Our History
In 1992, a group of researchers in Arabic and Islamic studies began working together in Rome with the goal of introducing the public to some of the masterpieces of Arab Christian culture. Almost immediately, the group found itself sharing information with scholars in other fields such as history, linguistics, archival studies, philosophy, classics, Biblical studies, Patrology, and hagiography.
They decided to continue working as a group, sharing their research and discoveries. They adopted the same information systems, the same research methodologies, and as far as possible began to use a common vocabulary in their work. There are today twenty to thirty scholars who gather from all over Italy to share their interest in one of mankind’s jewels, Arabic culture, a culture in which Christians played a pivotal role.
In May of 1999, the group formalized its association, incorporating itself as “Gruppa di Ricerca Arabo Cristiana” (Group for Arabic Christian Research).
This is the first working group of its kind in Europe but why did it begin in Italy and why now?
Because of her geography, Italy has throughout her history been the meeting point of East and West. The south of Italy was first an organic member of the Byzantine Commonwealth and later it was an integral part of the Arab world. Even today, it still preserves deep traces of a history of which Italy can be justly proud, a history that incorporates the traditions of both the oriental and the occidental worlds. Italy’s experience is only one aspect of the common Mediterranean civilization, a culture both Arab and Christian.
Our own time is an age of cultural upheaval, driven by socio-economic factors as well as politics. As the Islamic Middle East and the Christian West come into closer contact with each other, we find it important to make a positive contribution to that meeting. Arab Christianity, itself, is the place where cultures touch and its very existence is the promise that we can successfully complete this undertaking.
