Orientalists in NSZL – Season 2, Autumn 2017

Season 2 of cultural historical series entitled Orientalists in NSZL will begin in September 2017. Edited by László Tüske, Director-General of NSZL, Arabist, professor of Pázmány Péter Catholic University, the lecture series presenting various fields and results of Hungarian research into the East was launched last year.

Main aim of the lectures, discussions and book presentations, to be held once in a month and starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, is to provide the general public with state-of-the-art knowledge on issues covering various fields and periods, and on the latest research results by lectures delivered by internationally renowned Hungarian researchers.

We invite you to four lectures to be held during the autumn and early winter season.

On the first eve of the event series, classical philologist, Orientalist, university professor Miklós Maróth will deliver a lecture entitled Philosophical and religious ethics in the Islamic world:

Public opinion tends to identify Arabic studies with Islamic research, although Arabic-speaking Christians, who had created a bulk of Christian Arabic literature, played a great role in the formation of Islamic culture. At the same time, Christians regarded as heretics were ousted from Byzantium, who then moved to the territory of Persia, an enemy of Byzantium. Later Persia was occupied by the Arabs, so an Arabic alternative Christian theological literature was also created, which was in many respects parallel with Byzantine Greek theological literature, but, in many respects, also confuted it. Ammar al-Basri, for example, is a major source of Nestorian theology, but Arabic Nestorian theological literature confutes our views built on the basis of Greek sources. There were times when Nestorianism was spread on a greater territory than Western Christianity, and had at least as many parishes. They had been excluded on grounds of theological debates fuelled by human vanity and jealousy, and as such, were crushed by history. Today their last remnants are eliminated before our very eyes in different countries of the Islamic world.

Date: September 13, 2017, 5 p.m.
Venue: National Széchényi Library, Wing “F” of Buda Royal Palace

Facebook event

Lectures of the autumn season

• MIKLÓS MARÓTH: Philosophical and religious ethics in the Islamic world
  Wednesday September 13, 2017, 5 p.m.
• ISTVÁN HAJNAL: Shi'ites and Assassins
  Wednesday October 11, 2017, 5 p.m.
• BALÁZS MAJOR: In the footsteps of the crusaders
  Wednesday November 8, 2017, 5 p.m.
• TAMÁS IVÁNYI: Mystical Interpretations of the Koran
  Wednesday December 13, 2017, 5 p.m.

Poster of the event series

Further information: pr@oszk.hu