Colloquium: Conversion and Martyrdom in the Islamic World

Speakers: David Bertaina (University of Illinois, Springfield) and Christian Sahner (Princeton)

The World Religions World Church area of the Notre Dame Department of Theology will present a colloquium on “Conversion and Martyrdom in the Islamic World.” At the Colloquium Profs. Christian Sahner and David Bertaina will discuss the traditions and stories of the conversion of Muslims to Christianity in the Islamic world. Sahner is the author of a Ph.D. dissertation at Princeton on the Christian literature which memorializes converts to Christianity who have been martyred for their conversion. Bertaina is currently researching the autobiography of a medieval Muslim convert to Christianity, the Egyptian Buluṣ ibn Raja (d. 1000). The colloquium will also be an occasion to discuss questions of freedom of religion in the Islamic world today. All are welcome to attend.