In sha’Allah! Religious studies building resilience in Beirut
Unpublished documents from the André Scrima & Augustin Dupré la Tour S.J. collections
Fr André Scrima (1925-2000) was a co-founder of the Institut d’Études Islamo-Chrétiennes of the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut and had an academic and spiritual involvement in the field of the interreligious dialogue in Lebanon during the Civil War. This book brings to light 50 unpublished documents from the “André Scrima & Augustin Dupré la Tour S.J. collections” regarding Scrima’s participation in the project of the Institut d’Études Islamo-Chrétiennes. The introduction examines a newly discovered text of a course delivered by Fr Scrima: “La Mort: passage ou limite?”.
“The manuscript I am about to present here belongs to the Augustin Dupré La Tour S.J. Archive, at the Résidence des Pères Jésuites in Beirut. It is a transcript of a course that Father André Scrima gave between 6 March and 29 May 1978, at the Faculty of Religious Sciences, Saint Joseph University in Beirut. The full name of the manuscript is: “Death: passage or limit? Elements of Reflection proposed by the comparative study of religions and modern thought, in the face of the Christian faith [La mort: passage ou limite? Eléments de Réflexion proposé par l’étude compare des religions et la pensée moderne, face à la foi chrétienne]”, listing 51 pages. While I was on a research mission in Beirut in February 2020, one of the fathers in charge of the archive, granted me the immense courtesy of entering and setting out to search for various manuscripts belonging to Father André Scrima, who taught many courses in Lebanon during the civil war there. I was very fortunate in that, after almost an hour of searching, I found myself in front of a box containing almost all the transcripts of Scrima’s Lebanese courses. They are all manuscripts that Scrima never wished, thought or reasoned to publish, but rather to present himself as one who reflects on a proposed theme, in a courtly atmosphere filled with extremely curious students of different backgrounds, ethnicities and faiths, mainly Muslim and Christian.” (Daniela Dumbravă)
- Daniela Dumbravă, « La mort : passage ou limite ?» Introductory note on the methodology of an unpublished lecture offered by André Scrima at the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut (1978)
- André Scrima, La mort : passage ou limite ? (cours 6 mars – 26 mai 1978)
- Correspondence André Scrima – Augustin Dupré la Tour S. J.
ISBN: 978-606-697-152-2
