a genius! Raynald of Châtillon - what a lout! No, this is also a story that most Westerners are ignorant of because it demonstrates incontrovertibly that Islam was no backwards, primitive, barbarian civilization. I know it is difficult to swallow, but the truth is that the Muslims were further advanced than the Christian West for several centuries in learning, in philosophy, in technology, in mathematics, in architecture, and, yes, even in tolerance towards other religions. Saladin, Mehmet The Conqueror, and later Suleiman the Magnificent showed magnanimity that was sorely lacking from the Christians. O'Shea brilliantly points out that even words like algebra, algorithm, arsenal, traffic, and cheque are borrowed Arabic terms. I did not know this but am thankful for knowing it now. This is a must read book for those interested in medieval history, Islamic history, and those just wanting a really great story chockful of well-researched facts. You may also need a dictionary handy because O'Shea has a refreshingly prodigious vocabulary. My only complaint is that O'Shea uses endnotes based on book pages, which means you do not know there is an endnote unless you spend time looking at the back of the book. There are a lot of gems in there but it is an awkward way to locate them.

Seems superbly researched and written

I enjoy the flow of the writing. Just how O'Shea assembles so many facts I don't know. He provides a "you are there" feeling for the many battles. I am suprised so many details of those battles have survived a millenia. One learns to at least appreciate from this book the value in having adequate supplies of water during a battle. O'Shea apparently visited many of the locations he covers in this book including the battefields to the extent the exact sites are known nowadays. That "convivencia", an unusual level of cooperation between Muslims, Christians, and Jews was possible in places during much of the period O'Shea covers, is one good reminder of the value of studying history. One might not suspect given current relationships among these groups that such intellectual and cultural sharing was possible. On the other hand, the barbarism during the warfare including the Crusades is a reminder of the violence associated with different cultures and religions. The description of Crusader's slaughter of so many defenseless man, women and children in the 1099 ransack of Jerusalem is shocking albeit briefly described. I'm reminded of the destruction of an entire Cather city by Crusaders that O'Shea describes in his earlier work "The Perfect Heresy". Would O'Shea hope to earn enough from this book to sufficiently reward his major efforts? He must love what he is doing. Hopefully readers will support him in writing histories for a long time.

Muslim vs Christian

"Sea of Faith" describes the relationships among Muslims, Christians, and Jews around the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages. The book begins with a lucid discription of the life of Mohammad and the rise of Islam and goes on to describe both wars and co-existence between Christians and Muslims. The ten chapters each focus on a specific place or battle: Yarmuk, Poitiers, Cordova, Palermo, Constantinople, and Malta to list a few. The tone throughout is sensible and fair-minded. The author adds personal observations about the present day appearance and situation of each of his historical focal points. The book is relatively brief -- about 315 pages of text -- and doesn't pretend to be a complete history of Muslim/Christian relations in the Middle East, but I certainly augmented my knowledge by reading the book. For example, I had never realized that Jewish tribes were so widespread -- from Morocco to the steppes of Central Asia -- in the early Middle ages. Their role in history was occasionally important and always interesting. Some of the most vivid parts of the book are the paragraphs about the pious Christian Crusaders killing and eating their captives and his account of the defeat of Crusaders by Saladin. The book is not all about battles, however. The author uses the term "convivencia" to describe the frequent instances of Muslim, Christian, and Jew living together in peace. The maps in the book are tolerably good; a glossary helps with a lot of unfamiliar names and place names; a few small photographs illustrate the text; and more than 50 pages of notes explain and clarify points in the text. "Sea of Faith" is an excellent and highly-readable account of Muslim and Christian interactions in the Middle Ages Smallchief