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Who Owns Reason?

2011; Boston University; Volume: 19; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/arn.2011.0035

2327-6436

Colin Wells,

Byzantine Studies and History

Who Owns Reason? COLIN WELLS In a speech on faithand reason in September2006, Pope BenedictXVI touchedoffa global controversy by quoting an obscureByzantine emperor who had condemned Islamas inherently violentand irrational.The Catholic Churchhas longclaimedbothfaithand reasonas itsexclusiveproperty . But the historybehind the controversy Benedictaroused showsthatclaimsoffaithand reasonhavealwaysbeencentralto thecompeting culturalidentities of Christianity and Islam- and thatall sides in thisstruggle have at different timesbothembracedand rejectedreason . In March 1391, less thana yearbeforehe utteredthewords quoted severalyearsago byPope Benedict XVI, the emperorManuel II Paleologos ascended to the throne ofByzantium. He inherited an empire thatwas clearly on itslast legs,itsonce vastterritory reducedto a sliverof land around the capital city,Constantinople, along witha fewoutpostsin theAegeanand theBlackSea. Manuel himselfwas a vassal oftheOttomansultanBayezid,a fierce and uncompromising commanderwhose conquestswould soon win him the titleghazi, warriorforIslam. The Ottoman Turkswereintheprocessofconquering Asia Minorand the Balkans, both of which had once been ruled by Manuel's Christianpredecessors.Bayezid'sforcesvirtually encircled Constantinople, and he had just held Manuel hostagefor nearlya year.Manuel claimedthethroneonlyafter escaping to Constantinoplefromthe sultan'scamp in Asia Minor, wherethenewshad cometo himthathisfather, theemperor JohnV Paleologos,had died. On hearingof Manuel's escape, Bayezidwas furious.He orderedthenewemperor to return at once,and Manuel felt ARION 19.2 FALL 20II 32 WHOOWNS REASON? thathehad no choicebutto obey.On June8, hecrossedthe Bosphorusto Asia Minor,and thenaccompaniedBayezid's armyas itmarchedintotheinterior. In letters to friends back inConstantinople, hedescribed passingthrough thedeserted townsand villagesof thisformer Byzantineterritory, their names forgotten, theirinhabitants long fledto escape the Turks.WinterfoundManuel holed up withthe Ottoman armyinAnkara,wheretheOrthodoxChristian emperor engaged in a seriesof theologicaldiscussionswitha learned PersianMuslim. Our only source forthese discussionsis the versionof themthatManuel himself is thoughtto have composed a few yearsafterthe fact.It was fromthis text,edited by TheodoreKhoury, thatthepope choseto quoteinhisspeech at Regensburg on September 12, 2006: "Show mejustwhat Mohammedbrought thatwas new,and thereyou will find thingsonly evil and inhuman,such as his command to spreadbytheswordthefaithhe preached." A worldwidecontroversy immediately eruptedover the pope's quotationofthisobscuremedievalfigure. The source may have been unfamiliar, but theclaims are not. On one side, criticschargethatIslam is inherently, even uniquely, anti-rational, intolerant, and violent - thatitwas borninviolence ,spreadinviolence,and is now cultivated inviolence. On theotherside,apologiststellus thatthereligionis inherently rational,tolerant,and peaceful,and thatthisauthenticIslam has been "hijacked" by terrorists and others withviolentagendas. Both sides flingquotationsfromthe Koran at each otherthatpurportedly provetheircase. Beforethe pope steppedin, the most recentepisode in this long-running serialwas theDanish CartoonImbroglio. The ostensible subjectofBenedict's speechwas "faithand reason," a topicthathas a long history. Islam and Christianityalike have always had theirflintier proponents, who haverepeatedly strucksparkswhenrubbingup againstreason . At timesin European history, theclash betweenfaith and reason has been literally incendiary. The Renaissance Colin Wells 33 scientistand philosopherGiordano Bruno,among others, burnedat the stake because of it. But throughout history, anti-rationalist clericshave clashedwithscientists, philosophers ,and otherchampionsof freeinquirynot onlyin the West,butalso intheByzantine (or EasternOrthodoxChristian ) and Islamic worlds. And like Manuel and Benedict, people in each ofthesecivilizations haverepeatedly claimed bothfaithand reasonas theirown. We expectsuchclaimsfrom peopleoffaith, whichso often asserttheexclusionfromtruthof thosewho don't believe. Butexclusiveclaimsabout reasonconfuseus. On one hand, we feelreason is, or oughtto be, universal.On the other hand,thesixcenturies ofprogress intheWestthatdividethe age ofManuel II fromourown suggest to manycommentatorsthatWesterncivilizationpossessesan inherent affinity withreasonthathas spurred itsculturalascendancy. Certainly itsuggests thatto manyWestern commentators. Buta closerlook at thehistory behindthepope's appropriationofManuel II undercuts thisidea. Manuel himselfwould probablyhave been gratified (if somewhatbaffled)bythefurorhiswordsprovoked.As far as we can tell,whenhe spokethemtheycaused nota ripple. Bythetimehe wrotethemdown,he was back in Constantinople ,whichBayezidwas intheprocessofbesieging inthe nameofIslam.The Turksweretoo busyspreading Islamby the sword to take offense.One imaginesthat Bayezid whose preferred epithetwas Yilderim , "Thunderbolt" would have beenflattered, anyway. That siegebeganin 1394, and was prompted byManuel's refusalto answeryetanotherimperioussummonsfromthe sultan.In ignoring Bayezid,Manuel was gambling thatConstantinople 's famouswalls would outlastthesultan'swrath. Theydid.WhatreallysavedByzantium, however, was notits capital'swalls,formidable though they were,butsimplegood luck - intheshapeoftheMongolconqueror Tamerlane, who tookumbrageat Bayezid'simperial aspirations and swooped in fromCentral Asia to decimatethe Ottoman armyat 34 WHOOWNS REASON? Ankarain 1402. Bayezidhimself was capturedin thebattle and died a yearor so later.His sons began fighting among eachotherforcontrol ofthesuddenly wobblyOttomanstate. Bayezid'sdefeatallowed Byzantium to survive foranother half-century, whichwas how long it took theOttomansto recoverand finally captureConstantinople(theydid so in 1453, renamingthecityIstanbuland makingit theirown capital). But Manuel deservessome creditforthereprieve, too. By all accountsa charming and handsomeman,longbeardedin the bestByzantinefashion,he was also widely knownforhislearning and intelligence. Aroundforty years old on hisascensionto thethrone...