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Fourth Arab-Christian Day: Christian tradition in the Gulf countries
April 13, 20165:00 p.m
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
5:00 p.m
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish
“The Fourth Arab-Christian Days: Christian tradition in the Gulf countries,” is an attempt to present different aspects (literary, cultural, artistic...) of Christianity within this geographic area from both past and present.
The Fourth Arab-Christian Days, organized by Casa Árabe and the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso, have been given the title “Christian Tradition in the Gulf countries.” They will attempt to present different aspects (literary, cultural, artistic...) of Christianity within this geographic area from both past and present.
Historical study, archeology and literature have identified some of the marks left behind by this Christian tradition. Today’s historical studies show us that the society which received the message expressed by Islam’s prophet was a society made up of different religious groups: polytheists, Jews and Christians belonging to different communities and sects (Manicheans, Ebionites, Monists and Nestorians). The latest archeological discoveries confirm the existence of Christians settlements in the Gulf region and in other parts of the Arabian Peninsula prior to the advent of Islam.
One of the lines of research in literary criticism believes that we can find traces of the religious texts in circulation amongst the communities contemporary to Mohammed’s preachings in the Muslim holy book. With the passage of time, most of the peoples in the Gulf area embraced Islam. As of the eighteenth century and until today, the Salafist current of Sunni Islam took greater hold on most of the Peninsula alongside all of the other schools of thought, both Sunni and Shia, in an area where Christianity had also endured.
Schedule:
5:00 p.m.: Opening event for the day given by Pedro Villena, the General Director of Casa Árabe, and Patricio de Navascués, dean of the San Justino School of Christian and Classical Literature at the UESD in Madrid.
Presentation of issue number 12 of the journal Awraq, on Christians in the Middle East.
5:15 p.m.: The pre-Islamic religious world on the Arabian Peninsula
Iria Santás de Arcos, a professor at the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso
5:45 p.m.: Christian archeology on the Arabian Peninsula
Julie Bonnéric, a researcher at the French Near East Institute (IFPO)
6:15 p.m.: Christian traces in the Qur’an
Pilar González Casado, a professor at the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso
7:00 p.m.: The religious context on the Arabian Peninsula as of the eighteenth century
Antonio Alonso Marcos, a professor at the Universidad San Pablo-CEU
7:15 p.m.: Christianity today
Michel O’Sullivan, administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia
Iria Santás
A doctor of Arabic Philology from the University of Salamanca. Her doctoral thesis consisted of the translation of two books included in two encyclopedic works by the famous ninth-century Iraqi scholar Ibn Qutayba and a famous tenth-century author from Al-Andalus, Ibn ’Abd Rabbihi. She has also translated the poetry of Lebanese poet George Ganima into Spanish along with three other Arabists. Santás is currently an associate professor at the School of Christian and Classical Literature at the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Madrid).
Julie Bonnéric
With a degree in Historical and Philological Sciences, Bonnéric is currently an associate researcher with the French Near East Institute in the fields of medieval Christian and Muslim literature and medieval and modern Arab studies. She has had many works published on religious and profane Islamic archeology, on Islamic urban space and on Fatimid ceramics. Over the last two years, she has directed the Failaka excavation site in Kuwait, specializing in the archeology of Christianity in the Gulf.
Pilar González Casado
An associate professor with the Christian Arab Literature professorship at the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso (Madrid). She holds a PhD in Arabic Philology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She studies Syriac and Coptic. Her research activity focuses on Christian Arab literature, Syriac literature and apocryphal Christian literature.
Antonio Alonso Marcos
A political scientist, he has a PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a specialist on Jihadism in Central Asia. He is currently a professor at the Universidad San Pablo-CEU in Madrid, as well as teaching many classes and giving conferences in various Master’s degree programs and specialized courses on International Relations and security-related affairs. He has written numerous books and articles on this topic and regularly appears in the media, including the written press, television and radio.
Michael O’Sullivan
An Irish priest, Father O’Sullivan is a graduate of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome has served in Algeria, Sudan and Jerusalem. He currently lives in Dubai and also ministers to the Arabic and French-speaking communities in the United Arab Emirates. He is the financial administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and a contributor working closely with the Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Paul Hinder.
Casa Árabe and Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso