Call for papers: ‘La Bible en arabe au XIXe siècle’
The EPHE (École Pratique des Hautes Études) and the GSRL (Groupes Société Religions Laïcité) organize on May 26th, 2016, a workshop entitled : ‘La Bible en arabe au XIXe siècle : Quels enjeux pour le christianisme et l’islam dans la société du Proche Orient depuis 1865 ?’ (the Bible in Arabic in the nineteenth century : what stakes for Christianity and Islam in the Middle-East society since 1865?)
Summary: The publication in 1865 in Beirut of the complete translation of the Bible into Arabic and its wide diffusion, supervised by the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) and with the participation of scholars from Lebanon, remains a turning point of the religious and intellectual history of the Near-East. What has been the real impact of this translation, that changed the representations of the world and the hierarchy of knowledge? What were the direct implications that enabled a progress in the fields of science and techniques, as well as a sense of self-awareness felt through the Arab cultural heritage? How did the Bible translation change the relationship that the people of Lebanon and Syria had with their religious society? How it was welcome in Muslim intellectual circles?
Study themes: The workshop will mostly be dedicated to two themes, without restricting itself to them:
- The religious liberalism, may it be real or feared, caused by the massive distribution of these Bibles
- The Bible inculturation in the Islam-influenced arabic socio-cultural environnement
How to submit a paper: The text proposals (including a resume, a title and a summary of 400 words maximum), are to be sent, in French or in English, to Saïd Chaaya, organizer of the workshop, at the following address: chaaya.gsrl@gmail.com
The selection comittee will give its verdict to the authors at the beginning of March 2016.
The selected papers will be published.
All the details about this call for papers are available in the following pdf file:
