Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632-1722

摘要

The author opens Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632-1722 with a useful appraisal of the discipline of Shi'i studies over the last half-century, beginning with the Strasbourg colloquium 'Le Shi'isme Imamite' in 1968. This account of the state of the field is not a prologue to a correspondingly sweeping account of the subject, however, so those seeking in this work a 'general introduction' from the mould of Momen and Halm will be disappointed. Indeed, Dr Newman does not hesitate to cite Momen and Halm for areas which he deems beyond the remit of his study. Rather, what is traced in this opening survey are a set of quite specific grievances within the study of Twelver Shi'ism which Newman undertakes to address.