4° Convegno di studi
promosso dal GRAC
Tra Oriente e Occidente:
il patrimonio culturale arabo-cristiano
testimone di convivenza tra tradizioni religiose differenti
Pontificio Istituto Orientale, P.za di Santa Maria Maggiore, 7, 00185 Roma
30 ottobre 2026, ore 9.00-18.00
Presentazione
Il Gruppo di Ricerca Arabo-Cristiana (GRAC), fondato in Italia da padre Samir Khalil Samir sj, presenta il convegno dal titolo “Tra Oriente e Occidente: il patrimonio culturale arabo-cristiano testimone di convivenza tra tradizioni religiose differenti”. Il patrimonio culturale arabo-cristiano costituisce una delle espressioni più significative e meno esplorate della storia condivisa tra ciò che convenzionalmente definiamo “Oriente” e “Occidente”. Il convegno assume tali categorie non come entità geografiche o identità culturali essenzializzate, bensì come costruzioni storiche e discorsive, plasmate da dinamiche di potere, rappresentazione e autorappresentazione.
La riflessione critica inaugurata da Edward Said ha mostrato come l’“Oriente” sia stato spesso configurato, nel discorso occidentale moderno, come alterità omogenea e statica, funzionale alla definizione dell’identità europea. Allo stesso tempo, anche l’idea di “Occidente” si è consolidata come categoria normativa, proiettata retrospettivamente su epoche e contesti caratterizzati in realtà da profonde interconnessioni mediterranee e afro-euro-asiatiche.
In questa prospettiva, il convegno propone di decostruire la dicotomia Oriente/Occidente attraverso l’analisi del patrimonio arabo-cristiano come spazio storico di intermediazione e co-produzione culturale. Le comunità cristiane arabofone, attive sin dai primi secoli dell’espansione islamica (VII–VIII secolo), operarono infatti in contesti che sfuggono a classificazioni binarie: ambienti urbani pluriconfessionali, reti commerciali transregionali, istituzioni intellettuali condivise.
Esse svolsero un ruolo decisivo nella trasmissione e rielaborazione dell’eredità greco-ellenistica. Le opere di Aristotele e Platone, così come la tradizione medica di Ippocrate e Galeno, furono tradotte dal greco al siriaco e poi all’arabo, commentate e trasformate in nuovi contesti intellettuali. In contesti quali la Bayt al-Hikma di Baghdad, studiosi cristiani, musulmani ed ebrei collaborarono alla costruzione di una koiné scientifica e filosofica che travalicava appartenenze religiose.
L’“Oriente” evocato in questa prospettiva comprende non soltanto il mondo islamico, ma anche le tradizioni persiane e indiane che entrarono in dialogo con il sapere greco attraverso mediazioni siriache e arabe. L’“Occidente”, a sua volta, include l’Europa latina che, tra XII e XIII secolo, ricevette gran parte dell’eredità aristotelica e scientifica attraverso traduzioni dall’arabo. Ne emerge un quadro di circolazioni multiple, in cui il patrimonio arabo-cristiano appare come nodo cruciale di connessione tra Mediterraneo, Vicino Oriente e Asia meridionale.
In tal senso, il patrimonio arabo-cristiano non è semplicemente “ponte” tra due blocchi culturali predefiniti, ma luogo di ibridazione, traduzione e produzione condivisa del sapere. La traduzione non va intesa come mero trasferimento linguistico, bensì come pratica epistemica che genera nuove categorie concettuali e nuove sintesi teologiche e filosofiche.
Parallelamente, la produzione teologica cristiana in lingua araba, il confronto con il kalām islamico, l’architettura ecclesiastica integrata nei tessuti urbani islamici, le arti figurative e la musica liturgica testimoniano una convivenza fatta di negoziazione, adattamento e scambio continuo.
In un contesto globale segnato da rinnovate polarizzazioni identitarie, la rilettura critica di queste interconnessioni storiche assume una valenza non solo storiografica, ma anche civile e politica. Il Documento sulla Fratellanza Umana firmato ad Abu Dhabi nel 2019 da Papa Francesco e dal Grande Imam di al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayyeb richiama l’urgenza di ripensare la convivenza come categoria storicamente fondata e non come mera aspirazione ideale.
Il convegno invita pertanto a esplorare il patrimonio arabo-cristiano come laboratorio storico di relazioni connesse, contribuendo a una storia mediterranea e globale che superi narrazioni oppositive e restituisca complessità ai processi di interazione tra culture, religioni e saperi.
