The research’s question here is those of relations between monotheisms, whose boundaries are not as watertight as they appear at first glance. One can say the same about the different currents, traditions or "sects" which excommunicate each other, while closely intertwining with each other. Thus are considered here the porous doctrinal boundaries between Judaism and early Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Gnosis, Mani-chaeism, Hermeticism and Philosophy, Sufism and Shi’ism, Shi’ism and Sunnism, the different branches of Shi’ism, Sufism and Jewish mysticism.

POROUS DOCTRINAL BOUNDARIES BETWEEN CHRIS-TIANITY AND ISLAM OF THE ORIGINS

| Research on the posterity of the Apocalypse of Peter in Islam

As part of the project on the sources of the Qu’ran and Shi’i Islam, Jean-Daniel Dubois is retracing the poste-rity of the Apocalypse of Peter in Islam (in particular the verses of Surah 4 on the crucifixion).

POROSITIES BETWEEN THE CURRENTS OF ISLAM AND THE OTHER RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

| Imami Shi’ism

Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi is carrying on his research on the formation, development and historical and doctrinal evolution of Imami Shi’ism, more particularly in relation to certain spiritual and intellectual traditions of Late Antiquity (such as Manicheism and Christian Gnostic movements).

| Manichaeism and Ismaili Shi’ism

Daniel De Smet is interested in Arabic texts relating to Manicheism and their close relationship, both doctrinal and terminological, with Ismaili Shi’ism. His research on Yemeni Tayyibite Ismailism will be part of an extensive monography – the first to be published in this field – which main theme will be focused on the Kitâb al-Anwâr al-latîfa of Muhammad b. Tâhir al-Hârithî (d. 1188). This research is meant to be part of a broader project on the continuity and porosity between the different Shi’i currents, with a particular attention to the influence of the traditions included in the literature of the so-called "extremists" (ghulât) on the development of Ismailism, Druzism and Nusayrism.

|Twelver Shi’ism and Zaydism

Rainer Brunner explores the relationship between two major branches of Shi’ism, namely duodecimal Shi’ism and Zaydism, in the twentieth century.

| Interaction of Twelver Shi’ism with Philosophy and Sufism in Iran

Mathieu Terrier’s field of research is the interaction of Twelver Shi’ism with philosophy and Sufism, in the Iranian world and at its borders, during the Ilkhanid period (13th -XVth), in particular in Sayyid Ḥaydar Âmolî (m. after 786/1385), Ḥâfiẓ Rajab Bursî (d. after 813/1411) and Ibn Abî Jumhûr al-Aḥsâ’î (d. before 906/1501) ; and in the Safavid period (16th-17th), with Mîr Dâmâd (d. 1041/1630), Quṭb al-Dîn Ashkevarî (d. before 1095/1684) and Muḥsin Fayḍ Kâshânî (d. 1090/1679).

JEWISH AND MUSLIM MYSTICS

Paul Fenton is currently working on shared practices and themes of intersection between Jewish and Muslim mysticism (musical traditions, visitation of tombs, circumambulations, contemplation of the Master, meditative postures, etc.). The field covered ranges from the first centuries of Islam to the Sufi brotherhoods in Morocco in modern times.