The Eighth North American Syriac Symposium will take place on June 16-19, 2019 at Brown University. Registration is open, and information about travel and lodging can be found on the conference website.
The program for the symposium has been updated. Readers of the IQSA Blog should give special attention to sessions 4C and 5B on Tuesday, June 18. Scheduled papers include:
Session 4C, “Encounters with Islam”
Laura Locke Estes (Saint Louis University), “Etiologies in Syriac Christian Accounts of the Origins of Islam”
Kelli Bryant Gibson (Abilene Christian University), “Interreligious Polemic in the Works of John of Dara”
Michael Payne (Brown University), “East Syrians and the Design Complex in 9th Century Iraq”
Joshua Mugler (Georgetown University and Hill Museum and Manuscript Library), “An Egyptian History of Syriac”
Session 5B, “The Translation Movement”
Nestor Kavvadas (University of Siegen), “Non-Arabs Standing Together? The Barmakid Viziers and Syriac and Greek Elites in the Age of the Translation Movement”
George A. Kiraz (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton), and Beth Mardutho (The Syriac Institute, Piscataway, NJ), “Are we Overstating or Understating the Role of Syriac in the Abbasid Translation Movement?”
Kevin J. Ball (The Catholic University of America), “The East Syriac Heritage into Arabic: Ibn al-Tayyib’s Commentary on the Gospels”
Call for Papers: The Eighth North American Syriac Symposium
The Eighth North American Syriac Symposium
Brown University | Providence, RI
June 16-19, 2019
The Eighth North American Syriac Symposium will convene at Brown University on June 16-19, 2019. Held every four years since 1991, the North American Syriac Symposium brings together scholars and students for exchange and discussion on a wide variety of topics related to the language, literature, and cultural history of Syriac Christianity, extending chronologically from the first centuries CE to the present day and geographically from Syriac Christianity’s homeland in the Middle East to South India, China, and the worldwide diaspora.
Throughout its long history, Syriac Christianity has flourished in the midst of other languages, religions, cultures, and societies. However turbulent its circumstances, Syriac has enabled distinctive articulations and cultural expressions for its speakers. Moreover, not only have there been constant interactions, but Syriac has been an active medium of exchange. Contributions, borrowings, adaptations, and innovations have characterized the literary, material, philological, and cultural productions of Syriac speakers from the start. This Symposium welcomes proposals for scholarly papers on all topics that address Syriac in any of its historical time periods, within this broad theme.
Proposals may be submitted either for individual papers or as part of a proposed panel. Individual presentations must be limited to 20 minutes, plus 5 minutes of discussion time. Please submit contact information for the presenter(s) and an abstract of 250-350 words. Those wishing to propose a panel of 3 or 4 papers (4 papers maximum) on a specific theme must submit a separate abstract for each presentation, a title for the panel, and full contact information for all presenters and the session moderator.
All proposals should be submitted electronically to nasyriacsymposium@gmail.com on or before January 2, 2019. Notification of acceptances of paper and panel proposals will be made in early February, with a view to publishing the program in early March.
In addition to papers and panels, the symposium will feature keynote lectures by:
Liv Ingebord Lied, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo
We look forward to welcoming you to Brown University in the summer of 2019!
Best wishes,
Susan Ashbrook Harvey
on behalf of the local steering committee:
Local Steering Committee: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University (Chair)
Sargon Donabed, Roger Williams University
Jae Hee Han, Brown University
Sandra Keating, Providence College
Nancy Khalek, Brown University
Ute Possekel, Harvard Divinity School
*Content courtesy of Susan Ashbrook Harvey (Director, Program in Early Cultures Interim Chair, Dept. of Religious Studies | Brown University)