Comitato scientifico
Laura Bottini, Anna Canton (segretaria), Paola Pizzo, Davide Righi
Presentazione delle proposte e tempistica
Studiose e studiosi di storia, teologia, filosofia, storia dell'arte, antropologia, scienze legate ai manoscritti, storia intellettuale globale e discipline correlate sono invitate/i a contribuire a una comprensione rinnovata e teoricamente informata del patrimonio culturale arabo cristiano come ponte tra mondi interconnessi. Le proposte di intervento in lingua italiana o inglese (max 300 parole) possono essere inviate all’indirizzo
Le proposte di intervento devono essere corredate da:
- Titolo
- Abstract
- Breve profilo biografico (max 150 parole)
- Affiliazione istituzionale
- Contatti email
L’accettazione della proposta sarà comunicata dal Comitato scientifico del convegno entro l’8 giugno 2026.
La lingua del convegno è l’italiano. Gli interventi potranno essere presentati anche in altre lingue purché corredati da una traduzione in italiano o in inglese.
È prevista la pubblicazione di una selezione dei contributi in un volume collettaneo nella collana “Patrimonio Culturale Arabo Cristiano”, a cura del GRAC.
Contributo di partecipazione comprensivo di coffee break e light lunch
Relatore € 60; partecipante € 40; studente € 20.
Il conto corrente sul quale effettuare il bonifico è il seguente:
POSTEPAY S.P.A. Carta di Credito intestata a Davide Righi
IBAN: IT33K3608105138234716034736
BIC SWIFT: BPPIITRRXXX
Assi tematici (non esaustivi)
1. Traduzione e circolazione del sapere greco e orientale
- Il retroterra siro-cristiano del movimento di traduzione greco-arabo
- I traduttori e i medici cristiani alla corte abbaside
- La ricezione di Aristotele, Galeno, Ippocrate e delle tradizioni neoplatoniche
- Le interazioni tra eredità greca e kalām e falsafa islamiche
- Le connessioni con le tradizioni scientifiche e filosofiche persiane e indiane
- Il ruolo dei cristiani arabi negli scambi intellettuali afro-eurasiatici
2. Produzione teologica e dibattito interreligioso in lingua araba
- Apologetica cristiana e kalām in dialogo con la teologia islamica
- Dibattiti cristologici e trinitari in arabo
- Vocabolari teologici condivisi e traduzioni concettuali
- Letteratura polemica e spazi di negoziazione dottrinale
3. Patrimonio artistico e architettonico in contesti urbani condivisi
- Chiese, monasteri e spazi sacri nelle città islamiche
- Iconografia, calligrafia e scambi estetici
- Cultura materiale e pratiche quotidiane di convivenza
4. Intellettuali arabo-cristiani e Nahḍa
- Il ruolo dei cristiani arabi nella riforma culturale tra XIX e XX secolo
- Cultura della stampa, giornalismo e modernizzazione linguistica
- Nazionalismo arabo, riformismo e cooperazione interreligiosa
5. Diaspore, memoria e politiche contemporanee del patrimonio
- Migrazioni e reti transnazionali
- Conservazione del patrimonio in contesti di conflitto
- Digital humanities e progetti archivistici
- Il patrimonio arabo-cristiano nel discorso pubblico globale
6. Ripensare Oriente e Occidente: prospettive teoriche e storiografiche
- Critiche postcoloniali alla dicotomia Oriente/Occidente
- Storie intrecciate nello spazio mediterraneo
- Storia intellettuale globale e circolazione del sapere
- Studi sulle minoranze oltre il paradigma vittimario
Bibliografia essenziale di riferimento
- Abulafia, David, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
- Adamson, Peter, Philosophy in the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Bayly, C. A., The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
- Burke, Peter, A Social History of Knowledge, 2 vols. Cambridge: Polity, 2000–2012.
- Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
- Conrad, Sebastian, What Is Global History? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
- Endress, Gerhard, “The Circle of al-Kindī,” in The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism, Leiden: CNWS, 1997.
- Goody, Jack, The Theft of History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- Griffith, Sidney H., The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the “People of the Book” in the Language of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
- Griffith, Sidney H., The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
- Gutas, Dimitri, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʿAbbāsid Society (2nd–4th/8th–10th Centuries). London: Routledge, 1998.
- Hanssen, Jens – Weiss, Max (eds.), Arabic Thought beyond the Liberal Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Nahda. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- Horden, Peregrine – Purcell, Nicholas, The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
- Makdisi, Ussama, Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008.
- Moyn, Samuel – Sartori, Andrew (eds.), Global Intellectual History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.
- Pollock, Sheldon, “Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in History,” Public Culture 12/3 (2000): 591–625.
- Pym, Anthony, Exploring Translation Theories. London: Routledge, 2014.
- Raj, Kapil, Relocating Modern Science: Circulation and the Construction of Knowledge in South Asia and Europe, 1650–1900. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Rashed, Roshdi – Morelon, Régis (eds.), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science. London: Routledge, 1996.
