English
A Muslim Reads St Paul: Recording of the Symposium on Shabbir Akhtar Now Online
On 9 September 2026, the Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East (ISRME) and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI, Rome) held an online symposium on The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Routledge, 2018) by the British philosopher Shabbir Akhtar (1960-2023), the first substantial commentary on a letter of St Paul written by a Muslim scholar.
Moderated by David Marshall, Guest Editor of the journal Islamochristiana, the event opened with an introduction to Akhtar’s life and work by Martin Whittingham (Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford). Saqib Hussain (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) and Scott Ryan (Claflin University, South Carolina, United States) then offered readings of the book from a Muslim and a Christian perspective respectively. A panel of four scholars, two Muslims and two Christians, responded: Muhammad Modassir Ali (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar), Ryann Craig (Georgetown University, Washington), Gabriel Said Reynolds (University of Notre Dame, United States) and Elif Tokay (Istanbul University). More than two hundred participants from over thirty countries registered.
The symposium is part of a wider initiative of Islamochristiana, the journal published in Rome by PISAI since 1975: its volume 52, scheduled for April 2027, will bring together essays on the theme “Islam and St Paul”.
The recording is also available on the symposium page of the ISRME website.
Le 9 septembre 2026, l’Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East (ISRME) et l’Institut pontifical d’études arabes et d’islamologie (PISAI, Rome) ont consacré un colloque en ligne à l’ouvrage du philosophe britannique Shabbir Akhtar (1960-2023), The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (« Le Nouveau Testament vu par un musulman : la lettre de Paul aux Galates », Routledge, 2018), premier commentaire d’envergure d’une épître de saint Paul rédigé par un penseur musulman.
Animée par David Marshall, rédacteur invité de la revue Islamochristiana, la rencontre s’est ouverte sur une présentation de la vie et de l’œuvre d’Akhtar par Martin Whittingham (Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford). Saqib Hussain (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) et Scott Ryan (Claflin University, Caroline du Sud, États-Unis) ont ensuite proposé une lecture de l’ouvrage, l’un d’un point de vue musulman, l’autre d’un point de vue chrétien. Quatre chercheurs, deux musulmans et deux chrétiens, leur ont répondu : Muhammad Modassir Ali (Université Hamad bin Khalifa, Qatar), Ryann Craig (Université de Georgetown, Washington), Gabriel Said Reynolds (Université de Notre-Dame, États-Unis) et Elif Tokay (Université d’Istanbul). Plus de deux cents participants, venus de plus de trente pays, s’étaient inscrits.
Ce colloque s’inscrit dans un projet plus large de la revue Islamochristiana, publiée à Rome par le PISAI depuis 1975 : son volume 52, annoncé pour avril 2027, rassemblera des contributions sur le thème « L’islam et saint Paul ».
L’enregistrement (en anglais) est également accessible sur la page du colloque du site de l’ISRME.
في التاسع من سبتمبر 2026، خصص معهد دراسة الأديان في الشرق الأوسط (ISRME) والمعهد البابوي للدراسات العربية والدراسات الإسلامية (PISAI) في روما ندوةً عبر الإنترنت لكتاب الفيلسوف البريطاني شبير أختر (1960-2023) «العهد الجديد بعيون مسلمة: رسالة بولس إلى أهل غلاطية» (روتليدج، 2018)، وهو أول شرح مستفيض لإحدى رسائل القديس بولس يضعه مفكر مسلم:
The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Routledge, 2018)
وقد أدار اللقاء ديفيد مارشال، المحرر الضيف لمجلة «إسلاموكريستيانا»، فافتُتح بعرض لحياة أختر وأعماله قدّمه مارتن ويتينغهام (مركز الدراسات الإسلامية المسيحية في أكسفورد). ثم تناول الكتاب بالقراءة كلٌّ من ساقب حسين (جامعة لويولا ماريماونت في لوس أنجلوس) من منظور إسلامي، وسكوت رايان (جامعة كلافلين في كارولاينا الجنوبية بالولايات المتحدة) من منظور مسيحي، قبل أن يعقّب عليهما أربعة باحثين، مسلمان ومسيحيان: محمد مدثر علي (جامعة حمد بن خليفة في قطر)، ورايان كريغ (جامعة جورجتاون في واشنطن)، وغابريل سعيد رينولدز (جامعة نوتردام بالولايات المتحدة)، وإليف توكاي (جامعة إسطنبول). وقد سجّل لحضورها أكثر من مئتي مشارك من أكثر من ثلاثين بلداً.
