Apologies for Cross-Posting.
N.W. Azal; this announcement from the Society of Biblical Literature may be of interest to you.
Warm Regards,
Kathryn LaFevers Evans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elise Addington | [log in to unmask] | 404-727-3111
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE SUPPORTS EXPLORATION OF
QUR’AN SCHOLAR NETWORK
ATLANTA, May 29, 2012 – The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) has been awarded a $140,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a three-year consultation that will explore the formation of an independent network of Qur’anic scholars. This international consultation will meet to evaluate and frame a vision and mission for a professional organization, namely, a Society for Qur’anic Studies.
“Considering the enormous cultural importance and global influence of the Qur’an, a pressing need exists for an independent and self-defined association of scholars of the Qur’an to do collaborative research and to enrich and inform courses at colleges and universities,” says John F. Kutsko, executive director of SBL and director of the initiative.
The goal of the consultation is to give the academic study of the Qur’an the attention it deserves, says Kutsko, who is also affiliate professor of biblical studies at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. “By providing more opportunity for research and by bringing more conversation into the classroom, such an organization will also foster mutual understanding and appreciation in the public square.”
“The level of interest in the Qur’an and Islam in the West today is unprecedented. Questions surrounding the Qur’an and its teaching on religious, social and political issues are increasingly raised in educational institutions and popular literature,” says Emran El-Badawi, Assistant Professor of Arab Studies at the University of Houston and co-director of the consultation. “A vast and ever-growing number of websites and online forums are devoted to discussions on the meaning and interpretation of the Qur’an, but no learned society dedicated to the study of the Qur’an exists.”
A Society for Qur’anic Studies (SQS) would play an important role as a meeting place where scholars and students of the Qur’an might present their particular contributions to the study of the Qur’an, while learning from others, says El-Badawi.
At the same time, an SQS would foster the study of the text for its own sake. “The Qur’an is a work of extraordinary importance, both for its witness to the rise of Islam, and for its central place in Islamic societies through the centuries and still today,” says Gabriel Said Reynolds, Tisch Family Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame and co-director of the consultation.
The network will be an academic forum in which scholars from around the world discuss and publish scholarship on the Qur’an. “Participants will be encouraged to share diverse perspectives and cutting edge research on the Qur’an’s language, its dialogue with other scriptures, and the context in which the text arose,” notes Reynolds. “By approaching the Qur’an as an historical, literary and religious text, SQS will demonstrate the extraordinary and wide-ranging scholarly value of the Qur’an.”
“It cannot be overstated that the agenda of the scholars in this consultation will not be determined or directed by SBL,” says Kutsko. He emphasizes that SBL will serve only to provide the logistical support for Qur’anic scholars to foster their work.
“The guiding principle for the consultation is to ensure that scholars of Qur’anic Studies set their own research and publishing agendas, that our colleagues in this discipline have the resources to determine their own future, and that their impact transcends institutional and international lines,” Kutsko says.
“The founding of a new society for the study of the Qur’an will provide an institutional forum for Qur’anic Studies equal to the study of other religious texts and traditions,” says Vincent Cornell, chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University. “This establishes a base for Qur’anic Studies that hasn’t existed before, and thereby makes an important intellectual claim.”
The past two decades have witnessed tremendous growth in scholarship on the Qur’an, says Reynolds. “An annual academic forum on the Qur’an and related publications will allow scholars from a wide range of disciplines a context for collaboration and dialogue. It also will give students and informed members of the public access to a common forum where they will learn from and contribute to this rich discussion.”
###
For an Arabic version of this news release, please select this link .
The Society of Biblical Literature, founded in 1880, is the oldest and largest learned society devoted to the critical investigation of the Bible from a variety of academic disciplines. As an international organization, the Society offers its members opportunities for mutual support, intellectual growth and professional development and is a member of the American Council of Learned Societies .
The Henry Luce Foundation, established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.
----- Original Message -----
From: N.W. Azal
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 5:16 AM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Looking for a publisher for translation of al-Buni's Great Sun of Gnoses
For a text such as al-Buni's the publishing arm of the Isma'ili Institute in London may be an option for me. I have some old contacts there but the problem with the Isma'ili Institute is that it takes them forever to put anything out. You mentioned the Rasa'il of the Ikhwan al-Safa': the Institute was supposed to have put out a complete annotated translation of this text by 2008. Four years have passed, and nary a word on when this complete annotated translation is supposed to come out.
I tried SUNY some years back and they told me a complete translation of al-Buni was too ambitious for them at the time. Fons Vitae (Islamic Texts Society) may be an option. I have a few old contacts there as well.
I have some moral qualms with handing my work over to Brill, for pretty much the reasons everyone knows why.
On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 1:30 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Publishers who publish related texts, including complex translations, are of course good sources to try.
Oxford University Press' 2012 religion catalogue has a number of works from the Islamic esoteric school The Brethren of Purity and they have publish consistently on Islam.
