One of the most influential thinkers of the Middle Ages was the Muslim philosopher and jurist Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known in the West as Averroes. Averroes's emphasis on critical reasoning as a tool for discovering the truth and his attempt to harmonize philosophy and religion, reason and faith, led to a rethinking of the tenets of Christianity. His work spurred on some of the great rational syntheses of Christian thought, such as Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica.<BR>In this fascinating volume, twenty-nine scholars from both East and West assess the historical significance of Averroes and his possible role as a bridge between the divergent cultures of the modern secular West and contemporary Islam. Averroes, with his appeal to reason and his respect for philosophy, may be viewed as a medieval precursor of the European Enlightenment and as a rallying point for dialogue between East and West.<BR>Averroes and the Enlightenment brings together papers from two conferences, the first held in Cairo, Egypt, and the second at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York.