وتندرج هذه الندوة ضمن مشروع أوسع لمجلة «إسلاموكريستيانا» التي يصدرها المعهد في روما منذ عام 1975، إذ سيضم عددها الثاني والخمسون، المرتقب صدوره في أبريل 2027، دراسات حول موضوع «الإسلام والقديس بولس».
والتسجيل (باللغة الإنكليزية) متاح كذلك على صفحة الندوة في موقع معهد دراسة الأديان في الشرق الأوسط.
Author(s)
Resources of this researcher
publication
Islamic Lessons for Christians
Islamic Lessons for Christians (Oneworld Publications, 2026) is the latest book by Gabriel Said Reynolds, Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. What, if...
publication
Christianity and the Qur’an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia
Published on 2 September 2025 by Yale University Press, Christianity and the Qur’an: The Rise of Islam in Christian Arabia by Gabriel Said Reynolds, Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theolog...
videos
The History of the Quran according to Muslim Sources
Professors Shady Nasser from Harvard and Gabriel Reynolds from the University of Notre Dame explore the history of the revelation and compilation of the Quran according to traditional Muslim source...
videos
Jesus in Recent Qur’an Translations | The Jesus of the Qur’an vs. the Jesus of the New Testament
In this video, Gabriel Said Reynolds discusses the presentation of Jesus in the Qur'an and how it is interpreted and rendered in English by recent translations of the Qur'an. I show that recent tra...
videos
Online Symposium: Islamic Origins & Christian Theological Engagement with Islam
Panelists David Marshall, University of Bern (Moderator), Guest Editor of Islamochristiana Martin Accad, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary Daniel Brown, ISRME Diego Sarrio Cucarella, PISAI Sa...
article
Original Sin and the Qur’an
The present article addresses the common view that the Qur’an has no doctrine of original sin. It begins by defining original sin with attention to the Bible and Christian tradition. Thereafter the...
videos
Islam and the Salvation of non- Muslims: The Qur’anic Perspective
"At the Pluriel conference on “Islam and Otherness” I will argue the Qur’an’s emphasis on divine freedom provides an opening for inclusivism. The Qur’an emphasizes God’s mercy, using al-Raḥmān as a...
videos
God of mercy and vengeance
First International Congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam in Europe and Lebanon (PLURIEL): theological axis Speaker: Gabriel Said Reynolds, Professor of Islamology and Theolo...
Resources related to
Muslim-Christian Dialogue
article
Islamic Visions of Jesus: Revelation, Prophecy, and Eschatology
- Antonio Cuciniello
Abstract Published in the collective volume Jerusalem in Memory and Eschatology: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Visions of the Past and Future of Jerusalem, edited by Emma O'Donnell Polyakov (Blo...
article
Questions on Islamic Soteriology in Early Islam
- Jaume Flaquer Garcia
Abstract Published under the original title "Cuestiones sobre la soteriología islámica en el islam primitivo" in the collective volume Riesgos y fidelidades. Miradas teológicas para un mundo plu...
article
The Uncreated Muslim Qur’an and the Eternally Begotten Christian Logos
- Jaume Flaquer Garcia
Abstract Published under the original title "El Corán musulmán increado y el Logos cristiano eternamente engendrado" in the monographic section Logos, Agape, Sarx. Una dialógica cristiana of iss...
article
The First Council of Nicaea (325) and the Christian-Muslim Dialogue on God’s Unity and Trinity
- Dirk Ansorge
Abstract Published under the original title "Das erste Konzil von Nizäa (325) und der christlich-muslimische Dialog über Gottes Einheit und Dreifaltigkeit" in issue 2/2025 of CIBEDO-Beiträge, th...
article
Christian-Muslim Relations Today: Some Reflections
- David Marshall
Abstract Published as "Christian-Muslim Relations Today: Some Reflections" in a special issue of The Muslim World marking the 50th anniversary of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center (Hartford), th...
article
Ḥaydar Ibrāhīm ʿAlī, a Thinker on Multiple Fronts
- Guy-Raymond Sarkis
Abstract Ḥaydar Ibrāhīm ʿAlī, a Sudanese sociologist of religion, is a committed intellectual whose writings both arise from and respond to the challenges of his society. He calls for a liberati...
article
Literary, Semiotic and Hermeneutical Approaches to the Qur’an in the Modern Period
- Wasim Salman
Abstract In this contribution to issue 51 (Mélanges) of the journal Islamochristiana, published in Italian as Approcci letterari, semiotici ed ermeneutici al Corano nel periodo moderno, Wasim Sa...
videos
A Muslim Reads St Paul: Recording of the Symposium on Shabbir Akhtar Now Online
- David Marshall
- Gabriel Said Reynolds
On 9 September 2026, the Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East (ISRME) and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI, Rome) held an online symposium on The New...