Early Islam: The Sectarian Milieu of Late Antiquity? / 4th Nangeroni Meeting (2015 Milan), conference

Villa Cagnola, Gazzada, Milan, Italy

Guillaume Dye, Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Early Islam: The Sectarian Milieu of Late Antiquity? (2015) is the topic of the fourth conference in the series of Nangeroni Meetings, and the first conference of the Early Islamic Studies Seminar, organized by the Enoch Seminar in Milan, Italy (June 2015) in collaboration with COREIS.

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Fourth Nangeroni Meeting (Milan, Italy; June 15–19, 2015)

Chair: Guillaume Dye (Free University of Brussels [ULB], Belgium, EU)

Co-Chair: Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan, USA)

Secretary: Rodney Caruthers (University of Michigan, USA)

Preliminary Information

When: June 15-19, 2015

Accommodations: Villa Cagnola (Gazzada Schianno, Milan, Italy)

Location of the Seminar: Villa Cagnola (Gazzada Schianno, Milan, Italy)

Purpose: The meeting aims at re-examining afresh formative Islam in its the late-antique context. We plan to have panels (major sessions) on the following topics:

• (1) Early Islam and Enochic Traditions
• (2) Early Islamic Eschatology
• (3) Early Islamic Sources in Light of a "Theology of Salvation"
• (4) The Making of the Islamic Prophet
• (5) Epigraphic Sources for the Study of Qur'ānic Origins
• (6) The Qur'ān in Light of Traditio-Historical Criticism
• (7) Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins

Major papers will be offered by Guillaume Dye, Emilio González Ferrín, Manfred Kropp, Annette Yoshiko Reed, Carlos A. Segovia, Tommaso Tesei, and Stephen J. Shoemaker.

Short papers on Qur'ānic and Early Islamic Studies will be welcome, particularly if they are related to any of the following topics of interest, to which we plan to devote several reading sessions and short-paper sessions, as well:

• Dating Old Qur'ānic Manuscripts: Problems, Methods, Criteria
• The Religious Landscape of Sassanid and Early Islamic Iran (500-750)
• Scribal Culture in the Near East (6th-8th centuries)
• Biblical/Para-Biblical Traditions in the Qur’ān
• The material Culture of Emergent Islam
• Arabia and Byzantium on the Eve of Islam

The pre-circulating papers shall be presented briefly (5 min.) before being discussed by the participants (respondents will be allowed 10 min. to respond before the general discusion begins).

Paper Submission: Major papers should be submitted by March 30, 2015. In turn, short papers should be submitted by April 30, 2015. This will allow respondents and other participants enough time to prepare their responses and critical comments.

Paper Length: Major papers should be 6,000 words maximum; short papers, 3,000 words maximum.

Proceedings: A volume will be published with the proceedings of the conference, which overall purpose is to contribute to the renewed study of Islamic origins in close dialogue with scholars working on the late-antique Near East, Second Temple Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, early Christianity, and Sassanian Iran.

Participation in the Early Islamic Studies Seminar is by invitation only.

Should you like to present a short paper, please send to the chair of the conference, Guillaume Dye (gdye@noos.fr), a provisional title and and an abstract by January 2015

Should you simply like to attend the conference, or receive further information about it, please contact its secretary, Rodney Caruthers (rodneyac@umich.edu) at your earliest convenience.

Accommodations

We have secured the lovely Villa Cagnola in Gazzada Schianno (about 45 kilometres [28 miles] northwest of Milan) for our accommodations. Four nights lodging and all breakfasts and lunches are included in the cost, paid directly to us in Milan via cash:

• €0 – Authors of Major Papers
• €200 – Major Paper Respondents
• €300 – Everyone else
• €200 – Guests (children under 14, staying in the same room, are free)

Registration

Participation in the Fourth Nangeroni Meeting is by invitation only. If you have already secured your participation, please fill out the official online registration form and pay your registration fee by February 28, 2015.

The registration fee is based on the number of Enoch Seminars/Nangeroni Meetings you have attended in the past:

• $125 – Newcomers
• $110 – Attended 1 Enoch Seminar
• $100 – Attended 2 Enoch Seminars
• $90 – Attended 3 Enoch Seminars
• $75 – Attended 4 or 5 Enoch Seminars + all emeriti
• $0 – Attended 6 or more Enoch Seminars or Nangeroni Meetings

This registration fee is a donation to our sponsor, the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies, and it is tax-deductible for U.S. residents. The registration fee is refundable (minus a $50 administrative processing fee) 30 days prior to the start of the Seminar (i.e. by May 15, 2015) if for some reason you are unable to attend.

