[Bilimsel Haber] 'Europe in the Middle East / the Middle East in Europe'

[Onur Inal]

EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST / THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE


INTERNATIONAL SUMMER ACADEMY
FOR DOCTORAL AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS

Within the framework of the research program 'Europe in the Middle East
/ the Middle East in Europe' the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Wissenschaftskolleg
zu Berlin in cooperation with the German 'Orient-Institute Istanbul'
invite applications for an international Summer Academy on the theme:

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL APPROACHES TO THE
QURAN AND THE BIBLE

The Summer Academy is scheduled for September 2-12, 2007 in Istanbul and
will be chaired by Professor Angelika Neuwirth (Freie Universitaet
Berlin) and Professor Stefan Wild (Universitaet Bonn). Twenty young
scholars will be given the opportunity to present and discuss their
current research, a group of leading scholars from the field acting as
tutors. The Summer Academy will focus on comparative approaches to the
study of sacred scriptures in the Middle East and Europe.

Sacred scriptures are texts which are presumed to be timeless and
universally true and relevant to the fundamental concerns of their
adherents.
Yet insofar as such writings are not only canons but also texts  i.e.
linguistic utterances, whether of divine or human origin, that were
understood at a particular point in time by a particular audience  they
exhibit features that do not as such involve religious premises. While
literary approaches identify and analyze the poetic and rhetorical
techniques and structures in such texts, historical approaches sound out
the way these texts may have been understood by their very first
reciters, listeners and readers. The Summer Academy will attempt to
locate various methods of historical and literary analysis of the Bible
and of the Qur'an within the larger framework of the interpretation of
sacred
scriptures and relate them comparatively to each other. Participants are
encouraged to explore the genesis of historical-critical Bible
scholarship and its multiple pre-histories in classical and medieval
literature (inside and outside Christianity) as well as contextualist
and historical approaches to the Qur'an, both within classical Islamic
scholarship and among contemporary Muslim writers.

The Summer Academy is a project of the research field 'Perspectives on
the Qur'an: Negotiating Different Views of a Shared History,' that situ-
ates the foundational text of Islam within the religious landscape of
late antiquity and tries to combine a historicization of its genesis
with
its reception and perception in Europe and the Middle East. This
research field and the Summer Academy are supported within the overall
framework of the research program 'Europe in the Middle East  the
Middle East in Europe' (funded by the German Fritz Thyssen Foundation),
which focuses on the diverse processes of transfer, exchange and
interaction between Europe and the Middle East.


CONDITIONS OF APPLICATION

Participants receive a stipend covering travel and accommodations. The
program targets doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in Judaic,
Patristic
and Islamic studies as well as theology, philosophy and the history of
religions. The researchers' work should be clearly relevant to the
themes of
the Summer Academy. The working language is English. The application
should likewise be in English and consist of a curriculum vitae, a
five-page outline of the project the applicant is currently working on,
with a brief summary thereof, and the names of two university faculty
members who will serve as referees. The application should be sent in
hard copy or by email to:

Europe in the Middle East  the Middle East in Europe
c/o Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
z. Hd. Georges Khalil
Wallotstrasse 19
14193 Berlin, Germany
Fax: +49 - 30 - 89 00 12 00
Email: khalil at wiko-berlin.de

We should receive the application by 6 April 2007.

For further information on the program 'Europe in the Middle East - the
Middle East in Europe' and for a more comprehensive description of
'Perspectives on the Qur'an: Negotiating Different Views of a Shared
History,' please visit

http://www.eume-berlin.de