The Theology of Ramon Llull

• Scholastic Theology (c. 1200-1500)
• Scholastic Philosophy (c. 1100-1500)
• Medieval Latin literature

Born in Mallorca in 1232, Raimundus Lullus (in Catalan, Ramon Llull) was an autodidact who set out to transform the apologetic discourse of his day. In his almost 300 works, written in Latin, the Catalan vernacular and presumably also in Arabic, Llull broke new ground for interreligious encounters, as he tried to convince Muslims and Jews of the truth of Christian faith by means of strictly rational arguments. For this purpose, he devised a philosophico-theological system which is known as the Ars lulliana. From the beginning, Llull and his Ars had both enthusiastic followers (e.g. Nicholas of Cusa and G.W. Leibniz) as well as energetic detractors, such as the fourteenth-century inquisitor Nicholas Eimeric. Throughout the centuries, the reception of his thought was particularly controversial in theology.

Jordi Gayà Estelrich is currently a professor at the Superior Institute of Religious Sciences in Mallorca (ISCR) and at the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia, Ateneu Universitari Sant Pacià, Barcelona. He has worked on the critical edition of the Latin works of Ramon Llull, among them those published in vols. XX (1995) and XL (2024) of the ROL series (CC CM, 113 and 302 respectively).