Technical information
Christian Orient
With the holdings of the Seminar for the Christian Orient and Byzantium, the DMG Library and the acquisitions of the SSG and the FID, the University and State Library possesses one of the most extensive collections on the Oriens Christianus. In addition to the library of the seminar’s founder, Alexander Böhlig, the ULB was also able to acquire the very large collection of Julius Assfalg (Munich) in 2001.
Overview
Contact person
This link takes you to a list of all the subjects that person supervises.
You can find the contact details of the relevant contact person here.
Library Collection & Acquisitions
With the holdings of the Seminar for the Christian Orient and Byzantium, the DMG Library and the acquisitions of the SSG and the FID, the University and State Library possesses one of the most extensive collections on the Oriens Christianus. In addition to the library of the seminar’s founder, Alexander Böhlig, the ULB was also able to acquire the very large collection of Julius Assfalg (Munich) in 2001.
The collection focuses on Coptology, the Syriac Churches, the Georgian Orthodox Church and Armenology. The latter is further strengthened by the profile of the MESROP Centre for Armenian Studies, which is based at the seminary. The collection focuses on theology and the study of religion, as well as on linguistics, literary studies and the history of the Oriens Christianus.
As well as printed material, the ULB also provides access to a wide range of electronic resources in the Open Access, particularly digitised classics in the field.
There are occasional gaps in the collection of Western secondary literature published between 1945 and 1990; however, these gaps are being continuously filled, insofar as they are relevant to current teaching and research. The seminar’s current collection priorities are aligned with the profile of university teaching and encompass newly published Western secondary literature. Textbooks and introductory works are available in German or English. The FID, on the other hand, acquires material predominantly in the languages of the MENA region. Byzantine Studies, on the other hand, is no longer covered in its entirety within the collection’s scope.
Research
Titles relating to *Oriens Christianus* are predominantly held in the magazine section of the Near East / Ethnology Branch Library and must be ordered from there via Ha:lit. When searching for titles in non-Latin scripts, the rules applicable in the German library system Rules on transcriptions Please note: The collection of ordered media takes place at the counter of the Steintor Campus Branch Library. With a few exceptions, items held in the stacks can be borrowed to take home. In the reading room of the Branch Library: Near East / Ethnology There is a section containing general reference works and dictionaries.
Website of the FID Centre for Middle Eastern, North African and Islamic Studies
The specialist portal Menalib provides you with an overview of the various services offered by the FID, as well as access to the printed and electronic resources on Arabic studies, Middle Eastern studies and Islamic studies acquired by the FID.
Training courses
At regular intervals, we organise library induction sessions, literature search and reference management workshops, as well as advisory services on publication strategies and research data management.
Collection of subject-related links
Due to the large number of smaller sub-disciplines, it is difficult to access all the electronically available journals in this subject area via the Electronic Journals Library (EZB). Only for the Byzantine Studies The ECB lists a number of securities.
To search for literature on the *Oriens Christianus*, there are a few specialist databases available, which you can find in the ULB’s Database Information System (DBIS). Of particular note is the Patrologia Orientalis Database. You can find the databases and trials negotiated by the FID via Menalib.
Please remember that when carrying out research from outside the university network, you must VPN- Activate the connection.
History and Profile of the Subject
The study of Oriental languages at MLU dates back to the university’s founding, although until the 19th century it was predominantly Semitic languages that were taught, with a view to supporting biblical exegesis in the field of theology. At the heart of what was then known as ‘Oriental Studies’ lay the endeavour to gain access, through the study of the languages of the Eastern Christian churches, to early Christian texts which had not survived, or had survived only in fragments, in the Western hemisphere. This included Semitic languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Ge’ez, Amharic), Coptic, Nubian, Armenian and Georgian, which were interconnected amongst themselves but, above all, linked to Greek through a vibrant tradition of translating religious texts. With the establishment of the Library of the German Oriental Society (DMG) In Halle, towards the end of the 19th century, the collection of relevant literature on the Christian East – including works in the original languages – grew significantly, and this trend has continued to the present day.
Institutionally, the subject of the Christian Orient – which today exists at only two locations in Germany – was first established at MLU in the early 1960s under the name „Seminar for Byzantine Studies“. Whilst it was originally part of the Faculty of Theology, it is now part of the Institute of Oriental Studies within the Faculty of Arts, under the name „Christian Orient and Byzantium“. From 1998 onwards, the seminar benefited from the extensive acquisitions and services provided by the Special Collection Area (SSG) ‘Near East, including North Africa’ (1998–2015), managed by the ULB, as well as from the Specialist Information Service (FID) for Middle Eastern, North African and Islamic Studies (since 2016).
At the ‘Christian Orient and Byzantium’ seminar in Halle, students can obtain a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Master of Arts (MA).