The Fall 2010 H.A.R. Gibb Lectures, delivered by Professor Stefan Wild on October 26, 27, and 28, were featured in both the Harvard Gazette and the Harvard Crimson. Tuesday's lecture, "The History of the Qur'an: Why is there no State of the Art?" was the subject of a Gazette article by Elizabeth Gerhman entitled "Reading the Quran in Germany." Thursday's lecture, "The Qur'an Today: Why Translate the Untranslatable?" was covered in the Crimson by Rebecca D. Robbins.
CMES's H.A.R. Gibb Lectures are held once a semester, with a distinguished invited lecturer delivering a series of three lectures on Islamic history, social studies, or culture. The series was established in 1964 with funds generously donated by Mr. John Goelet, himself a student of Professor Gibb, who was Harvard's Jewett Professor of Arabic and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies from 1957 to 1966,
This fall's Gibb lecturer, Stefan Wild, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bonn. He was from 1968 to 1973 director of the German Oriental Institute in Beirut/Lebanon, from 1974-1977 Professor at the University of Amsterdam, from 1977-2002 Professor of Semitic Languages and Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn. He has written a study of Lebanese Place-Names, has worked on Classical Arabic lexicography, on Classical and Modern Arabic thought and literature and worked extensively on the Qur’anic text.
Professor Wild's lectures drew an audience of between 40 and 90 people each day, including students, faculty, researchers, and members of the public. A reception preceding Wednesday's lecture allowed graduate students and researchers to meet and talk to Professor Wild.