Manolis Marudis Ulbricht
Research and Teaching Assistant
Room JK 31/305
14195 Berlin
Office hours
Currently on leave as part of a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation – therefore there will be no office hours.
Current Responsibilities
Postdoc in Byzantine Studies
About the person
Selected interviews, speeches, et alia, please click here
Currently Research and Teaching Assistant to the Chair of Berlin Byzantine Studies, Manolis Ulbricht is on leave from 2019–2021 as holder of a Feodor Lynen Postdoc Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, affiliated with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the Department of Byzantine Philology and Folkloristics.
Manolis Ulbricht studied Ancient History, Islamic Studies and Protestant as well as Orthodox Theology at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2003–2010, Athens 2005–2007). After two years of further studies and field research in Damascus (2010–2012), he went on pursuing a doctoral degree in Byzantine Studies (2012–2015). His dissertation “Coranus Graecus” will soon be published by the Vatican Library in its series Studi e testi.
From 2016–2019, he has been Research Assistant coordinating the Project entitled “Aristotle’s Poetics in the West (of India) from Antiquity to the Renaissance: A Multilingual Edition with Studies of the Cultural Contexts of the Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin Translations” funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. He has been dispatched to the Monastic Community of the Holy Mountain Athos and to Greece by the Freie Universität Berlin (2018/19) to research manuscripts and archives for his project initiative “Corpus Coranicum Christianum”, which shall explore the Qur’an and its reception in a historical and diachronic manner from the Christian perspective.
Vita
Overview of Didactic Approaches
Berlin Byzantine Studies prides itself for effectively integrating the ongoing research conducted by the chair of Byzantine Studies into its students’ regular curriculum in accordance with the Freie Universität Berlin’s future-oriented institutional strategy. Through this research-orientated teaching, our students and the students of neighboring disciplines can be actively introduced to the questions arising from ongoing research projects in an interdisciplinary manner
Therefore, we regularly offer ‘research internships’ that undergraduate as well as masters students may attend. It is our goal to introduce our students to the methods and approaches of this future-orientated teaching as early as possible.
Another characteristic example of a sustainable combination of research and teaching at Berlin Byzantine Studies is the conceptualization of and successful application for the teaching project “The Digitization of Philology – Corpus Coranicum Christianum”. The project was designed by and for students and directly integrates the research into the regular teaching curriculum.
Moreover, our professorship is actively involved in the digitization of the humanities. A concrete expression of this commitment is the securing of the 2019 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/>)”. Starting in the 2019/20 winter semester we offer an introductory course as well as an advanced training course in the digital humanities.
We foster this kind of interaction between researchers and students at all levels!
Evaluation by the Students
The courses taught by Manolis Ulbricht are evaluated by the students themselves in the course of each term. If you would like to gain an overview of the teaching evaluations, you can find the feedback from students with regards to Manolis Ulbricht’s course offerings under the following link:
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Evaluations of Courses, Research Internships and Erasmus+ Internships
Courses and Teaching Formats
Byzantium and Early Islam
- Muslim-Christian Relations in Early Islam
- Byzantine Apologetics and Polemics against Islam
See Ph.D. Thesis: “Coranus Graecus. The Oldest Transmitted Translation of the Qur’ ān within the «Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου» of Nicetas of Byzantium. Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary”
Abstract, Table of Contents, Disputatio (14/07/2015), Exposé (2012)
Muslim Qur’anic Studies and Christian Translations of the Qur’an
