The Captive’s Mirror: Georgius de Hungaria in the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Italy by Mehmet Karabela

Jesse L. Rosenberger Work-in-Progress Seminar Series: The Captive’s Mirror: Georgius de Hungaria in the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Italy by Mehmet Karabela Mehmet Karabela is a scholar of Islamic intellectual history. He is the author of Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes and Mustafa Sabri Efendi. Dr. Karabela’s recent book, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes, examines the engagement of post-Reformation Protestant scholars with Islamic philosophy, theology and the Sunni-Shi’a schism. He draws on previously unstudied dissertations and disputations by primarily Lutheran scholars to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon and to open up new directions for future research. His book, Mustafa Sabri Efendi, is a study of the life and writings of Mustafa Sabri Efendi (d.1954), the chief jurist of the Ottoman Empire, and was published in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country​. Before coming to the University of Rochester, Karabela taught at Queen’s University in Canada. He has taught courses on Islam in the modern world, religion and democracy, political theology, religion and politics in Muslim societies as well as advanced seminars such as the European perception of Jews and Muslims during the Enlightenment and multiculturalism in the Ottoman Empire. In collaboration with global partners, Karabela has produced artistic works inspired by historical events and religious concepts. As the director of the Canadian Institute for Multicultural Diplomacy, he oversees multiple projects on artistic expression from diverse cultures and religious traditions. He also leads a multimedia project about the spiritual journeys of a Christian monk and a Muslim dervish as well as a documentary on the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.