HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES

Vol. 2, No. 1 January 1999

SPECIAL ISSUE: St. Ephraim the Syrian - II

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CONFERENCE REPORT The Third Woodbrooke-Mingana Symposium on Arab Christianity and Islam Woodbrooke, Birmingham, UK, 7-9 September 1998 Sidney H. GRIFFITH griffith@cua.edu Institute of Christian Oriental Research The Catholic University of AmericaBR> Washington, D.C. 20064, U.S.A. [1] The Third Woodbrooke-Mingana Symposium on Arab Christianity and Islam met at Woodbrooke, The Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK, from 7-9 September 1998. The convener of the symposium was Dr David Thomas of Selly Oak's Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. The theme was "Arab Christianity in Bilad al-Sham in the pre-Ottoman Period." A highlight of the event was a tour conducted by Mrs Meline Nielsen of the Mingana Room, in Selly Oak's new Orchard Learning Resources Centre, where the important collection of Syriac and Arab Christian manuscripts are now stored. [2] In the course of the scholarly sessions, the following papers were presented and discussed: Barbara Roggema, "A Christian Reading of the Qur'an: ththe Arabic Version of the Legend of Sergius-Bahira and its Use of Qur'an and Sira"; Samir K. Samir, "Muhammad as Seen by Timothy I (781-824) and some other Arab Christians"; Seta B. Dadoyan, "The Armenian Intermezzo in Bilad al-Sham: 10th to 12th Centuries"; Mor Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, "The Caliph al-Ma'mun and the Christians according to Michael the Syrian"; Sidney H. Griffith, "'Melkites', 'Jacobites' and the Christological Controversy in Arabic in Ninth Century Arabia: the Disputes of Theodore Abu Qurra and Habib ibn Khidma Abu Ra'ita"; Mark Swanson, "The Martyrdome of Abd al-Masih of Mount Sinai (Qays al-Ghassani)". Presentations were also made by Dr Lawrence I. Conrad of the Wellcome Institute, London, Professor Lucy-Anne Hunt of Manchester Metropolitan University, and Mr. Peter Starr of Cambridge University.