Discover the rare Arabic manuscripts held at the Parker Library, exploring the history behind the texts and the authors who transcribed them

Dr Alexander Van Dijk, an historian of science, will focus on the rare Arabic manuscripts held at the Parker Library, exploring the history behind these texts and the authors who transcribed them. The growth of early modern trading empires exposed European scholars to ancient Arabic manuscripts which had the power to challenge settled and new translations of the Bible. This seminar will explore the efforts of William Bedwell (1561-1632), an Anglican vicar who started his publishing career as a mathematician but ended it as an Arabist, and will compare his work with that of other contemporary Arabists, such as Thomas Erpenius (1584-1632).

About Dr Alexander Van Dijk

Alexander is an historian of science whose research and teaching focuses on the early modern and modern intersections of scientific and religious knowledges. Spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, his research provides novel perspectives on the history of empiricism, narratives of disenchantment, the religious construction of economic value, and scriptural hermeneutics. He defended his PhD at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science in November 2025, while already holding the Parker Library Early-Career Research Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he worked on the mathematical Arabism of William Bedwell (1561-1632), vicar of Tottenham. As John Henry Newman Junior Research Fellow at St Edmund's College, he is working on a monograph about John Henry Newman (1801-1890) and the Victorian sciences. In his free time, Alexander is an avid organist and countertenor.

About The Cambridge Festival of Islamic Arts

The Cambridge Festival of Islamic Arts runs from 19 to 29 November 2026, bringing performances, exhibitions, lectures, and workshops to Cambridge's historic colleges, museums, and cultural spaces. Open to everyone, the festival celebrates the beauty and diversity of Islamic arts, and, fifty years on from the landmark 1976 World of Islam Festival, carries that spirit into our own time. Find out more at cfia.co.uk (http://cfia.co.uk).

Description supplied by the event organiser.