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Long-term project of the Academy of Sciences: Critical edition and comprehensive digital inventory of Arabic Old Testament manuscripts and their paratexts.
FRANKFURT. The research project “Biblia Arabica: Critical Edition and Comprehensive Digital Inventory of Arabic Old Testament Manuscripts and their Paratexts” will be included in the 2026 Academies Program funded by the federal and state governments. This was approved by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on November 28, 2025. The inter-academic project of the Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences is headed by Prof. Dr. Ronny Vollandt (LMU Munich) and Prof. Dr. Nathan Gibson (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main). The cooperation partners are LMU Munich and Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. The project will run from 2026 to 2046, i.e., over a period of 21 years.
The Biblia Arabica project is the first comprehensive study of Arabic translations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament –– a central testimony to the shared cultural heritage of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in the Near East. These translations document centuries of religious and linguistic interconnection, but are now in danger of being forgotten. Using state-of-the-art methods of digital humanities, the team will identify and describe around 8,200 manuscripts and make them digitally available through a selection of editions and English translations. The project will also investigate historical contexts, translators, and usage traditions. The aim is to preserve this unique heritage, and make it visible and accessible worldwide –– as a historical reflection of pluralistic culture and a contribution to interreligious dialogue.
Prof. Nathan Gibson explains the significance of Arabic translations of the Bible: "Because of their purpose and audience, they give a glimpse into the interests of the communities that made them, their priorities so to speak, on a spiritual, intellectual, and even material level. When did they translate very literally, in order to help readers study the original text on a word-for-word level? When did they aim for stylish, idiomatic Arabic? When did they embrace terminology that was also found in the Quran or shy away from it? Our project aims to illuminate not only these translation techniques, but also the way the physical manuscripts containing the texts were made and used."
Further information
Religious Studies at Goethe University: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/42495474/Profil
LOEWE Center Dynamics of Religion: https://dynamiken-des-religioesen.uni-frankfurt.de/
Judaic Studies at LMU Munich: https://www.naher-osten.uni-muenchen.de/institut/judaistik/index.html
Munich Research Centre for Jewish Arabic Cultures: https://www.lmu.de/jewisharabiccultures
Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz: www.adwmainz.de
Bavarian Academy of Sciences: https://badw.de/die-akademie.html
Prof. Dr. Nathan Gibson, Professor of Religious Studies (Jewish-Islamic Relations), Fachbereich 06 – Protestant Theology, Goethe University Frankfurt, E-Mail: ngibson@em.uni-frankfurt.de
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