Newsletter April-May 2023

The Scientific Council of the MIDEO was held on April 28ᵗʰ under the leadership of its director, Dennis Halft, OP a professor of theology at the University of Trier, who is carefully and zealously preparing a conference on the reception of Nostra Aetate next year. For the past ten years, we have opted for a new mode of publication by concluding an agreement with the IFAO editions for the international publication and distribution of our journal, while also making it fully and freely accessible online on the OpenEdition website. Although the MIDEO still is “Miscellanies”, each issue is now easily identifiable by its own theme. In taking stock of our progress, we can only rejoice in the relevance of the choice made, which not only supports our work through the professionalism, responsiveness, and proximity of our publisher, greatly facilitating the daily management of the journal, but also reaches large numbers of researchers. Without getting caught up in the religion of statistics, the figures regarding the reach and dissemination of the journal speak for themselves: in 2022, we recorded 139,000 unique visitors for a total of 165,000 visits. The top 10 countries where the journal is most consulted include France, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, the United States, Ivory Coast… and even Saudi Arabia! These data attest to the importance and value of the work we publish in MIDEO, as well as the interest it generates around the world.

Lectures and talks

On April 1ˢᵗ, Jean Druel, OP gave a lecture at the Coptic-Catholic parish of Ezbet al-Nakhl on the topic “Trinity and Islam”.

On April 18ᵗʰ, Mrs. Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau and Mr. Guillaume de Vaulx, accompanied by Mr. Moussa Abou Ramadan, gave the first lecture of the Strasbourg Institute of Islamic studies on the concept of divine word in the Qurʾān. The lecture was entitled “The Divine speech as institution of the world and instruction of the creatures”.

On April 27ᵗʰ, Adrien Candiard, OP gave a lecture entitled “In dialogue, what to do with tough authors? Islamic-Christian dialogue challenged by Ibn Taymiyya”. This lecture took place at the Maurice Borrmans Library of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome.

Session

From April 24ᵗʰ to 28ᵗʰ, Emmanuel Pisani, OP gave a session on the great religious traditions at the Institute of Religious and Pastoral Studies (IERP) of Toulouse.

Courses

From April 17ᵗʰ to May 5ᵗʰ, Adrien Candiard, OP gave, as a visiting professor, the course “Texts of Islamic Theology” at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome.

Meeting

On April 30ᵗʰ and May 1ˢᵗ, Adrien Candiard, OP participated in the meeting of the Islamic-Christian group “Theologies in dialogue” in Strasbourg.

Visits

On April 4ᵗʰ, we welcomed Professor Ramzi Baalbaki, from the American University of Beirut, a specialist in the history of Arabic grammar and lexicography and chairman of the scientific board of the Doha Historical Arabic Dictionary.

On April 9ᵗʰ, we welcomed Mr. Raphaël de la Garde, First Counsellor at the French Embassy in Egypt.

On April 10ᵗʰ, we welcomed Mrs. Reham Salama, from the al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism.

On April 28ᵗʰ, we welcomed a delegation of senators from the liaison group, reflection, vigilance and solidarity with the Christians of the East, the minorities in the Middle East and the Kurds:

  • Mr. Bruno Retailleau, President of the liaison group, President of the Republicans.
  • Mrs. Catherine Morin-Desailly, President of the France-Egypt Friendship Group, Senator of Seine-Maritime (Centrist Union).
  • Mr. Gilbert-Luc Devinaz, President of the France-Armenia Friendship Group, Senator of the Rhône (Socialist, Ecologist and Republican).
  • Mrs. Christine Lavarde, President of the France-Lebanon Friendship Group, Senator of Hauts-de-Seine (Republicans).

They were accompanied by Mr. Hany Neamatallah, Egyptian Senator and President of the Egypt-France Friendship Group, and Mrs. Anne-Laure Saint-Dizier, executive Secretary of the liaison group, and Executive Secretary of the France-Egypt Friendship Group.

Scholars’ House

During the month of April, we had the pleasure to receive Mr. Pascal Gourain, student at the Institute of science and theology of religions in Paris (ISTR); Mr. Bert Jacobs, post PhD student at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the Catholic University of Leuven; Mr. Hildemar de Cointet, student archivist-paleographer student at the École des Chartes; and Mr. Maël Foucault, PhD student at the Alexandre-Koyré Center of the l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales under the supervision of Catherine König-Pralong.

Publications

  • Emmanuel Pisani, « Manoël Pénicaud, Louis Massignon : le “catholique musulman” », Revue de l’histoire des religions, 1, 2023, pp. 192‒195.
  • Adrien Candiard, Le Dieu immédiat. Le concept de vérité dans le Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql d’Ibn Taymiyya, Paris, Cerf, 2023.

Upcoming activities

On Wednesday, May 17ᵗʰ, Mr. Jon Hoover will lead a seminar session entitled “Ibn Taymiyya’s Use of the Salaf in Theology” as part of the IDEO’s seminar on the Salaf in the Classical Age. This seminar session will take place in the IDEO’s seminar room at 5:00 pm.

From May 19ᵗʰ to 20ᵗʰ, study days organized in partnership with the Orient-Institute of Beirut and the Institute for the Study of Islam and Societies of the Muslim World (IISMM) will take place at the IDEO entitled “Other religions in the tafsīr”.

On May 24ᵗʰ, Adrien Candiard, OP will intervene in Paris during the 30ᵗʰ anniversary celebration of the Muslim-Christian Friendship Group (GAIC), by giving a lecture on Islamic-Christian relations.