David Nirenberg, historian: ‘If I had to invest in stocks of anything, it would be in xenophobia. It will only rise’

David Nirenberg, historian: ‘If I had to invest in stocks of anything, it would be in xenophobia. It will only rise’

Medieval historian David Nirenberg, 60, is tired. And, at the same time, strangely elated. He has just crossed the pond and landed in Madrid, where he demonstrates his almost perfect Spanish. “I don’t speak that well,” he says modestly, before his conversation with Mercedes García-Arenal, an Arabist, at the Festival of Ideas in the Spanish capital. The topic of the talk could not be more provocative: Communities of Violence. Blood and Milk. And the reflections of Nirenberg — known for his research on the relationship between Christians, Jews and Muslims — could not be more pertinent. “The idea of a festival about ideas is magnificent, and even more so in these times, when ideas are so difficult to discuss,” says Nirenberg, the author of books such as Communities of Violence and Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today.

Seguir leyendo