Prospective Participants

• Aghaei, Ali (Forum Transregionale Studien, Germany, EU)*
• Azaiez, Mehdi (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, EU)
• Boccaccini, Gabriele (University of Michigan, USA / Enoch Seminar)
• Bonner Michael (University of Michigan, USA)
• Borrut, Antoine (University of Maryland, USA)*
• Courtieu, Gilles (Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, France, EU)
• Dye, Guillaume (Free University of Brussels [ULB], Belgium, EU)*
• Fedeli, Alba (University of Birmingham, England, UK, EU)
• Fisher, Greg (Carleton University, Ontario, Canada)*
• González Ferrín, Emilio (University of Seville, Spain, EU)*
• Hayajneh, Hani F. (Yarmouk University, Jordan)
• Mårtensson, Ulrika (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)*
• Kropp, Manfred (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany, EU)
• Lange, Christian (Utrecht University, Netherlands, EU)
• Lourié, Basil (Scrinium, Russia / Enoch Seminar)
• Morris, Ian D. (Spanish National Research Council [CSIC], Spain, EU)*
• Neuenkirchen, Paul (École Pratique des Hautes Études [EPHE], France, EU)*
• Oliver, Isaac W. (Bradley University, Illinois, USA / Enoch Seminar)*
• Petersen, Anders Klostergaard (Aarhus University, Denmark, EU / Enoch Seminar)*
• Polliack, Meira (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (New York City College of Technology, USA)
• Pallavicini, Yahaya (COREIS, Italy)
• Powers, David S. (Cornell University, New York, USA)*
• Reed, Annette Yoshiko (University of Pennsylvania, USA / Enoch Seminar)
• Reeves, John C. (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA)
• Retsö, Jan (University of Gothenburg, Sweden, EU)
• Segovia, Carlos A. (Saint Louis University, Spain, EU / Enoch Seminar)*
• Shoemaker, Stephen J. (University of Oregon, USA)*
• Swanson, Dwight (Nazarene Theological College Manchester, UK, EU)*
• Tesei, Tommaso (Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel)
• Watson, Francis (Durham University, UK, EU)*
• Wilk, Mateusz (University of Warsaw, Poland, EU)*
• Wood, Philip (The Aga Khan University, England, UK, EU)*
• [...]

Provisional Schedule

Monday, June 15

8:00-16:00 – Arrivals

17:00 – Opening Session and Welcome (Dye, Guillaume Dye, Gabriele Boccaccini, Yahaya Pallavicini

17:45–19:30 – Session 1: EARLY ISLAM AND ENOCHIC TRADITIONS

• Annette Yoshiko Reed; Respondent: Carlos A. Segovia

20:00 - Dinner

Tuesday, June 16

09:00–10:15 – Reading Sessions

• (a) Revisiting Early Islamic Historiography
  • Chair: Mehdi Azaiez

• (b) Pro-Christians/anti-Christians Texts in the Qur’ān and the Dome of the Rock
  • (Chair: )

10:45–12:30 – Session 2: EARLY ISLAMIC ESCHATOLOGY

• Tommaso Tesei; Respondent: Christian Lange

13:00 - Lunch

14:30–16:15 – Session 3: EARLY ISLAMIC SOURCES IN LIGHT OF A “THEOLOGY OF SALVATION”

• Emilio González Ferrín; Respondent: Antoine Borrut

16:45–18:15 – Short Papers

• (a) Dating Old Qur'anic Manuscripts: Problems, Methods, Criteria (Chair: )

• (b) The Religious Landscape of Sassanid and Early Islamic Iran (500-750) (Chair: )

20:00 - Dinner

Wednesday, June 17

8:45–10:15 – Short Papers

• (a) Scribal Culture in the Near East (6th-8th centuries) (Chair: )

• (b) Biblical/para-Biblical Traditions in the Qur’ān (Chair: )

10:45–12:30 – Session 4: THE MAKING OF THE ISLAMIC PROPHET

• Carlos A. Segovia; Respondent: David S. Powers

13:00 - Lunch

Optional cultural visit to Milan

Open lecture at the University of Milan: "Rethinking Early Islam in Its Late-Antique Context"

Thursday, June 18

09:00–10:15 – Reading Sessions

• (a) Manichaeism and Islamic Origins: How Strong Is the Link?
  • (Chair: )

• (b) Non-Islamic Witnesses to the Islamic Expansion
  • Chair: Philip Wood

10:45–12:30 – Session 5: EPIGRAPHIC SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF QUR'ĀNIC ORIGINS

• Manfred Kropp; Respondent: Jan Retsö

13:00 - Lunch

14:30–16:15 – Session 6: THE QUR'ĀN IN LIGHT OF TRADITIO-HISTORICAL CRITICISM

• Guillaume Dye; Respondent: Isaac W. Oliver

16:45–18:15 – Short Papers

a) Material Traces of the Islamic Expansion and Rule (Chair: )

b) Arabia and Byzantium on the Eve of Islam (Chair: )

20:00 - Dinner

Friday, June 19

09:00–10:45 – Session 7: METHOD AND THEORY IN THE STUDY OF ISLAMIC ORIGINS

• Stephen J. Shoemaker; Respondent: Anders Klostergaard Petersen (Aarhus University, Denmark, EU)

11:15–12:30 – Closing Plenary Session

13:00 – Lunch & Farewells

Getting to the Seminar

Villa Cagnola (main lodging and location of Seminar):

Istituto Superiore di Studi Religiosi “Villa Cagnola”

Via Cagnola, 17/19

21045 GAZZADA SCHIANNO (VA)

Tel. +39 0332 461304

fax +39 0332 870887

E-mail: reception@villacagnola.it

villacagnola@tin.it

www.villacagnola.it

From Malpensa Airport

Taxi: 25-30 minutes; ~60 Euros (see above for sharing a taxi)

Train: ~1.5 hours; ~6 Euros (See trenitalia.com, Departure = "Malpensa Aeroporto" Arrival = "Gazzada-Schianno-Morazzone")

• Take bus from Malpensa to "Busto Arsizio” and from there take a train “Suburbano” to the stop “Gazzada-Schianno.”
• The station in Gazzada is about 1km from the Villa, or ~200m via the steps (see map).

From Milan via Train

There are no direct trips to Gazzada from Milano Centrale station (though it is usually a quick connection). Most of the direct trips from Milan are from the Milano Porta Girabaldi station (which is also in the center of town). Visit trenitalia.com to find the best times for direct trips. For departure, select "Milano (all stations)," and for arrival, "Gazzada-Schianno-Morazzone." This will show you all of the trips to Gazzada from the Milan stations. The trip will take 1-1.5 hours and cost around 6 euros.