The term Documenta Coranica Christiana refers to various research activities and scientific initiatives, which shall examine the Qur'an and its reception in a historical and diachronic manner from the Christian external perspective. For this purpose, translations of the Qur'an into the Syrian, Greek and Latin languages, that stem from a Christian cultural sphere in the period between the emergence of Islam in the 7th century and the 13th century, shall be investigated and gathered. In the futuere, they shall be prepared in an online database as a synoptical edition. Annotated according to current standards, the translations or their fragments can thus be made available to the scientific and wider public. 

The interdisciplinary approach of scholarly indexing would enable a fact-based reappraisal, based on historical-philological criteria, of the emergence and development of the image of Islam in Europe and the Western world. Thus, topoi and stereotypes of the Christian understanding of Islam would be traced back in their genesis to the beginnings of Islam text-immanently. This historical reappraisal could contribute to a science-based, public discourse with Islam.

The Documenta Coranica Christiana is not a research project. Rather, it is an umbrella term to describe loosely diverse scholarly activities and initiatives that are intended to be conducive to the study of the subject matter outlined above.

 

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Research Activities and Scientific Initiatives in the frame of the Documenta Coranica Christiana

 

E-Learning project “Methods for Digitally Indexing and Compiling Digital Editions in the Philology of the Christian Orient: from Digitizations of Handwritten Text to a Digital Edition (</xml>)” (June 2019) [Project Proposal]  Prototype “Alignment of the Quran and its medieval translations and paraphrases” for a possible open-access publication for the Documenta Coranica Christiana

• Presentation during the workshop “Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum. The Qur’an in Translation – A Survey of the State-of-the-Art” (5–7/12/2018) by Dr. Joel Kalvesmaki (at that time Dumbarton Oaks/USA, Editor in Byzantine Studies)

Workshop “Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum. The Qur’an in Translation – A Survey of the State-of-the-Art” (5–7 December 2018)

• Funding by FU Berlin (Sep./Oct. 2018)

• Funding by DFG (July 2018)

• Call for Papers (Feb. 2018)

Initiative Funding of the Research Commission (Presidential Funding), FU Berlin (2017) [Project Proposal] Academic Courses “Philologische Grundlagenarbeit” [‘Philological Groundwork’] and “Digitale Editionsmethoden” [‘Working Methods for Digital Editions’] (2017/18) Exceptional Financing for the Teaching Assignments for “Working Methods for Digital Editions” through the Department of Philosophy and Humanities (2017) Teaching Project “The Digitization of Philology – The Corpus Coranicum Christianum” (2016/17) [Project Proposal] Research Internships offered by Manolis Ulbricht (since 2014) Ph.D. Thesis “Coranus Graecus. The Oldest Transmitted Translation of the Qurʾān within the «Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου» of Nicetas of Byzantium. Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary” (2012–2015) Master Thesis “Fragments of a Greek Translation of the Qur’an from the Vat. gr. 681” (2009–2010)

 

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Contact: Dr. Manolis Ulbricht

Address: documenta.coranica.christiana@klassphil.fu-berlin.de