Kenneth Goudie
Contact: kag45@st-andrews.ac.uk
Thesis Title: The Role of Holy War in Islamic and Christian Eschatology
Supervisor: Dr Angus Stewart
I have been a student the University of St Andrews since 2007, completing my MA (First Class Hons.) in History in 2011 and my MLitt in Mediæval History in 2012. I am primarily interested in Islamic history from the beginning of the eleventh until the end of the thirteenth century, especially the development of Islamic philosophy, theology, and eschatology. More broadly, I am interested in mediæval eschatology, ecclesiastical history, and the interaction and intellectual exchange between Muslims and non-Muslims in the mediæval period.
In my thesis, I will examine the extent to which it is possible to draw correlations between the role of holy war in Islamic and Christian eschatology. Whilst study of holy war has proven to be a fertile topic, comparative study of holy war in an eschatological context has thus far been overlooked, which is surprising given both the religiosity of mediæval society and the centrality of warfare and conflict to apocalyptic thought. I will focus on the period between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries, arguably the period which witnessed the greatest utilisation of the idea of holy war in both societies, in order to cast light on the idea of holy war itself and its position within Islamic and Christian thought. Additionally, I intend to discuss secondary questions on the production and dissemination of eschatological texts, the extent to which Islamic and Christian conceptions of holy war were contingent upon their monotheism and whether this can be explained by reference to their eschatological schemata.
My research is being funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.