The greatest European linguist between late antiquity and the seventeenth century, Ramon Martí had exquisite expertise in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. As a Dominican friar, he was called to preach the Gospel to the whole world, and his surviving works reveal that he took this calling seriously. He had read widely in the core texts of both Islam and Judaism and applied this knowledge in writing deeply learned works that critiqued those religions. But his engagement with these religions and their intellectual traditions was in certain ways puzzling. For one thing, he had far more to say about Judaism than Islam, even though he lived in the Crown of Aragon, which had a huge population of restive Muslim subjects, but only a tiny, non-threatening community of Jews. Furthermore, while he was clearly a hostile critic of Islam, he was a lifelong admirer of Arab philosophy, which he read in Arabic until the end of his life. This lecture will explore Martí’s intense and surprising interrogation of the religions of the book.

This keynote lecture features new discoveries that are part of Professor Burman’s current book project. It is offered for the entire University of Dallas community. It will be followed by panel of University of Dallas scholars with special knowledge of the field (Professors Ivers, Parens, and Heyne) who will hold public conversation with Professor Burman about his findings and their interest.

The venue will open at 7:00 for those who would like to come early for tea and conversation.

Speaker: 

Professor Thomas E. Burman, Professor of History, Notre Dame

Professor Burman will present material of interest from his own current book-project, which makes and interprets new discoveries about a key but forgotten early Dominican contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, Ramon Martí. Martí was the greatest linguist and translator of the Middle Ages, and will give detailed and often surprising insight into what evangelization, apologetics, and Bibilical exegesis meant to the early mendicants.

Professor Burman's research and teaching focus on the intellectual and cultural interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the medieval Mediterranean world. He is author of Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, c. 1050-1200 and Reading the Qur'an in Latin Christendom, 1140-1560, and co-author with Brian Catlos and Mark Meyerson of The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650-1650. Currently he is completing a book entitled Beyond the Mediterranean: The Intellectual Venture of Ramon Martí (fl. 1250-84).

Marti's Dagger of Faith (Paris, Bib. Sainte-Geneviève MS 1405)

Sponsored by UDallas Phi Beta Kappa, as part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar program.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 and is a prestigious academic honor society that champions the liberal arts.

Since 1956, the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has offered undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America’s most distinguished scholars. The program’s main purpose is to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting Scholars and the resident faculty and students.

The University of Dallas’s PBK chapter will welcome PBK Visiting Scholar Thomas E. Burman to campus on Sept. 17 and 18. Professor Burman is a noted historian and is the Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has served as Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2009 to 2016) and the Director of the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame (2016 to 2025). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Reading the Qur’ān in Latin Christendom, 1140-1560 (2007) and, with Brian Catlos and Mark Meyerson, The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World (650-1650) (2022).