"The Arabs" in the ecclesiastical historians of the 4^th/5^th centuries: Effects on contemporary Christian-Muslim relations

 

 

David D Grafton (Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia)^*

Research Associate: Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Historical inquiry into the origin and history of "the Arabs" has long been a part of Western Orientalist literature. However, Christian scholars from the 7th century onward sought to understand the rise of Islam from within a Biblical framework. This article looks at how the early church historians of the 4^th and 5^th centuries viewed "the Arabs" and passed on those images to their ecclesiastical descendents. It aims to argue that the pejorative image of "the Arabs" as uncultured pagan barbarians of late antiquity was extended to Muslims in the 7^th century and transferred into the Latin derogatory term "the Saracen". This negative image has been perpetuated in Western Christian literature and continues to color Western Evangelical Christian and Dispensational images of "the Arabs". The article shows that such perceptions have as much to do with the cultural stereotypes disseminated from the ecclesiastical historians as they do with Biblical hermeneutics.

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Full text available only in PDF format.

 

 

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* The Reverend Dr David D Grafton, PhD is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations and Director of Graduate Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (USA). Professor Grafton is a member of the International Advisory Board of HTS Theological Studies and a research associate of Dr Andries G van Aarde, honorary professor at the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria (South Africa).