Référence :
Islamochristiana N°46 (2020), 141-156, PISAI
English
Lavigerie and Islam, an ambiguous legacy
In a recent article on the contribution of the White Fathers to the renewal of Catholic attitudes towards Islam, Rémi Caucanas rightly notes that their founder’s legacy “was not without ambiguity” in this regard and that this missionary society’s option for dialogue took place only in the first part of the twentieth century. After briefly recalling the biography of Cardinal Charles Lavigerie (1825- 1882), this article attempts to sketch his evolving views on Christian-Muslim relations as reflected in his vast personal correspondence, his pastoral letters and the detailed instructions he wrote for his missionaries.
Dans un article récent sur la contribution des Pères Blancs au renouvellement de l’approche chrétienne vers l’Islam, Rémi Caucanas note à juste titre que l’héritage de leur fondateur « n’est pas sans ambiguïté » à cet égard et que l’option de dialogue de cette société missionnaire ne s’opère en réalité que dans la première partie du XXe siècle. Après un bref rappel de la biographie du cardinal Charles Lavigerie (1825-1882), cet article esquisse l’évolution de sa pensée sur l’Islam et les relations entre chrétiens et musulmans, telle qu’elle se reflète dans sa correspondance personnelle, ses lettres pastorales et les instructions qu’il a écrites pour ses missionnaires.
في مقال حديث حول مساهمة الآباء البيض في تجديد المواقف الكاثوليكيّة تّجاه الإسلام، يشير ريمي كوكاناس عن حقّ بأنّ إرث مؤسّسهم “لا يخلو من الغموض” في هذا الصّدد، وأنّ خيار الحوار في هذا المجتمع الرّسولي لم يُعمل به سوى في الجزء الأوّل من القرن العشرين. وبعد عرض لمحة موجزة حول السيرة الذاتيّة للكاردينال لافيجري (1825-1882)، يرسم هذا المقال التطوّر الفكري الذي خاضه في ما يخص الإسلام والعلاقات بين المسيحيّين والمسلمين، الذي ظهر في مراسلاته الشخصيّة، ورسالاته الرعويّة، وفي التعليمات التي كتبها للإرساليّات.
Download PDF
Resources of this researcher
videos
Online Symposium: Islamic Origins & Christian Theological Engagement with Islam
Panelists David Marshall, University of Bern (Moderator), Guest Editor of Islamochristiana Martin Accad, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary Daniel Brown, ISRME Diego Sarrio Cucarella, PISAI Sa...
publication
The document on human fraternity: an interdisciplinary reflection
The volume, published in the series “Interreligious and Intercultural Investigations” (No. 14), brings together contributions from ten international scholars on the Document on Human Fr...
article
Lavigerie and Islam, an ambiguous legacy
In a recent article on the contribution of the White Fathers to the renewal of Catholic attitudes towards Islam, Rémi Caucanas rightly notes that their founder’s legacy “was not without ambiguity”...
article
Corresponding across Religious Borders: The Letter of al-Qūṭī
Summary : This article provides an introduction to the Letter of al-Qūṭī, a short anti-Islamic polemic in Arabic purportedly written by an unknown priest active in Toledo in the mid-1...
publication
Blessed Ramon Llull: the character and his relationship with Islam
The PISAI is pleased to announce the publication of the book Il beato Raimondo Lullo: il personaggio e il suo rapporto con l’Islam (Roma 2021), edited by Professor Diego Sarrió Cucarella, MAf...
article
‘On how to discern the truth of religion’, by Hunayn b. Isḥāq. The impersonal recension
Abstract This article contributes to the study of Christian Arabic literature by providing an introduction and English translation of the treatise entitled Kayfiyyat idrāk ḥaqīqat al-diyāna, ‘On...
publication
Islam and Belonging. Proceedings of the PLURIEL 2nd International Congress
After its first international congress in Lyon from 6 to 9 September 2016 on the theme “Islam in the Plural: Faith, Thought, Society”[1], the current study brings together the proceedin...
article
Medieval Muslim Polemics against the Christian Creed : The Critique of ṢĀLIḤ B. AL-ḤUSAYN AL-ǦA‘FARĪ (D. 668/1270)
Abstract After introducing Ṣāliḥ b. al-Ḥusayn al-Ǧa‘farī (d. 668/1270), the Egyptian Muslim author of an important work of anti-Christian polemic entitled Taḫǧīl man ḥarrafa al-Tawrāh wa-l-Inǧīl...
article
Corresponding across Religious Borders. The Letter of Ibn Taymiyya to a Crusader in Cyprus
SUMMARY: Presentation of Taqī al–dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya‘s Al–risāla al–qubruṣiyya, a letter written to a crusader baron in Cyprus, probably John II of Giblet, sometime between early 1303 and mid–13...
Resources related to
Muslim-Christian Dialogue
article
Kenneth Cragg and the Event of the Qur’an
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Kenneth Cragg und das Ereignis des Koran on the theological portal feinschwarz.net (12 June 2026, open access). Timo Güzelmansur presents the A...
article
Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and the Pluriel working group on AI-assisted interreligious dialogue
- Wael Saleh
Text by Wael Saleh, researcher at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and member of the Pluriel coordination committee. The simultaneous appearance of Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Human...
publication
The Recognition of a Hummingbird. Essays on Interreligious Dialogue and Missionary Work (2007-2025)
- Rémi Caucanas
Published in May 2026 by PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome), this collection brings together the essays of Rémi Caucanas on interreligious dialogue and missionary wor...
videos
From Lavigerie to PISAI: The Institutional History of the Missionaries of Africa’s Engagement with Islam
Delivered on 21 May 2026 at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, this lecture opens the series of conferences marking the institute's centenary (1926-2026). Fr. ...
videos
Interreligious Dialogue and Ethnic Nationalisms in the Balkans
At the invitation of PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome) and Georgetown University, Ahmet Alibašić, professor of Islamic civilization at the Faculty of Islamic Studies...
publication
For a Christian Theology of Religions
- Michel Younès
Faced with contemporary religious diversity, how can Christian theology make sense of the place that other religions occupy in God’s design? Michel Younès examines the three traditional ̶...
publication
Intercultural Theology
- Jean Patrick Nkolo Fanga
Because every theology is culturally situated, Christian theology is inevitably multicultural. Yet one step remains to be taken: to become intercultural. Crossing languages, contexts, origins, ages...
article
Bells and Muezzin in Harmony: Dialogue with Islam as a Spiritual Responsibility
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Glocken und Muezzin im Einklang. Der Dialog mit dem Islam als geistliche Verantwortung in Herder Korrespondenz (special issue devoted to Pope L...