The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700-1700: An Anthology of Sources

by Samuel Noble, Alexander Treiger

Overview

All of the texts chosen for this volume are interesting in their own right, but the collection of these sources into a single volume, with helpful introductions and bibliographies, makes this book an invaluable resource for the study of Arabic Christianity and, indeed, the history of Christianity more broadly. ― Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies

Arabic was among the first languages in which the Gospel was preached. The Book of Acts mentions Arabs as being present at the first Pentecost in Jerusalem, where they heard the Christian message in their native tongue. Christian literature in Arabic is at least 1,300 years old, the oldest surviving texts dating from the 8th century. Pre-modern Arab Christian literature embraces such diverse genres as Arabic translations of the Bible and the Church Fathers, biblical commentaries, lives of the saints, theological and polemical treatises, devotional poetry, philosophy, medicine, and history. Yet in the Western historiography of Christianity, the Arab Christian Middle East is treated only peripherally, if at all.

The first of its kind, this anthology makes accessible in English representative selections from major Arab Christian works written between the eighth and eigtheenth centuries. The translations are idiomatic while preserving the character of the original. The popular assumption is that in the wake of the Islamic conquests, Christianity abandoned the Middle East to flourish elsewhere, leaving its original heartland devoid of an indigenous Christian presence. Until now, several of these important texts have remained unpublished or unavailable in English. Translated by leading scholars, these texts represent the major genres of Orthodox literature in Arabic.

Noble and Treiger provide an introduction that helps form a comprehensive history of Christians within the Muslim world. The collection marks an important contribution to the history of medieval Christianity and the history of the medieval Near East.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875807010
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2014
Series:	NIU Series in Orthodox Christian Studies
Edition description:	1
Pages:	355
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Samuel Noble is a doctoral candidate in religious studies at Yale University.

Alexander Treiger is associate professor in the Department of Classics and Program in Religious Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Table of Contents

Foreword Metropolitan Ephrem (Kyriakos) vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction Samuel Noble Alexander Treiger 3

Chapter 1 An Apology for the Christian Faith Mark N. Swanson 40

Chapter 2 Theodore Abu Qurra John C. Lamoreaux 60

Chapter 3 The Disputation of the Monk Abraham of Tiberias Krisztina Szilágyi 90

Chapter 4 Hagiography John C. Lamoreaux 112

Chapter 5 Agapius of Manbij John C. Lamoreaux 136

Chapter 6 Sulayman al-Ghazzi Samuel Noble 160

Chapter 7 ?Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki Samuel Noble 171

Chapter 8 The Noetic Paradise Alexander Treiger 188

Chapter 9 Agathon of Horns Alexander Treiger 201

Chapter 10 Paul of Antioch Sidney H. Griffith 216

Chapter 11 Patriarch Macarius Ibn al-Za'im Nikolaj Serikoff 236

Chapter 12 Paul of Aleppo Ioana Feodorov 252

Notes 277

A Bibliographical Guide to Arab Orthodox Christianity 339

About the Contributors 351

Indexes 353

What People are Saying About This

David Thomas

This book is impressive in both content and presentation. The editors have marshaled a team of leading scholars in the field to produce a series of translations of significant Christian Arabic works, and have added an introduction that forms a comprehensive history of Christians within the Muslim world. They have produced a book that will be of immense help to the further understanding of Eastern Christianity and the history of relations between Christians and Muslims.

Stephen J. Shoemaker

This collection makes an extremely important contribution to the history of medieval Christianity and the history of the medieval Near East, inasmuch as such Arabic Orthodox materials are not widely available. There is, so far as I am aware, no other comparable book on this subject in English.

Editorial Reviews

This volume reveals a strain of Christianity that has been scarcely known for far too long. It is also timely, in that it opens up a world that, once simply forgotten, is now under threat of extinction as never before.

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations

The Orthodox Church in the Arab World 700–1700 presents an excellent introduction to an unknown field of Christian literature.

Journal of the American Oriental Society

All of the texts chosen for this volume are interesting in their own right, but the collection of these sources into a single volume, with helpful introductions and bibliographies, makes this book an invaluable resource for the study of Arabic Christianity and, indeed, the history of Christianity more broadly.

Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies

These translations give a valuable insight into a world that is largely hidden from view. They are as welcome as they are readable.

Catholic Historical Review

The Orthodox Church in the Arab World 700-1700 presents an excellent introduction to an unknown field of Christian literature.

-- "Journal of the American Oriental Society"

All of the texts chosen for this volume are interesting in their own right, but the collection of these sources into a single volume, with helpful introductions and bibliographies, makes this book an invaluable resource for the study of Arabic Christianity and, indeed, the history of Christianity more broadly.

-- "Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies"

These translations give a valuable insight into a world that is largely hidden from view. They are as welcome as they are readable.

-- "Catholic Historical Review"

This volume reveals a strain of Christianity that has been scarcely known for far too long. It is also timely, in that it opens up a world that, once simply forgotten, is now under threat of extinction as never before.

-- "Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations"

From the Publisher

"This volume reveals a strain of Christianity that has been scarcely known for far too long. It is also timely, in that it opens up a world that, once simply forgotten, is now under threat of extinction as never before."

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations

"This volume reveals a strain of Christianity that has been scarcely known for far too long. It is also timely, in that it opens up a world that, once simply forgotten, is now under threat of extinction as never before."

Islam and ChristianMuslim Relations