Texts on faith and reason in Islam: Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes

What it is

This is a 1913 German book by M. Horten, titled Texte zu dem Streite zwischen Glauben und Wissen im Islam. It was published in Bonn by A. Marcus and E. Weber's publishing house, in a series of short texts for lectures and exercises edited by Hans Lietzmann. The book presents the views of the philosophers Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes on prophecy and revelation, and it includes texts on that subject. The scanned copy is available as a PDF from the Internet Archive.

The book is a modern study with texts, not a record made in Avicenna's lifetime. It explains and presents his views as a later scholar understood them.

Why it matters

In the Islamic world, philosophers debated how human reason related to religious faith. Avicenna, Farabi, Averroes and the theologian al-Ghazali, who is listed in the record, took part in this debate. Books like Horten's brought these arguments to German university students in the early twentieth century.

Look closer

• Why does the title use the words faith and knowledge, and how does that framing shape the reader's view?
• Which philosophers are placed side by side, and what might a reader miss by seeing them only together?
• Who was this short book written for, and what does the series title tell you about its purpose?