Scientific Editor

Francisco del Rio is Associate Professor of Semitic languages at the University of Barcelona. The study of connections between the languages, cultures and religions in the Near East is at the core of his training and academic production. He has collaborated in different projects related to Bible, Semitic Languages and Archaeology of the Middle East, working in Aleppo from 1998 to 2011. Since 2005 he is in charge of a project centered on the study of Arabic and Syriac manuscripts of Northern Syria. Since 2012 he leads the Spanish team within a European Project on the study of Nabataean inscriptions.

Presentation

Between all the different theories about the origins of the Islamic religion, there are some works reviving the question of a link between Early Islam and Jewish-Christianity. The arguments defending this are of unequal value. On the other hand, there is a strong objection to the existence of real influences of Jewish-Christianity on Islam, namely, the allusion to the lack of geographic or chronological proximity between both phenomena. At this point, it is necessary to work on the question reformulating the concept of “Jewish-Christianity”, and from this perspective, using a new approach to the information provided by the sources.

(Source: http://www.asmeascholars.org/conference/francisco-del-rio-sanchez-university-of-barcelona/)