Call for Papers Highlight: The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition

The International Qur’anic Studies Association welcomes paper proposals from all graduate students and scholars for its upcoming meeting in San Diego, CA, November 21-24. Submissions can be made under any of the five program units, listed here. Important guidelines regarding submission can be found below, as well as on the Annual Meeting page.

This week, we highlight the program unit titled “The Qur’an and the Biblical Tradition,“ chaired by Cornelia Horn and Holger Zellentin.

The focus of this unit, which will also host two panels at the November conference, is the Qur’an’s relationship to the Biblical tradition in the broadest sense. Thus the program unit chairs seek papers that engage the books of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in the various languages of their original composition and later translations (regardless of a particular book’s status of canonization within specific Jewish or Christian groups); the exegetical traditions of the Bible; and the homiletic, narrative, and legal corpora that have developed in close dialogue with this Biblical tradition prior to the emergence of the Qur’an and subsequently in exchange with the Qur’an.

The first panel will be co-sponsored by the SBL Syriac Literature and Interpretations of Sacred Texts section. For it, proposals are encouraged that engage the Qur’an’s dialogue with any aspect of the Biblical tradition. Examples of possible emphases include the role of Syriac homilies by authors such as Jacob of Serugh or Philoxenos of Mabbug and the role of the Ethiopic tradition.

For the second panel, proposals should address methodological questions pertinent to the study of the literary shape of the Qur’an─both on its own terms and in relation to other written and oral texts.

Proposals should include a title and an abstract of approximately 400 words. For further detail see here.

Important Notes about Proposing a Paper for IQSA 2014

* IQSA is an independent learned society, although our meeting overlaps with those of SBL and AAR.  In order to attend IQSA 2014, membership in IQSA and registration for the SBL/AAR conference will be necessary. (The first day of the IQSA conference, however, will be open to the general public).

* All interested students and scholars may submit a proposal through SBL’s website, here. Scroll down to the “Affiliate” section, then click on the chosen IQSA program unit name. [Look in particular for the “(IQSA)” indication at the end of the unit titles]. Instructions for those with and without SBL membership can be found by clicking through to these individual program unit pages.

* Details on low-cost membership in IQSA will be published on the IQSA blog in Spring 2014. Make sure you are subscribed!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2014. All rights reserved.