by Vevian Zaki In the month of Ramaḍān 253 AH (September/October 867 CE), Bishr ibn al-Sirrī finalized in Damascus his work on translating the Pauline Epistles from Syriac into Arabic, annotating and transcribing them into a manuscript. On a different … Continued
by Joseph Faragalla The book of Psalms plays a significant role in both Judaism and Christianity. The psalms are used in prayer, both in public worship and in the believer’s devotional life. The Jewish morning prayer, the פְסוּקֵי דְּזִמְרָא, and … Continued
by Lina Elhage-Mensching The new project hosted at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities[1] aims at a comprehensive and systematic investigation of the development of the Holy Week lectionary in Egypt. Using the environment of the Göttingen Virtual Manuscript … Continued
by Paula Manstetten In the 1720s, an Anglican society in London printed a staggering 6,000 Psalters and 10,000 New Testaments in Arabic with the aim of distributing them among the Christians of the Middle East. The Society for Promoting Christian … Continued
by Nick Posegay Some of the most important tools for medieval Bible translators were translation glossaries. These texts are short lexicographical works, more specialised than complete lexica, that give translations for individual words in a particular Biblical text. Many are … Continued
by Estara J Arrant The intellectually rich, culturally vibrant, and linguistically diverse world reflected in the Cairo Genizah fostered the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Arabic. Most well-known are the translation works of great intellectuals such as Sa‘adya Gaon … Continued
A Review Essay by Meira Polliack “And you think That I don’t even mean A single word I say It’s only words And words are all I have to take your heart away”.[1] Celebrating a new book by Robert Alter … Continued
by Joseph Habib Introduction The great textual critic Dominique Barthélemy (1921–2002) lamented the fact that scholars of the time were too quick to render a difficult passage in the Masoretic Text as corrupt or unintelligible. The Masoretic Text refers to … Continued
by Meira Polliack Even amateur gardeners like myself recognize that plants don’t manage transitions easily. Some robust shrubs dry up in the best conditions of light or water. Yet, when transplanted in different soil, or in a discreet corner of … Continued
by Dennis Halft OP The Imāmī (Twelver) Shiʿite scholar Sayyid Aḥmad ʿAlavī (d. between 1644 and 1650) is well-known for his Persian writings against Christianity.[1] Born in the Safavid capital of Isfahan, ʿAlavī was the intellectual spearhead of the local … Continued
