|
|
|
|
 | The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: |
Amid so much twenty-first-century talk of a "Christian-Muslim divide"--and the attendant controversy in some Western countries over policies toward minority Muslim communities--a historical fact has gone unnoticed: for more than four hundred years beginning in the mid-seventh century, some 50 percent of the world's Christians lived and worshipped under Muslim rule. Just who were the Christians in the Arabic-speaking milieu of Mohammed and the Qur'an? The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque is the first book-length discussion in English of the cultural and intellectual life of such Christians indigenous to the Islamic world. Sidney Griffith offers an engaging overview of their initial reactions to the religious challenges they faced, the development of a new mode of presenting Christian doctrine as liturgical texts in their own languages gave way to Arabic, the Christian role in the philosophical life of early Baghdad, and the maturing of distinctive Oriental Christian denominations in this context. Offering a fuller understanding of the rise of Islam in its early years from the perspective of contemporary non-Muslims, this book reminds us that there is much to learn from the works of people who seriously engaged Muslims in their own world so long ago. Sidney H. Griffith is professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America. He is the author of Arabic Christianity in the Monasteries of Ninth-Century Palestine and The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic. "This splendid book provides a revelatory account of those Christians--and they were legion--who lived under Islamic rule between the time of Mohammed and the Mongol conquests in the Near East during the 13th century....Through a close reading of the texts they produced, Griffith explores the unique theological and ecclesiological visions fashioned by these often unsung Christians."--Jonathan Wright, Catholic Herald "In [The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque], Griffith sets out to correct important facets of the history of Muslim/Christian interaction. One of the most fascinating aspects of this history is the way in which the Arabization of oriental Christians provided them with a new language and a new cultural medium in which to rearticulate doctrines that they considered central to their faith."--M. Swartz, CHOICE Endorsements: "The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque is a book of uncommon learning and profound insight. The clarity of understanding, conciseness of presentation, and lucid command of deeper ramifications are qualities that only years of intimacy with the material can yield. This is a book that few scholars could have produced. It is also acutely timely. Scholars and students, as well as interested general readers, will find this book fruitful, engaging, challenging, and rewarding."--Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University "In this book, one of the most prominent scholars in the field builds on his previous work to tell the story of the formation and development of Arab Christianity. Sidney Griffith forcefully argues for the unique character of the Christian Arabic profile. Such a book is badly needed. Reflecting the author's erudition and replete with insights, it opens the rich cultural world of the Arab Middle Ages to nonspecialists."--Sarah Stroumsa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix Series:
Subject Areas: | |||||
Prices subject to change without notice File created: 8/21/2008 | |||||
Questions and comments to: webmaster@press.princeton.edu | |||||