BeInf – Beyond Influence

The Connected Histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity

2022 – 2027

‘BeInf – Beyond Influence: The Connected Histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity’ is a five-year research project headed by Professor Aaron Butts of the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies at Universität Hamburg.

The BeInf Project interrogates the connected histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity in their various complexities and nuances. It accomplishes this task through a series of five discrete, but complementary case studies addressing: 1. Aramaic loanwords in Ethiopic; 2. the so-called Nagran Episode, in which the sixth-century Aksumite ruler Kaleb intervened on behalf of Syriac Christians who were being persecuted in the Arabian peninsula; 3. the Ethiopic Abba Gärima Gospels, including especially their illumination programs; 4. the hagiography of the Nine Saints, who are alleged to have brought about a “second christianisation” of Ethiopia in the late fifth and early sixth centuries; 5. the Ethiopic reception of Syriac literature. Through these case studies, BeInf aims to chart an innovative path forward in moving beyond influence as the primary analytical category for analysing connections, contacts, exchanges, as well as the actors and cultural brokers responsible for them.

For more information visit the project website.

The BeInf project is funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Union (ERC, BeInf, no. 101044300).