- Greek Translations of the Qur’an and their Reception in the Latin Middle Ages
- Efforts for the Establishment of an Interdisciplinary Research Project “Corpus Coranicum Christianum”
Project Description Corpus Coranicum Byzantinum (presented in the frame of the Disputatio, 14/07/2015)
DFG Project Proposal “Corpus Coranicum Byzantinum (CCB). The Qur’an and the Perception of Islam in Byzantium: Texts, Reception, Manuscripts (7th-15th c.)” (submitted 15/02/2021)
Byzantine Theology and Heresiology
- The Orthodoxy of Byzantium
- East Christian Heterodoxies
Byzantine Hymnology and Psalmody
- Music Theory of Byzantine Church Music
- Common Music Traditions in Near Eastern Liturgical Practices
Digital Humanities
- “Coranus Graecus. Die älteste überlieferte Koranübersetzung in der «Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου» des Niketas von Byzanz. Einleitung, Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar”, Ph.D. Thesis, Freie Universität Berlin 2015, in preparation for: Studi e testi (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), Vatican
Series
- Editor (et al.) Studies in Classical & Late Antiquity (Gorgias Press)
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Editor (et al.) Islamic History and Thought (Gorgias Press)
Conference Volumes
- Conference Proceedings on the International Workshop “From Oriens Christianus to the Islamic Near East – Theological, Historical and Cultural Cross-pollination in the Eastern Mediterranean of Late Antiquity”, (07–08/12/2017), FU Berlin, ed. Manolis Ulbricht/ Adam Walker, Gorgias Press [under contract]
- Conference Proceedings “Documenta Coranica Christiana. Christian Translations of the Qur’an. Preliminary Considerations of the State of the Art”, ed. Manolis Ulbricht, Brill (Series: Documenta Coranica, edd. A. Neuwirth, F. Déroche, Ch. Robin, M. Marx; ISSN: 2211-6761) of the International Workshop “Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum The Qur’an in Translation – A Survey of the State-of-the-Art” (05–07/12/2018)
The Fragments of the Greek Historians. Part V (Spanisch – Deutsch) [upon invitation]
- „Zenothemis“ (FGrHist 2054, BrillOnline)
- „Phileas von Athen“ (FGrHist 2038, BrillOnline)
- „Alexandros von Myndos“ (FGrHist 2201, BrillOnline)
- „Euthymenes von Massalia“ (FGrHist 2207, BrillOnline)
Peer reviewed
- “Der Islam-Diskurs bei Niketas von Byzanz (9. Jh.). Themen, Argumentationsmuster und theologisches Verständnis in seinem Hauptwerk ,Widerlegung des Koran‘ («Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου»)” [ca. 13.000 words], Byzantinische Zeitschrift, to be published 03/2021
- “The Religious Background of the Coranus Graecus. An Early Interfaith Dialogue as Historical Evidence of Intercultural Exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean, reflected in the Greek Translation of the Qurʾān (9th century terminus ante quem) preserved in the Refutation of the Qurʾān by Nicetas of Byzantium (9th century AD)” [being revised for Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, ca. 16.000 words]
Written in Arabic
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«الترجمة الأولى للقرآن الكريم من القرن ٨ / ٩ م في سجال نيكيتاس البيزنطيّ (القرن ٩ م) مع الإسلام باسم تفنيد القرآن», Chronos – Révue d’histoire de l’Université de Balamand/Lebanon, No. 25 (2012), pp. 33–58
Book Chapters [upon invitation]
- “Greek-Byzantine Qur’ānic Hermeneutics” [ca. 15.000 words] with Marco Fanelli, Handook of Qur’ānic Hermeneutics, ed. George Tamer, Walter de Gruyter [submitted], expected 2022
- “Nicetas Byzantios (9th century)” [ca. 8.000 words], Handook of Qur’ānic Hermeneutics, ed. George Tamer, Walter de Gruyter [submitted], expected 2022
Source Book [upon invitation]
- “Nicetas of Byzantium” [ca. 1.500 words; introduction, translation of selected passages, glossary and index of themes], Christian-Muslim Relations. A Reader (600-1500), ed. David Thomas, Bloomsbury Academic [forthcoming], expected 2021
- “John of Damascus” [ca. 1.300 words; introduction, translation of selected passages, glossary and index of themes], Christian-Muslim Relations. A Reader (600-1500), ed. David Thomas, Bloomsbury Academic [forthcoming], expected 2021
- “Nicetas of Byzantium” [ca. 2.000 words; introduction, translation of selected passages], Christian-Muslim Relations. Primary Sources (600-1500), ed. David Thomas, Bloomsbury Academic [forthcoming], expected 2022
