The GSRL is holding a Workshop at 26 May 2016 on “The Bible in Arabic in the nineteenth century: What challenges for Christianity and Islam in the Middle East societies since 1865?” lead by Said Chaaya, PhD.
From the Call for Papers:
“The Workshop will focus on two themes in particular:
• The religious liberalism, known or feared, generated by mass distribution of these Bibles, made possible reading the Bible by everyone, this translation is the culmination of an era of liberation of consciences, a renewal of theological thought and religious practices, a modern era allowing each individual to become a master of its own spirituality. God once unattainable is now himself present by his word in every home and in a language which is understood by them, Arabic lingua.
• The inculturation and re-introduction of the Bible in an Arab sociocultural environment which is influenced by Islam. We must ask the question, from the point of view of the history of events and of social history, of how the Bible became part of the religious and intellectual history, but also of the politics of the nineteenth century in the Ottoman Province of Syria and especially in Lebanon, not to mention the repercussions to Egypt. It is also questionable how the various religious sects responded to the upheaval caused by the common availability of the scriptures and the relativity of the Catholic and Orthodox clerical discourse. Finally this complete translation of the Bible, (continuous text) allowed the Islamic thought to develop a better understanding of Christianity, now accessible in the language of the Koran.
This International Workshop primarily intended to bring together researchers from all disciplines, who worked on the Middle East in a perspective linking the history, sociology and anthropology to this translation of the Bible into Arabic. We strongly encourage junior researchers to apply too.
The conference languages are French, English, contributions can take the form of traditional lectures or of work-in-progress presentations.”