We are delighted to announce a forthcoming International Workshop: “From Oriens Christianus to the Islamic Near East – Theological, Historical and Cultural Cross-pollination in the Eastern Mediterranean of Late Antiquity”. The workshop seeks to shed new light on the crossroads at which the Late Antique world of the Eastern Mediterranean heralded diverse exchanges between Oriental Christendom, Byzantine culture and the Islamic world. Furthermore, how these exchanges impacted the development of diverse regions, cultures, languages, and religions.

The workshop will provide an inter-disciplinary overview of the various perspectives emerging from the Christian Oriental, Byzantine, Early Islamic and Archaeological approaches to this area of research. The key objective of the workshop is to explore the possibilities of a unified and holistic approach to understanding the “Sattelzeit” (R. Koselleck) – i.e. the period between 500 and 750 CE. While the scope of the workshop has been intentionally left broad, the papers will primarily focus on the following areas:

• The role of Eastern/Oriental Christians in the relationship(s) formed between the Islamic Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire.
• Scripture and Arts as a medium of interchange between Christians and Muslims.
• The historical narratives and administrative reality of the expansion of the Islamic Empire.

The workshop will take place on 7th – 8th December, 2017 at Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) and is the collaborative effort of the Chair of Byzantine Studies (FU Berlin), Radboud University, and Gorgias Press.

We hope that the workshop will encourage fruitful discussions about the state-of-the-art of the field and highlight potential areas for future inquiry. We further expect the workshop to provide a platform for both established researchers in the field and early-career academics (including advanced Ph.D. students). The workshop proceedings will be published in an edited volume by Gorgias Press. 

For further information about the workshop, please contact Manolis Ulbricht: manolis.ulbricht@fu-berlin.de.

Conveners

Manolis Ulbricht, Berlin Byzantine Studies (Freie Universität Berlin)
Adam Walker, Radboud University / Gorgias Press

 

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Workshop Programme

  

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Date: 7th – 8th December 2017

Venue: Freie Universität Berlin ∙ Topoi Building Dahlem ∙ Hittorfstraße 18 ∙ D-14195 Berlin

Admission: Free and open to all interested specialists and Ph.D. students