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

• Author: Teule, Herman
• Position: Book review

The Orthodox Church in the Arab World 700-1700: An Anthology of Sources. Edited by SAMUEL NOBLE AND ALEXANDER TREIGER. Orthodox christian studies. Dekalb, III.: NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2014. Pp. viii + 375. $35 (paper).

This work begins with an excellent introduction to Christian Arabic (CA) literature followed by a representative selection of texts translated into English but originally written in Arabic by Orthodox (Chalcedonian) authors working in roughly Palestine, Sinai, and the wider region of the Patriarchate of Antioch. The time frame is between 700 c.e., the beginnings of Islam, and 1700, the split of the Antiochian patriarchate into an orthodox and a "uniate" faction, united with Rome (1724). In a general introduction, the editors--who, I am happy to read, "worked joyfully" (p. vii)--point to the fact that, in the eyes of many, "Arab" is considered synonymous with Muslim, which explains why studies on Arab Christianity are often absent from general handbooks on Orthodox Christianity. Only in recent years do they see some improvement, and this work is clearly meant to remedy this situation. They then proceed with a historical outline of Arab Christianity, beginning with some brief remarks on pre-Islamic Arab Christianity and on the Christological discussions of the fifth to seventh centuries, which led to the creation of various "national" Churches as opposed to the Imperial Orthodox Church of Constantinople. I especially appreciated the nuanced manner in which they discuss, in one or two pages, the theological subtleties of Ephesus and Chalcedon. Subsections follow, arranged according to the historical development of the Islamic world, beginning with the period of Muhammad and continuing with the great dynasties (Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, etc., up to the Ottomans) as background to the internal life of the Orthodox Church, the genesis of a Christian Arabic literature, the coining of a new theological vocabulary in Arabic, and the response to Islam.

The twelve chapters, arranged in chronological order and discussing CA authors or texts, follow a similar pattern: a brief introduction, followed by an annotated translation of a CA text and some suggestions for further reading. The content is so rich that it is worthwhile to give a brief presentation of the individual chapters.

The first chapter (by Mark Swanson) gives selections from an anonymous apologetic text (eighth century), addressed to Muslims and probably...