The Development of Testimony Collections in Early Christian Apologetics with Islam
edition published: 2019-10-21Z
availability: Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

David Bertaina, David Thomas, The Development of Testimony Collections in Early Christian Apologetics with Islam, https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/IMXCU2DV, https://www.zotero.org/groups/biblia_arabica/items/IMXCU2DV, https://www.zotero.org/groups/538215/items/IMXCU2DV, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2007, 151-174, Examines the testimony collections in the Arabic version of the debate between Timothy I. and the Caliph al-Mahdī, in Theodore Abū Qurra's debate with Caliph al-Maʾmūn and the anonymous <i>On the Triune Nature of God</i> (MS Sinai Arabic 154). Arabic testimony collections are compared to the earlier Greek and Latin traditions. The study concludes that the apologetic strategies of these earlier traditions are adapted to the new challenge of Islam. Furthermore, polemical texts increasingly draw on quotations from the Quran. The material under study does not point in the direction of already existing Arabic testimony collections. Quoting Gen 1:26; 49:10; 49:10-11; Ex 15:25; Num 21:9; Jer 1:5; 11:19; 31:31-34; Joel 2:28-29; 2:30-31; 2:31; 2:32a: Hab 2:3; 2 Sam 7:12; 22:10-11; 1 Chr 17:11; Mal 4:4-5 (3:23-4); Ps 2:7; 2:7-8; 15:10; 21(22):17-19; (16-18); 32(33):6; 46:6; 67:19; 72:17; 79(80):2; 80:1; 85(86):12; 103(104):30; 107:20; 108:3; 117(118):26-7; 118(119):89; Prov 3:12; Lam 3:4; 30:30; Is 7:14a; 7:14b; 7:14; 9:6; 21:2; 21:7; 21:9; 35:3-4; 35:4-6; 35:5-6; 40:8; 50:6; 53:5; 53:8; 63:9; 64:1; Dan 2:32-33; 2:34-35; 7:5-6; 7:13-14; 9:25; 9:26; Zech 9:9; 13:6-7; Matt 3:11; 6:9; 11:13; 28:19; 27:51-52; Mk 13:25; Lk 1:13-17; 3:16; Jn 1:1; 1:4; 1:27; 1:29; 10:17-18; 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-15; 16:14; 17:5; 16:20; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor 2:10; 2 Cor 4:6.

Bertaina, David. “The Development of Testimony Collections in Early Christian Apologetics with Islam.” In The Bible in Arab Christianity, edited by David Thomas, 151–74. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2007.