Camden Public Library, as part of the Camden Conference Community Events Series, invites the public to a presentation by Professor Robert G. Morrison about the intellectual exchange between Islamic societies and Renaissance Europe. The talk will be held Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 6:30 p.m., in the Picker Room.

The Renaissance is often seen as the result of Europeans’ re-engagement with the heritage of Classical Antiquity, which Islamic societies preserved during the Dark Ages. According to a news release, recent research has shown, though, that the science of Islamic societies from the twelfth through sixteenth centuries was crucial for Renaissance science. As Renaissance Europe depended on knowledge from Islamic societies, Muslim scholars greatly benefitted from knowledge coming out of Europe. Merchants of knowledge—multilingual and transregional Jewish scholars—became an important bridge among the powers.

Robert G. Morrison is George Lincoln Skolfield, Jr. Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern and North African Studies at Bowdoin College. His research has focused on the role of science in Islamic and Jewish texts, as well as in the history of Islamic science. He is the author of the book Merchants of Knowledge: Intellectual Exchange in the Ottoman Empire & Renaissance Europe.