- Said, Edward W., Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
- Saliba, George, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.
- Samir Khalil Samir, Rôle culturel des chrétiens dans le monde arabe. Beirut: CEDRAC, 2005.
- Sheehi, Stephen, Foundations of Modern Arab Identity. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
- Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Explorations in Connected History: From the Tagus to the Ganges. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Swanson, Mark N., The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641–1517). Cairo: AUC Press, 2010.
- Thomas, David (ed.), Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Leiden: Brill, 2009–.
- Treiger, Alexander, Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazālī’s Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicennian Foundation. London: Routledge, 2012.
- Treiger, Alexander. "Origins of Kalām." The Oxford handbook of Islamic theology (2016): 27-43.
- Treiger, Alexander. "Christian Graeco-Arabica: Prolegomena to a History of the Arabic Translations of the Greek Church Fathers", Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 3, 1-2 (2015): 188-227.
Study Conference
Between East and West: Arab Christian Cultural Heritage as a Witness to Coexistence among Diverse Religious Traditions
Pontificio Istituto Orientale, P.za di Santa Maria Maggiore, 7, 00185 Roma
October 30th, 2026, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Presentation
The Arab Christian Research Group (GRAC), founded in Italy by Fr. Samir Khalil Samir SJ, presents the international conference entitled “Between East and West: Arab Christian Cultural Heritage as a Witness to Coexistence among Diverse Religious Traditions.”
Arab Christian cultural heritage represents one of the most significant yet still underexplored expressions of the shared history between what we conventionally define as “East” and “West.” The conference approaches these categories not as geographical entities or essentialized cultural identities, but as historical and discursive constructions shaped by dynamics of power, representation, and self-representation.
The critical reflection inaugurated by Edward Said has demonstrated how the “East” was often configured in modern Western discourse as a homogeneous and static alterity, functional to the construction of European identity. At the same time, the idea of the “West” itself became consolidated as a normative category, retrospectively projected onto periods and contexts that were, in reality, characterized by profound Mediterranean and Afro-Eurasian interconnections.
Within this perspective, the conference proposes to deconstruct the East/West dichotomy by analyzing Arab Christian heritage as a historical space of mediation and cultural co-production. Arabic-speaking Christian communities, active since the early centuries of Islamic expansion (7th–8th centuries), operated in contexts that escape binary classifications: multi-confessional urban environments, transregional commercial networks, and shared intellectual institutions.
These communities played a decisive role in the transmission and reinterpretation of the Greco-Hellenistic legacy. The works of Aristotle and Plato, as well as the medical tradition of Hippocrates and Galen, were translated from Greek into Syriac and then into Arabic, commented upon, and transformed within new intellectual settings. In institutions such as the Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars collaborated in the construction of a scientific and philosophical koiné that transcended religious boundaries.
The “East” evoked in this perspective includes not only the Islamic world, but also the Persian and Indian traditions that entered into dialogue with Greek knowledge through Syriac and Arabic mediations. The “West,” in turn, encompasses Latin Europe, which between the 12th and 13th centuries received a substantial portion of Aristotelian and scientific heritage through translations from Arabic. What emerges is a picture of multiple circulations, in which Arab Christian heritage appears as a crucial node connecting the Mediterranean, the Near East, and South Asia.
In this sense, Arab Christian heritage is not merely a “bridge” between two predefined cultural blocs, but rather a site of hybridity, translation, and shared production of knowledge. Translation should not be understood as a mere linguistic transfer, but as an epistemic practice generating new conceptual categories and new theological and philosophical syntheses.
At the same time, Christian theological production in Arabic, engagement with Islamic kalām, ecclesiastical architecture integrated into Islamic urban fabrics, figurative arts, and liturgical music all testify to a coexistence shaped by negotiation, adaptation, and continuous exchange.
In a global context marked by renewed identity-based polarizations, a critical rereading of these historical interconnections assumes not only historiographical significance but also civic and political relevance. The Document on Human Fraternity, signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019 by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb, underscores the urgency of rethinking coexistence as a historically grounded category rather than a merely ideal aspiration.
The conference therefore invites scholars to explore Arab Christian heritage as a historical laboratory of connected relationships, contributing to a Mediterranean and global history that moves beyond oppositional narratives and restores complexity to the processes of interaction among cultures, religions, and systems of knowledge.
Scientific Committee
Anna Canton (secretary), Laura Bottini, Paola Pizzo, Davide Righi
Submission of Proposals and Timeline
Scholars from history, theology, philosophy, art history, anthropology, manuscript studies, global intellectual history, and related disciplines are invited to contribute to a renewed and theoretically informed understanding of Arab Christian cultural heritage as a bridge across interconnected worlds.
