The “Abrahamic Metacivilization” of the 8th -13th Centuries

The article substantiates the expediency of considering the system of Christian and Islamic medieval civilizations as a single Abrahamic metacivilization. Heuristic possibilities of the term are revealed on the basis of research works on sociology, philosophy, world and domestic history. The features of the perception of civilizations and religions are analyzed from the point of view of the world-system perspective and global history. The definition of local civilization is being clarified. The definition of metacivilization is given. It is noted that, since the 8th century, on the territory of Asia Minor, North Africa and Europe, a system was forming whose unity was based on a combination of two universal cultures: the Hellenistic (science and law) one and the system of teachings of the Abrahamic religions. The expediency of designating this system as “Abrahamic metacivilization” is substantiated. It could not have arisen before the 7th-8th centuries. Along with the Arab conquests, the importance of religions in communications in the designated territories was growing, and the zone of influence of the Abrahamic religions was seriously expanding. The author proposes to leave open the question of the upper chronological framework of the phenomenon. The Abrahamic metacivilization disappears either in the 13th century (when its Hellenistic component begins to erode) or in the 15th century (with the formation of the capitalist worldsystem). Like world-systems, the Abrahamic civilization had a hierarchical structure, which depended on the degree of political power centralization and the completeness of the state ideology formation. The metacivilization center was represented by Byzantium and the empires of Islam. It seems promising to use the term to study some aspects of the legal, cultural, social and economic history of medieval states with an official Abrahamic religion, including the study of interfaith transactions. It seems promising to study from such positions the early history of Eastern Europe, whose many regions still preserved the tribal structure. The possibility of using the term “Abrahamic metacivilization” in historical ethnography (for example, based on some provisions of R. Redfield's theory, in which the mechanisms of globalization and global processes were for the first time considered from the standpoint of social anthropology) is also substantiated. An advantage of the term is its specific territorial-chronological reference. It is noted that the term “Abrahamic metacivilization” can be used in studies with different methodological bases.

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