PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH | 223Chapter 6
The Firkovich collections are also one of the main sources of new informa-
tion about the revival of Jewish philosophy under the Abbasids, and the ra-
tionalist opponents of rabbinism known as Karaites. Both trends were influ-
enced by Muʿtazilite theolog y, as were many Christian thinkers in the
Caliphate. In tenth- century Baghdad there was considerable interaction be-
tween intellectual representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Put-
ting together the new materials constantly coming to light, and the accounts
in various sources, some well known, of the gatherings (majālis) at which
scholars debated their differences, it ought to be possible to paint a more
compelling picture than is yet available of this uniquely well- informed and
tolerant moment in Eurasian intellectual history.
The parallel and to some extent comparative account, in chapters 5 and 6,
of First Millennium exegetical cultures poses questions about the relation-
ships between these traditions (especially the rabbinic and Muslim strands),
and the role of reason as well as revelation. I have placed particular stress on
philosophy and law, in order to underline that the First Millennium is more
than just a periodization in the history of monotheism. In one very impor-
tant respect, the legal strand is unique in that it produced a thorough codifi-
cation in the time of Justinian, the Corpus iuris civilis. Nothing as all-
embracing, systematic, and utterly authoritative (or deadening, depending
on your viewpoint^1 ) emerged from either the philosophy schools or the Tal-
mudists, Christian fathers, and mutakallimūn. That raises an obvious and
fundamental point about the political, organizational, and economic sup-
port presupposed by such wide- ranging intellectual syntheses. There needed
to be imperial backing and interest—both Christianity and Islam disposed
of that, at least at certain moments. But there had to be consensus too. That
was infinitely more elusive in the sphere of religion than in that of law. In
other words, a periodization may primarily be built on concepts, if they are
of sufficient importance; but a narrative history must introduce the power
factor, and ask how that molds as well as propagates the ideas. And when
there is no central authority committed to fostering the tradition in ques-
tion, as was the case for Judaism and later Greek philosophy, what role might
be played by other, perhaps more local, social elites? These are questions I
shall touch on, necessarily, in the narrative history of the First Millennium
on which I am now at work.
To close these brief notes on future work: they and the book they con-
1 Cf. y. Congar, “Du bon usage de Denzinger,” in id., Situation et tâches présentes de la théologie
(Paris 1967) 111–33.