Chapter 6. The Continuities and Ruptures of a Scholarly Life
2023; Volume: 112; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/tap.2023.a919382
ISSN2325-9264
Autores Tópico(s)Philosophy, History, and Historiography
ResumoChapter 6. The Continuities and Ruptures of a Scholarly Life Sabine Schmidtke (bio) Rudolf Strothmann’s academic career was marked by several turns and ruptures. The most important was no doubt his appointment to a faculty position at Giessen University in 1923, which allowed him to abandon his earlier career as a high school teacher and deacon at Pforta and to focus henceforth exclusively on Oriental studies. Stroth-mann’s 1927 appointment at Hamburg University was another important career step, as it also made him editor of Der Islam, arguably one of the most important journals for German Arab-ists and Islamicists during the more than three decades of Strothmann’s editorship.1 Strothmann’s scholarly trajectory over the course of its five decades reflects his shifting interests, beginning with his early interest in Zaydism, which subsequently led him to delve into Twelver Shīʿism, and then, instigated by the discovery of relevant materials in the Caprotti collection, his evolving preoccupation with Ismāʿīlism, which in turn guided him toward the Nuṣayrīs. In parallel, Stroth-mann was also deeply involved in the history of Eastern Christianity and the Church of the East, and whenever he had an [End Page 113] opportunity, he was an avid observer of the contemporary Middle East and of Islam as a living religion and culture. This diversity of interests coexisted with a continuity in his scholarship, which moved organically in new directions whenever new material came to his attention and was accessible to him. Moreover, Strothmann’s focus on the “fringes” of Islamic civilization—besides Shīʿism he also devoted much attention to the Ibāḍī tradition—was a conscious decision, as he wrote in his programmatic article of 1938, “On the History of Islamic Heresiography,” cited also at the outset of this study: The progress of Islamic research assigns to us to-day a new task, that of elucidating the more intimate aspects of our subject: that is, we have to turn from a description and investigation of Islam in general towards that of its different formations, the so-called sects. It is only in this way that we shall be able to understand all the impulses which were active during the history of Islam; and thus only we can comprehend the—to-day predominant—Sunni Islam in its competition with rival schools of thought. The only original sources for the study of sects are their own writings; their publication is, therefore, of primary importance.2 Strothmann’s independence as a scholar is evident in his reaction to a report submitted on 15 May 1933 by Franz Babinger (b. 1891, d. 1967) and Walther Hinz (b. 1906, d. 1992) to the ministries of education in Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony. The report, titled “Die Morgenlandforschung im neuen Deutschland—Stand und künftige Aufgaben,”3 argued that there should be three major centers of Oriental studies in Germany, namely, Berlin, Leipzig, and Munich, and that primarily philological research should be replaced by a focus on historical and contemporary concerns. The report was criticized by the majority of German Orientalists, for a variety of reasons.4 In a letter to Hellmut Ritter, dated 20 October 1933, Strothmann writes: [End Page 114] Sie werden von den Reformern der Orientstudien gehört haben. Ich musste dazu auf dem Dienstwege eine Antwort geben. Da sie einfach der Vorlage folgt, ist sie ebenso unbedeutend. Ich darf sie Ihnen beilegen; werfen Sie sie dann bitte in den Papierkorb.5 Dinge wie Fachgegensätze sind mir unverständlich, wo auf allen Gebieten so unendlich viel Arbeit wäre. Ich muss sogar sagen, sie interessieren mich kaum, vielleicht auch deswegen, weil ich z[ur] Z[ei]t ganz ausserhalb stand (ich hatte ein Buch zur jetzigen orientalischen Kirchen(!)-geschichte veröffentlicht6). Dazu kann ich nichts; ich suche solche Stoffe nicht, sondern sie drängen sich mir einfach auf, und die Arbeit, die ich jetzt vorhabe, ich weiss nicht, unter welches Fach man sie registrieren will! The continuity of Strothmann’s scholarly trajectory is all the more remarkable as his research was conducted under difficult circumstances. During the first decade and a half, at Pforta, Strothmann worked under extreme time constraints, and...
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