Academics Gregory Vandamme and Stéphane Vincent will bring together their readings of the work Culture of ambiguity: another history of Islam (2025, Éditions Fenétres) by Thomas Bauer, renowned professor of Arab and Islamic studies in Germany, in a new Knowledge Wednesday, in the presence of editor Mehmet Balsever, May 6, 2026 (6 p.m.-8 p.m.).
Gregory Vandamme is an Islamologist, doctor in Religious Sciences (UCLouvain), specialist in Sufi philosophy. He is currently a research fellow at the FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique) and at UCLouvain, in Belgium. He was also a researcher at the University of Chester (England) and a guest lecturer at SciencesPo Paris.
Stéphane Vincent is a doctoral student in medieval history and Islamology, teaching literature/history at the University of Paris-Cité.
A BOOK TO GET OUT OF THE WESTERN IMAGINATION OF AN ISLAM DOMINATED BY NORMS
To escape the Western imagination of an Islam dominated by dogmatic religious norms which allow no nuance, Thomas Bauer sets out to explore the evolution of Arab Muslim societies and their relationship to ambiguity over several centuries. Discover how, for more than a thousand years, a multitude of interpretations of religious texts have coexisted, without this diversity being perceived as a threat, but rather the result of divine will. Through the fascinating study of various cultural and civilizational elements, from the law to the exegeses of the Koran through poetry, the integration of religious minorities and foreigners or even the relationship to sexuality, Bauer demonstrates the value given to plurivocity in these societies. Until the colonization of the Middle East, in the 19th century, pushed them to change their paradigm.
Thomas Bauer is professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Menster and member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia. He received the Leibniz Prize (the most prestigious research award in Germany) for his book. Culture de l’ambiguïté, the Tractacus-Preis (philosophy book prize), and the “WISSEN!” (humanities book prize) for the workWhy there was no Islamic Middle Ages (Éditions Fenêtres, 2023). He also participated in the workWhat language does God speak? Three essays on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Éditions Fenétres is the first to translate this author, widely recognized abroad.
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