- “John of Damascus” [ca. 1.800 words; introduction, translation of selected passages], Christian-Muslim Relations. Primary Sources (600-1500), ed. David Thomas, Bloomsbury Academic [forthcoming], expected 2022
Lemmata
- “Никита Византийский: Греческий перевод Корана (Coranus Graecus), использованный Н. В.”, Православная энциклопедия [The Orthodox Encyclopedia], vol. 49, Moscow 2018, pp. 553–554
- “Euthymios, the monk”, Christian-Muslim-Relation, vol. 3, Leiden (Brill), 2011, pp. 523–531
- “Euthymios Monachos”, Lexikon Byzantinischer Autoren, ed. Alexander Riehle, et al. [submitted in Jan. 2013]
- “Nicetas of Byzantium”, Lexikon Byzantinischer Autoren, ed. Alexander Riehle, et al. [submitted in Jan. 2013]
Reviews [all upon invitation]
- Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Generaliumque Decreta. Editio Critica. The Great Councils of the Orthodox Churches. Decisions and Synodika, Bd. IV/1 "From Constantinople 861 to Constantinople 1872", Bd. IV/2 "From Moscow 1551 to Moscow 2000", Turnhout: Brepols Publishers 2016, in: Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum, expected volume 50/2 [spring 2021]
- D. Pachurka: Ricoldus de Monte Crucis. Tractatus seu disputatio contra Saracenos et Alchoranum [Corpus Islamo-Christianum, Series Latina, vol. 9], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2016, in: Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies, vol. 5.2 (2018), Berlin/Boston, pp. 413–419
- R. Glei/R. Tottoli: Ludovico Marracci at work. The evolution of his Latin translation of the Qurʾān in the light of his newly discovered manuscripts. With an edition and a comparative linguistic analysis of Sura 18 [Corpus Islamo-Christianum, Series Arabica-Latina, vol. 1], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2016, in: Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 112.4–5 (2017), Berlin/Boston (De Gruyter), pp. 382–387
- A. Bakhou: Defending Christian Faith. The Fifth Part of the Christian Apology of Gerasimus, Berlin et. al.: De Gruyter 2015, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, vol. 142.11 (2017), Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt), col. 1211–1213
- K. Förstel: Schriften zum Islam von Arethas und Euthymios Zigabenos und Fragmente der griechischen Koranübersetzung. Griechisch-deutsche Textausgabe [Corpus Islamo-Christianum, Series Graeca, vol. 7], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2009, in: Journal of Religious and Cultural Studies, vol. 62.4 (2010), Leiden (Brill), pp. 394–397
- K. K. Starczewska: Latin Translation of the Qurʾān (1518/1621). Commissioned by Egidio da Viterbo. Critical Edition and Case Study [Diskurse der Arabistik, vol. 24], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2018 [in preparation for Orientalistische Literaturzeitung]
Reports
- Conference Proceeding with Bert Jacobs: “Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum. The Qur’an in Translation – A Survey of the State of the Art, Berlin, 5–7 December 2018”, Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin, vol. 5/2 (Autumn 2019), pp. 151–154
- “New Insights into Early Islamic Historiography: A Substantial Conference Report (Göttingen, 25–26 June 2015)”, by Yoones Dehghani Farsani and Jens Scheiner with contributions by Mehmetcan Akpınar, Antoine Borrut, Yoones Dehghani Farsani, Fred M. Donner, Georg Leube, Ilkka Lindstedt, Masoud Sadeghi, Jens Scheiner, Mónika Schönléber, Isabel Toral-Nieho, Manolis Ulbricht, Conference Proceedings of the International Workshop Fresh Perspectives on Early Muslim Historiography, Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, vol. 25 (2017), pp. 149–177 (see here)
- “The Byzantine translation of the Qurʾān from the eighth/ninth century CE and its role in the polemic of Nicetas of Byzantium”, Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Newsletter No. 8, 07/2014, pp. 5–6
- Conference Report: “أوجه المعرفة القرآنية: لقاء الفيلولوجيا واللاهوت” of the International Conference Aspects of Qur’anic Scholarship – Philology meets Theology (23–25/09/2016; see here), Newspaper al-Ḥayāt, 22/10/2016
- Conference Report of the International Ph.D. and post-doctoral training school The Dynamic Middle Ages (02–05/10/2012; see here), Clio-online, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 14/12/2012