closer to external conditions; it too experienced plenty of controversies and
developments, but these were in the realm of more anthropomorphic and
particularistic conceptions, such as the cult of the Virgin Mary, or tied to
political struggles over the wealth and secular power of the church. The field
of law was creative in its own sphere, especially in the areas of corporations
and property, subjects which had great long-term significance for the European
economy and for the political trajectory of self-government (Berman, 1983).
But law was largely separate from philosophical developments, and their
creativity was specialized into different universities (Radding, 1985, 1988).
Philosophy was strong in the universities specializing in theology, above all
Paris and Oxford; law was creative especially in the universities of northern
Italy, headed by Bologna. This was the region where the church-state conflict
was most intense, the battleground of territorial struggles between the papacy
and the Holy Roman Emperor. Law was stimulated as an instrument of this
struggle.
Institutional Divergence with Islam
Islam and Christendom have many external conditions in common. Both are
regions organized by universalistic religions on the periphery of old bureau-
cratic empires, Rome and/or Persia; both were built on tribal coalitions newly
developed into states; both have doctrines of anthropomorphic monotheism,
modeling their God on an omnipotent political ruler who demands both
obedience and action on his behalf. Both religions, along with their progenitor,
Judaism, symbolically exalt a ruling personality and thus give an emphasis to
moral relationships and to political and social activism.
But Islam’s variants on the central Christian institutions are significantly
different. Monasticism is virtually absent in Islam. There are ascetics and
devotees of religious exercises, but they do not form property-owning corpo-
rations. Sufi asceticism was not especially concerned with celibacy. This is
important because a celibate organization necessarily breaks its ties with fami-
lies; thus it can become an independent force acting apart from the interests
of kinship groups. The Sufi brotherhoods, in contrast with Christian monastic
orders, were much more embedded in the politics and status concerns of lay
society. In addition, the monasteries had a much greater capacity for amassing
wealth and organizational resources. There was a modest equivalent in Islam
in the form of religious endowments (waqf) such as schools, hospitals, and
charities (Hodgson, 1974: 2:51, 136; Makdisi, 1981: 35–74). These could hold
property, and were used by wealthy patrons as a device to evade inheritance
laws and restrictions on investment (Garcin, 1988: 121–123). But such relig-
ious corporations lacked autonomy from lay interests and control. What is
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