top of page

Theology in Arabic Seminars

These seminars, hosted by Georgetown University in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, invite scholars who work on theological reasoning in Arabic to present and discuss their translations of Arabic primary texts from the religious traditions of Islam, Judaism, Christianity and more, for the sake of enriching our appreciation of Arabic as a language of theological expression.

 

Theology in Arabic Themes:

Speculative theology

Science and Natural Philosophy

Epistemology

Pyschology and the Soul

Providence and theodicy

The experience of God; discussions of devotion

Contemplation, spiritual practice & autobiography

Virtue ethics and wisdom traditions.

Poetics of devotion, prayer, liturgy 

Ascesis/Mysticism

Sainthood/Sufism

Covenantal Theology

Theology in Arabic seminars give emphasis to line-by-line translation and explanation of passages from texts in Arabic. As always, what matters most is to allow the reasoning of the texts to speak to us.  


Upcoming Seminars:
 

April 3, 2024 | Patristic Quotations in Miaphysite and East-Syrian Arab Authors: The Case of Ephrem the Syrian."

-Dr. Bishara Ebeid, Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Link for RSVP: https://forms.gle/ojY2PW9SVBnvFUnD8
 

March 22, 2024 | Assessing the Conditionality of Divine Commands on Beneficial Outcomes: Moral Value Economics in Yūsuf al-Baṣīr's Work"

Dr. Gregor Schwarb, LMU Munich

Link for RSVP: https://forms.gle/ojY2PW9SVBnvFUnD8

 

Past Seminars:

Dec. 1, 2023 | “Muslim Stories of the Buddha”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

 

Nov. 27, 2023 | “Epistemology and Theology in a Later Work of Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165-1240): Kitāb al-Ifāda." 

-Dr. Aydogan Kars, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University

April 28, 2023 | “Classical Islamic Conceptions of Human Flourishing: Al-Māwardī (d. 1058) on Human Virtues, Divine Transcendence, and Just Governance”

-Mohamed Lamallam, Phd Candidate in Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University

 

April 14, 2023 | “A Classical Islamic Appreciation of the Yoga Sutra of Patañjali”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

 

March 31, 2023 | “Yaḥyā ibn Jarīr on Jesus' Perfecting of the Law of Moses”

-Dr. Diego Cucarella, Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies

 

February 24, 2023 | “An Ashʿarite’s Denial of Incarnation and a Coptic Christian’s Response: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and al-Ṣafī ibn al-ʿAssāl on Indwelling and Uniting”

-Dr. Salam Rassi, University of Edinburgh

 

November 18, 2022 | “Al-Jahiz on Divine Adoption in Jewish and Christian Scripture”

-Dr. Nathan Gibson, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

 

October 28, 2022 | “A Ninth-Century Muslim Theologian on Maintaining God-Consciousness”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

 

April 2022 | “On The Triune Nature of God”

-Dr. Ryann Craig, Georgetown University

 

March 2022 | “Free Will in the Theology of Maimonides (Rabbi Mūsā b. Maymūn)”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

 

November 2021 | “Free Will in the Theology of Ibn Rushd (Averroes)”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

 

October 2021| “Bishop Thawdūrus (Theodore) Abū Qurra on Free Will”

-Dr. Rodrigo Adem, Georgetown University

bottom of page