Another publisher who publishes in Islamic mysticism and philosophy is the State University of New York Press. They brought out William Chittick's two large volumes on Ibn Arabi and they are publishing a series of works in Western, Asian and possibly Islamic esotericism.
Stanford University Press UP is collaborating with the Pritzker foundation to bring out Daniel Matt's 12 volume translation of the monumental Zohar. 5 volumes have come out in the last few years.
University of Chicago Press is also publishing another massive work, the Mahabharata.
Princeton University Press, publishing excellent books in a wide range of fields, seem to have a section for works from different cultures dealing with an inspirational focus, to which your translation might be described as belonging to.
thanks
toyin
On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Noah Gardiner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Actually, Brill's been putting out somewhat cheaper paperbacks recently. Granted, "somewhat cheaper" means in the $70-80 range, but it shows that they're at least partially aware of the pricing issue.
- Noah
On 4/21/2012 11:24 PM, Dr Dave Evans wrote:
absolutely, i am not alone in referrng to Brill's output as being among the loveliest and most interesting books that no mortal can ever afford to read. If you have a university library with funds (discuss....) or can snag a review copy then that's about your only chance to see their output. The notion of a Brill trade paperback may well be anathema to them
Dave E
On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 6:15 AM, Robert Parsons <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I've never thought of Brill in those terms but you may very well be right. Clearly, for the most part, they've priced a good many of their books so high that institutions and libraries seem to be their primary market. If they produced affordable trade editions they may actually be able to turn a profit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Christopher I. Lehrich <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sat, April 21, 2012 1:53:18 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Looking for a publisher for translation of al-Buni's Great Sun of Gnoses
If it's a sufficiently scholarly translation, you might try Brill. They publish a lot of important texts within Islamic history, and they're largely unconcerned with making money.
Chris Lehrich
On 4/20/2012 11:36 AM, N.W. Azal wrote:
The current Beirut printed edition of al-Buni and its reprints runs over 616 pages (not including index and table of contents/fihrist). The 2004 Turkish annotated translation and edition was divided into two massive volumes of over 2000/3000+ pages per volume. Serializing al-Buni is totally unfeasible, if one were to do it properly, that is. There are four books here with over 50+ chapters and numerous sub-divisions (as of the printed edition, although no consensus exists on the chapter divisions or its sub-divisions. All of these were added later). Plus there are countless diagrams, graphs and pictures. A project such as this would have to to be done much like (and even better than) how Llewelyn did Agrippa's De occulta philosophia -- and al-Buni's Great Sun of Gnoses is twice, three times Agrippa's size. The daunting scope of this project is what, I suspect, has scared off a few publishers I have been speaking to over the years.
N.W. Azal
On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 5:20 PM, Karen Gregory <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello all:
I passed the email to a friend at CUP and their response was:
"I've been finding that even books on Islamic science are rather specialized. The British have done more in your friend's area. Kegan Paul (whom we used to distribute) and Brill would be worth trying. Alternatively, the translation could be serialized in the journal he mentions. Or even excerpts, which might generate more interest among presses.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Karen
On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 10:51 AM, Daniel Harms <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I’ll add that a request for the Shams al-Maarif in English is one of the top trending and most commented posts on my blog, so there is substantial interest.
Sincerely,
Dan Harms
Bibliographer and Instructional Services Librarian
SUNY Cortland Memorial Library
P. O. Box 2000
Cortland, NY 13045
(607) 753-4042
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dr Dave Evans
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 10:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Looking for a publisher for translation of al-Buni's Great Sun of Gnoses
one of the many reasons i love this list : )
Dave E
On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 5:08 PM, mandrake <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On 20/04/2012 13:57, Lil Osborn wrote:
many thanks for plug
- yes would certainly be interested personally and professionally
mogg
contacted Nima off linst
Hi Nima, Have you tried Mandrake I know Mogg is on the list.
Much love
Lil
Sent from my iPhone so please excuse the spelling.
On 20 Apr 2012, at 11:59, "N.W. Azal" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
My attempt to find a reputable publisher for my translation of al-Buni's opus magnum, the Shams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra (The Great Sun of Gnoses), seems to be going nowhere. Generally speaking, even though there is now a journal dealing with occultism in the Islamic world, most Anglophone publishers seem to be uninterested in publishing a translation of the most comprehensive Islamic hermetic text, claiming it to be, in the words of one outfit, "too arcane an area to prove a lucrative investment"; this, while there seems to be huge demand from a market of non-Arabic readers for a translation of this specific work.
I am open to suggestions as to who to talk to if anyone has any ideas or contacts.
N.W. Azal
--
Karen Gregory
PhD candidate
Department of Sociology
The Graduate Center
City University of New York
--
Christopher I. Lehrich
Assistant Professor of Religion
Boston University
--
Noah Gardiner
Doctoral candidate, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
