Arabic-L:GEN:More info on Symposium Syriacum and Arab Christian Studies Conference
Dilworth Parkinson
dilworth_parkinson at BYU.EDU
Tue Dec 18 20:35:53 UTC 2007
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Arabic-L: Tue 18 Dec 2007
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1) Subject:More info on Symposium Syriacum and Arab Christian Studies
Conference
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1)
Date: 18 Dec 2007
From:aram at aramsociety.org
Subject:More info on Symposium Syriacum and Arab Christian Studies
Conference
Xth SYMPOSIUM SYRIACUM
VIIIe CONFERENCE ON ARAB CHRISTIAN STUDIES
GRANADA, SPAIN, September, 22-27th, 2008.
BEYOND THE FRONTIERS
Life, Art and Literature of the Syriac Speaking and of the
Arabic Speaking Christian Communities,
FIRST NEWSLETTER: COMMUNICATION AND CALL FOR PAPERS
December, 2007.
TO ALL WHOM IT MIGHT CONCERN
This letter is to formally communicate to all interested persons the
celebration
of the Symposium Syriacum and the Conference on Arab Christian Studies
in
Granada (Spain), September 22th-27th, 2008, as agreed in Beirut in the
year
2004, at the occasion of the celebration of the last Symposium &
Conference.
This communication includes a call for papers both for the Symposium and
for the Conference.
Although the Symposium/Conference is been conceived as lasting six whole
days (from Monday to Saturday), the distribution of those days between
the
Symposium Syriacum and the Conference of Arab Christian Studies will
depend on the number of papers offered.
Both the Symposium and the Conference are been prepared in cooperation
with
the two institutions that hosted the previous celebration in Beyruth,
i.e., the
CEDRAC (Université Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth), and the Université Saint–
Esprit,
Kaslik, Lebanon.
The proceedings of both the Symposium and the Conference will of
course be
published in the time of a year within the celebration. For the
publication, we
are considering several possibilities, both in Europe and in the
Middle East.
Topics
Needless to say, the papers accepted for the Symposium and the
Conference
will have to keep the same academic quality and academic excellence as
in the
previous ones, since those level and excellence have been a mark of
these two
events from their beginning.
As it is clearly stated in the subtitle for both the Symposium and the
Conference, the topics will include anything related to the life, art
or literature
of the Syriac Speaking Churches for the Symposium Syriacum, and the same
(life, art and literature) related to the Arabic Speaking Christian
Communities
for the Conference on Arab Christian Studies.
Of course, the Symposium and the Conference being held in Granada,
besides
the topics usually included in these events, which have already a long
standing
tradition, it will be also of interest this time having some papers on
the
“Mozarabic Christians”, and on the Christian “Moriscos”. The
relationship
between the Mozarabs and the Christian Communities in the Middle East
is a
most interesting topic, and a field of research almost untouched.
The idea of the “frontier” has been suggested, first, because Granada
has been
and still is in many ways a frontier city. Frontier between Islam and
Christianity
before the Christian conquest, frontier between the Castillan and the
Morisco
communities after the conquest, frontier between the medieval world and
modernity in its beginnings, and frontier between modernity and
postmodernity
now. In many ways, the destine of Granada seems to be marked by
this human reality of the frontier. But also, in many ways, the Syriac
Speaking
Christians have been “beyond the frontiers” of Greek Speaking
Christianity,
even when they lived within the Byzantine Empire, and the Arabic
Speaking
Christian communities have been and are “beyond the frontiers” of the
Christian world, living in a Muslim environment.
Now, living “beyond the frontiers” certainly creates certain
difficulties, but it
also offers new possibilities of expression, communication and
dialogue. A
frontier is conceived always initially as a human division, but it can
also
become a place for knowledge, for mutual understanding and even for
union.
Time of the celebration and deadline for the inscription of papers.
As already said, the Symposium and the conference will be held from
the 22th
to the 27th September. As in Beyruth, the Symposium Syriacum will take
place
in the first days of the week and the Christian Arabic Conference in
the last
part of the week. The exact distribution will be communicated when we
know
in more detail the number of papers presented for each of the events.
