News & Media

April 26, 2012
Scientific Day "Christianity, Inspiring Literature"

On April 26, 2012, The Department of French Language and Literature of the Faculty of Letters at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik organized a Scientific Day on the theme of "Christianity, Inspiring Literature", under the patronage of Rev. Fr. Karam Rizk, Dean of the Faculty, and under the scientific direction of Prof. Nicole Saliba Chalhoub, Head of the organizing Department.

Rev. Fr. Karam Rizk pointed out in his opening speech that “… for more than two millenniums, literature inspired from Christianity continues to bloom. The proof is that we are gathering here today, not only as guardians of this religion, but also as custodians of a rich heritage whose preservation and fructification are a heavy responsibility that we should assume”. Fr. Rizk highlighted the fact that Christian literature enriched all languages, and, when it didn’t find one, it created new languages; therefore enlarging the scope of linguistic groups. It influenced prose as well as poetry and went through all the movements; from classicism, romanticism and symbolism to ultra-modernism. “What does literature inspired from Christianity mean?” Fr. Karam questioned. He answered by stating that it is the kind of literature that is interested in the integrity of the human being with all his potential and competence, in his good and bad days. It is the kind of literature that gives meaning to history or clarifies its meaning. Fr. Rizk concluded that people of the 3rd millennium need literature in order to liberate them from evil and to overthrow dictators. Literature purifies the spirit and gets rid of selfishness and its followers.

The scientific day included twelve speeches presented by professors from USEK, the Lebanese University, University of Paris 1 Pantheon - Sorbonne and the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence, France. The speakers were respectively; Rev. Fr. Karam Rizk, Prof. Mireille Issa, Prof. Tanios Njeim, Dr. Naji Kozeily, Prof. Sophie Salloum, Dr. Samar Hage, Prof. Nicole Saliba Chalhoub, Mr. Wissam Mouawad, Dr. Najib Abdo, Dr. Nada Mouawad, Dr. Christelle Stephan Hayek, and Prof. Raymond Trémolières.

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