Paper proposals (maximum 300 words), in Italian or English, could be sent to
Proposals must include:
- Title
- Abstract
- Short biographical note (maximum 150 words)
- Institutional affiliation
- Email contact details
Notification of acceptance will be communicated by the Conference Scientific Committee by 8 June 2026.
The working language of the conference is Italian. Papers may also be presented in other languages, provided that a translation in Italian or English is supplied.
A selection of the contributions will be published in an edited volume within the series “Patrimonio Culturale Arabo Cristiano”, edited by GRAC.
Participation fee (included coffee break and light lunch)
Speaker €60; participant €40; student €20.
The bank account to which the transfer should be made is:
POSTEPAY S.P.A. Credit Card in the name of Davide Righi
IBAN: IT33K3608105138234716034736
BIC SWIFT: BPPIITRRXXX
Thematic Areas (non-exhaustive)
1. Translation and the Circulation of Greek and Eastern Knowledge
- The Syriac-Christian background of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement
- Christian translators and physicians at the Abbasid court
- The reception of Aristotle, Galen, Hippocrates, and Neoplatonic traditions
- Interactions between Greek heritage and Islamic kalām and falsafa
- Connections with Persian and Indian scientific and philosophical traditions
- The role of Arab Christians in broader Afro-Eurasian intellectual exchanges
2. Theological Production and Interreligious Debate in Arabic
- Christian apologetics and kalām in dialogue with Islamic theology
- Christological and Trinitarian debates in Arabic
- Shared theological vocabularies and conceptual translations
- Polemical literature and spaces of doctrinal negotiation
3. Artistic and Architectural Heritage in Shared Urban Contexts
- Churches, monasteries, and sacred spaces in Islamic cities
- Iconography, calligraphy, and aesthetic exchanges
- Material culture and everyday coexistence
4. Arab Christian Intellectuals and the Nahḍa
- The role of Arab Christians in 19th–20th century cultural reform
- Print culture, journalism, and linguistic modernization
- Arab nationalism, reformism, and interreligious cooperation
5. Diasporas, Memory, and Contemporary Heritage Politics
- Migration and transnational networks
- Heritage preservation amid conflict
- Digital humanities and archival projects
- Arab Christian heritage in global public discourse
6. Rethinking East and West: Theoretical and Historiographical Perspectives
- Postcolonial critiques of the East/West binary
- Entangled histories across the Mediterranean
- Global intellectual history and knowledge circulation
- Minority studies beyond victimhood paradigms
Essential bibliography
- Abulafia, David, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
- Adamson, Peter, Philosophy in the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Bayly, C. A., The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
- Burke, Peter, A Social History of Knowledge, 2 vols. Cambridge: Polity, 2000–2012.
- Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
- Conrad, Sebastian, What Is Global History? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
- Endress, Gerhard, “The Circle of al-Kindī,” in The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism, Leiden: CNWS, 1997.
- Goody, Jack, The Theft of History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- Griffith, Sidney H., The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the “People of the Book” in the Language of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
- Griffith, Sidney H., The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
- Gutas, Dimitri, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʿAbbāsid Society (2nd–4th/8th–10th Centuries). London: Routledge, 1998.
- Hanssen, Jens – Weiss, Max (eds.), Arabic Thought beyond the Liberal Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Nahda. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- Horden, Peregrine – Purcell, Nicholas, The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
- Makdisi, Ussama, Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008.
- Moyn, Samuel – Sartori, Andrew (eds.), Global Intellectual History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.
- Pollock, Sheldon, “Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in History,” Public Culture 12/3 (2000): 591–625.
- Pym, Anthony, Exploring Translation Theories. London: Routledge, 2014.
- Raj, Kapil, Relocating Modern Science: Circulation and the Construction of Knowledge in South Asia and Europe, 1650–1900. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Rashed, Roshdi – Morelon, Régis (eds.), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science. London: Routledge, 1996.
- Said, Edward W., Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
- Saliba, George, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.
- Samir Khalil Samir, Rôle culturel des chrétiens dans le monde arabe. Beirut: CEDRAC, 2005.
- Sheehi, Stephen, Foundations of Modern Arab Identity. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
- Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Explorations in Connected History: From the Tagus to the Ganges. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Swanson, Mark N., The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641–1517). Cairo: AUC Press, 2010.
- Thomas, David (ed.), Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Leiden: Brill, 2009–.
- Treiger, Alexander, Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazālī’s Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicennian Foundation. London: Routledge, 2012.
- Treiger, Alexander. "Origins of Kalām." The Oxford handbook of Islamic theology (2016): 27-43.
- Treiger, Alexander. "Christian Graeco-Arabica: Prolegomena to a History of the Arabic Translations of the Greek Church Fathers", Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 3, 1-2 (2015): 188-227.