THE DEADLINE FOR THE INSCRIPTION OF PAPERS WILL BE THE 15TH
OF JULLY 2008. THE DEADLINE FOR THE INSCRPTIONS OF ONLY
ATTENDANCE WILL BE TH 30TH OF JULY 2008.
The place of the meetings
The meetings will take place in the provisional See of ICSCO
(International
Center for the Study of the Christian Orient), a little institution
recently created
by the Archbishop of Granada, which when it is developed would be by now
the only Center in Spain which wants to develop this kind of studies
about the
Christian traditions in the Middle East. This building, which is now
also the see
of the Seminary of Granada, has been recently restored, it is close to
the center
of the city, and has the possibility of hosting around 90 people in nice
individual rooms (more people if some would willing or would prefer to
share
their room with some other person, since all rooms can be converted into
double rooms). It has also nice classrooms and other facilities
(kitchen and a
wide dining room, cafeteria, library, wi-fi connections, etc), which
will make,
we hope, a pleasant place for our meetings.
The price
The inscription to the Symposium and Conference will be around 60 €
pro day.
This price will include attendance to the lectures, room and board. In
the case of
double rooms, the price will be around 50 € pro day and person. These
prices
will not include the visit to the Alhambra (25 €), and the excursion
to Cordoba
(60 €). We will try to lower those numbers as much as possible, through
obtaining some sponsorship or some other kind of help.
In the next newsletter, that you will receive in the middle of
January, we will
include the exact prices with all kinds of details and with the forms of
inscription, both for papers and for attendance.
For any stay before or after the Congress, the organization will help
as much as
possible with the necessary informations, but it should be paid apart
In the case that there will be more people attending the meetings than
the
rooms available in the building of the Seminary, we will have the
possibility of
offering other religious houses or certain hotels nearby, including of
course
transportation back and forth, although the meals will always take
place in the
Seminary building. The assignation to the Seminary or to the other
places will
follow an exact order of inscription to the Symposium and/or the
conference.
Eventual variations for the price of room and board due to the use of
these
other places will be communicated in the next newsletter. The hotels
will of
course be quite more expensive.
During the Symposium will take place, for those who want, of course, a
visit to
the Alhambra Palace in one of the evenings (at a time when there are no
tourists), and eventually a visit to the Cathedral and the so-called
“Royal
Chapel”, where the tomb of the Catholic Kings is kept.
We will also give the opportunity to visit the “Sacromonte Abbey”, in
front of
the hill of the Alhambra, an abbey built in the end of the 16th
century to host
the “libros plúmbeos” or “led-books”, so named because they are a
number of
arabic texts written on led plates on the beginnings of Christianity
in Granada...
and attributed to the first Century! These writings were found at the
end of the
16th century next to certain tombs, allegedly belonging to the first
Christian
martyrs of Granada, including that of the first bishop of the city,
Kekilios,
supposed to be an arab cured by the Lord and then companion and
disciple of
St. James. No need to emphasize that these books are a forgery, and so
were
also declared by the Church authority very early, although their very
writing
sheds a very interesting light on the difficult relationship between the
“Moriscos” and the Christian Castillan community (that is really the
Sitz im
Leben of the books). The books, clearly written by some “moriscos”,
have never
been studied to my knowledge from the perspective of the Christian
Arabic
literary tradition.
Once the Abbey will be restored (it is in grand need of that
restoration, specially
after a fire that destroyed its residence in the year 2000), it will
become the See
of ICSCO, as a place where regular courses and research on the Christian
communities in the Middle East will be held permanently.
Finally, both at the beginning and the end of the Symposium/
Conference, a trip
to Cordoba will be offered, in order to visit the place of the old
Ummayad
mosque (today, the Cathedral of Cordoba), and perhaps also the little
museum
of the Roger Garaudy Foundation. Cordoba is only two hours and a half
from
Granada, so that the trip can be easily done in a day.
FINALLY, IF YOU KNOW OF ANY PERSONS THAT COULD BE
INTERESTED IN THESE EVENTS, PLEASE SEND THEM THIS LETTER, OR
CONTACT US AT: symposium08 at icsco.org
Our web page is: www.icsco.org
WE ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL. SINCERELY YOURS
+ Javier Martínez
Archbishop of Granada
President of ICSCO
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End of Arabic-L: 18 Dec 2007
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