Dr. Miriam Lindgren Hjälm is Academic Dean and Senior Lecturer.
She has a PhD from Uppsala University and did her post doc at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. She has focused her research on Bible reception among Christian Arabic speakers, translation techniques, manuscript studies, and the interaction between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Dr. Lindgren Hjälm currently has a research project (financed by Vetenskapsrådet) connected to the British Library called, “A Christian Bible in a Muslim Context”, where she works with Christian Arabic texts. She is also part of a research program at Uppsala University (financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) called ‘Retracing Connections. Byzantine Storyworlds in Greek, Arabic, Georgian and Old Slavonic (c. 950 – c. 1100)’.
Email
miriam.hjalm@sanktignatios.org
Dr. Lindgren Hjälm has an MA in oriental studies from Uppsala and a one-year program degree from the Hebrew University. She completed her PhD thesis in Semitic Languages at Uppsala University in 2015. Her thesis, Christian Arabic Versions of Daniel (Brill: 2016), focused on translation techniques and manuscript descriptions in Arabic versions of Daniel. The methods used in translation were based on a study of Judaeo-Arabic translations by her supervisor, Prof. Meira Polliack (Tel Aviv University). In 2015 she moved to Munich (Ludwig-Maximilian University) and joined the German-Israeli Biblia Arabica project where she continued to locate, systematize, and analyze Christian Arabic Bible translations (https://biblia-arabica.com/).
Dr. Lindgren Hjälm has previously taught Hebrew at Uppsala University and at Ludwig Maximilian University, and has taught other Semitic languages, such as Syriac and Arabic, as well as courses relating the history and cultures of the users of these languages.
She currently teaches courses in Biblical Studies, including Bible Reception, and in History of Religion, especially Judaism and Islam.
Dr. Lindgren Hjälm´s current research project is entitled “A Christian Bible in a Muslim Context” which is funded by the Swedish Research Council (2017–01630). The aim of the project is to study various aspects of “Bible Theology” in early Christian Arabic texts, including bible commentaries and the development of the biblical canon. In addition, she is interested in Jewish-Christian relations under Islam and how such contacts are expressed in polemical and exegetical tracts (https://www.swecris.se/betasearch/details/project/201701630VR?lang=en)
In addition, she is involved in the project “Retracing Connections: Byzantine Storyworlds” sponsored by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, at Uppsala University, where she, among other things, works on rewritings of biblical stories in Theodore of Edessa. (https://www.rj.se/en/anslag/2019/retracing-connections-byzantine-storyworlds-in-greek-arabic-georgian-and-old-slavonic-c.-950–c.-1100/).
Edited Volumes
Strangers in the Land: Traveling Texts, Imagined Others, and Captured Souls in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions, edited by Miriam Lindgren Hjälm and Marzena Zawanowska (Studies on the Children of Abraham; Leiden: Brill, in print).
The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies: In Honour of Sebastian P. Brock on His 80th Birthday: The Legacy of Sebastian Brock & the Future of Syriac Studies, Sigtuna, Sweden, 12-15 June 2018, edited by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Miriam L. Hjälm, and Robert A. Kitchen (Eastern Christian Studies 33; Leiden: Brill, 2023).
Articles in Journals
“Qurʾānic Intertextuality in Early Christian Arabic Bible Translations,” The Bible Translator. forthcoming
“A Paleographical Study of Early Christian Arabic Manuscripts,” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 17 (2020): 37–77. Open Access: https://www.uco.es/revistas/index.php/cco/article/view/1148
Articles in Collective Volumes
“Blessed is the one who kills infants,” in Strangers in the Land: Traveling Texts, Imagined Others, and Captured Souls in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions, edited by Miriam Lindgren Hjälm and Marzena Zawanowska (Leiden: Brill, in print).
with Peter Tarras “Early Christian Arabic Colophons from the Palestinian Monasteries: Edition with Translation and Commentary,” in Literary Snippets: A Colophon Reader, edited by George Kiraz and Sabine Schmidtke (Gorgia Press), forthcoming.
with Peter Tarras. “Early Christian Arabic Colophons from the Palestinian Monasteries: A Comparative Analysis,” in Literary Snippets: Colophons Across Space and Time, edited by George Kiraz and Sabine Schmidtke (Gorgia Press, 2023), 119–168). Open Access https://www.gorgiaspress.com/images/uploaded/Gorgias…
“Lost and Found: Christian Arabic Membra Disjecta in the Mingana Collection,” in Lost and Bound: Reconstruction Techniques in Fragmentary Manuscripts of the Jewish and Christian Tradition, edited by Israel Muñoz Gallarte & Marzena Zawanowska (Editorial Sindéresis: Madrid, 2022), 125–148.
“Transposed and Thriving: Bible Reception in the Prophetologion,” in Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity. Essays in Honour of Anders Ekenberg’s 75th Birthday, edited by Barbara Crostini, Carl-Johan Berglund, and James Kelhoffer, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 177 (Leiden: Brill, 2022), 435–463. Open Access: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004522053/BP000017.xml
Overview Articles in Encyclopedia (ca. 15-20 pp)
“4.1.3.2.11Arabic Palaeography,” in The Textual History of the Bible, vol. 3: A Companion to Textual Criticism. Edited by Armin Lange, et al. Leiden: Brill, submitted.
With M. Polliack. “Arabic, Research History,” in The Textual History of the Bible, vol. 3: A Companion to Textual Criticism. Edited by A. Lange (general editor); M. Henze (volume editor). (Leiden: Brill, 2022).
Scholarly Blogs
“Christian Bibles in Muslim Robes with Jewish Glosses: Arundel Or.15 and other Medieval Coptic Arabic Bible Translations at the British Library,” Published at the British Library Blog, April 2022.
International Conference Presentations
“Scripture Beyond Words,” discussion session on the MA program “Lived Scripture” in Helsinki, April 24 2023 (zoom).
“Translation Techniques in Christian Arabic Psalm Renditions”, paper presented at the conference Bible and Arab Christianity: Translation, Interpretation, and Context, organised by Bishara Ebeid, 28–29 April 2023 at the University of Venice.
“Medieval Jewish and Christian Usage of Biblical Wisdom in Arabic: Jewish-Christian Relations and their shared scriptural heritage in Islamic lands,” public lecture in the Jewish, Christians, and Muslims in Conversation of Scripture panel debate, at Lund University 10 May 2023, organised by Karin Zetterholm.
“The Arabic Translation of 2 Baruch,” presented at the conference New Perspectives on Apocalyptic Literature: The Case of 2 Baruch, organised by Matthias Henze at Tübingen University, 12-15 June, 2023.
“BL, Arundel Or. 15 – A very modern mediaeval Bible project,” presented at the conference International Workshop on Arabic Biblical Interpretation, at Ludwig-Maximilian Universität, 2021 July 2023, organised by Joseph Faragalla.
“Joseph and Potiphar’s wife at the Caliph’s Court: Two Jewish-Christian-Muslim Encounters in the Byzantine Hagiography Life of Theodore of Edessa,” presented at the conference Judaism and Trajectories of Religious Interaction: From the New Testament to the Qur’an, in Lund September 11–13, 2023, organised by Karin Zetterholm and Wally Cirafesi. RJ
Dr. Lindgren Hjälm is currently chair for the board of Saint Anna of Novgorod’s Orthodox Church in Stockholm and Uppsala.
