Symposium on Cusanus, the Qur’an, and the Cribratio Alkorani

         

      

       The Watanabe Lecture

and Symposium on Cusanus, the Qur’an,

   and the Cribratio Alkorani

September 29-30, 2018

         

          United Lutheran Seminary

                        (New Name, Same Location)

              Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

 

       In Cooperation with the American Cusanus Society and the International

                                Seminar on Pre-Reformation Theology

     Watanabe Lecturer: Walter Andreas Euler, Trier

       

              Banquet program: Cabaret Night with Broadway’s Bruce Moore

In addition to the annual Watanabe Lecture, we gather for a symposium focusing on the Cribratio Alkorani (1460-61), Cusanus’ detailed critique of the Qur’an. Here Nicholas undertakes a project unique in the fifteenth century: to discern Gospel truths within the Qur’an itself. We shall discuss this project within Cusanus’ career and alongside works by his contemporaries and later thinkers.

This symposium, as well as several previous Gettysburg Conferences and the Bond-Watanabe Collection, now one of the largest Cusanus collections in the United States, is made possible by the Kiyomi Koizumi Watanabe Fund in memory of Morimichi Watanabe. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge financial support from the American Cusanus Society and facilities and staff assistance from our host, United Lutheran Seminary.

PROGRAM (Tentative)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 (for early arrivals)

3:30 p.m. Battlefield Tour Valentine Commons

5:30 p.m. Social Hour  Singmaster Center

7:00 p.m. Dinner (on our own)              Appalachian Brewing Company

Singmaster residents: Gather in the foyer, 6:45 p.m.

Motel guests: restaurant is two doors north.

9:00 p.m. Social Hour   Singmaster Center

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

8:30 to 9:30 a.m. On campus guests: Breakfast on our own           

Motel guests: In the motel

9:30 to noon Registration and Refreshments Valentine Commons/ Coffee Shop

10:45 a.m. Session I  

Chair: John Monfasani, SUNY University at Albany          

Cusanus, the Qur’an, and the Cribratio Alkorani            

“Cusanus’ Use of Qur'an in Cribratio” or “The Missionary Purpose of          Cribratio”                                                                                                 Pim Valkenberg, Catholic University of America

“Cribratio’s Connections to The Religious Concordance”                 Joshua Hollmann, Concordia College, New York

“A New Set of Glosses on the Qur’an”                                                                      José Martinez Gázquez, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

12:00 p.m. Lunch                  Refectory

1:30 p.m.                     Session II           Library Lecture Room Chair:                                                                                                               

Contemporaries of Cusanus                                                                                                                 

“Did Nicholas of Cusa Talk to Muslims? Revisiting Cusanus’ Sources for Cribratio Alkorani and Interfaith Dialogue”                                     Maarten Halff, United Nations, New York

“John of Segovia I”                                                                                             Anne Marie Wolf, University of Maine at Farmington

“John of Segovia II”                                                                                                            Jesse Mann, Drew University

3:00 p.m. Coffee Break Coffee Shop

 

3:30 p.m.            The 2018 Watanabe Lecture Valentine Auditorium                             

Chair: Donald F. Duclow, Gwynedd Mercy University

“Nicholas of Cusa and Martin Luther on Islam”

Walter Andreas Euler, Faculty of Theology, University of Trier

4:30 p.m.            Reception           Pioneer Room, Library

Recent Acquisitions, Bond-Watanabe Collection

5:00 p.m. Free Time

7:00 p.m.            Candlelight Banquet         Aberly Room, Valentine Hall

Music: “Cabaret on the Ridge”

Bruce Moore, Veteran Broadway Vocalist

9:00 p.m.            Social Hour      Singmaster Center

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

7:00 a.m.            Mass      St. Francis Xavier Church

7:30 a.m. Breakfast On-campus guests: Refectory

Motel guests: In the motel

8:15 a.m. Ecumenical Service of Word and Sacrament                        Chapel

9:15 a.m. Session III           Library Lecture Room

Chair: Jason Aleksander, National University

Working Session on Texts of Cusanus and Torquemada

Led by Rita George-Tvrtkovic, Benedictine University; and

           Thomas M. Izbicki, Rutgers University

Cusanus, selections from the Cribratio Alkorani on paradise

Juan de Torquemada, selections from “On the Errors of Mohammed”

10:15 a.m. Coffee Break         Library Rotunda

10:45 a.m. Session IV            Library Lecture Room Chair:

Cusanus and Later Thought on Islam 

“Campanella”                                                                                                     Paul Richard Blum, Loyola University of Maryland

“Erasmus”                                                                                                       Nathan Ron, University of Haifa

12:00 noon Close

Departures begin at 12:15 p.m. Library, Singmaster, Motel

12:30 p.m. Lunch (Optional)                   

* * * * * * *

The Committee for the 2018 Celebration: Donald F. Duclow, Rita George-Tvrtkovic and Thomas M. Izbicki (co-chairs). Arrangements: Gerald Christianson. Registrars: Margaret Folkemer, Ashlyn Lizska