Apologetic aspects of Christian Arabic literature of the Abbasid period

As a consequence of the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries, many Christians found themselves under Muslim rule. From the time of the Abbasid ‘revolution’ (ca. 750) onwards, we have evidence of Christians producing texts in Arabic. This body of textual material has only rarely caught the attention of modern scholars. By doing a comparative study of these Christian-Arabic texts, the project aims at enriching the understanding of (the history of) Muslim-Christian relations, as well as contributing to the theoretical discussion on the interplay between apologetics and identity formation.

The project specifically deals with the matter of how Christians living under Muslim rule in the Abbasid Period (750-1258) presented and defended Christianity. By comparing the Christian-Arabic writings of the period in terms of apologetic aspects, it discusses if and how these texts (a) were aimed at influencing the Muslim rulers or the Muslim culture; (b) provided Christian readers with strategies for coming to terms with Muslim rule or culture; (c) indicate the formation of new Christian identities under Muslim rule.

As for the methodological and theoretical framework of the study, it combines literary criticism and theories of identity formation. Thus the study draws on what has been the dominant perspective in recent years in the study of apologetic writings of the Greco-Roman World of Antiquity. Although writings of the ancient Greco-Roman World and the Arabic World of the Abbasid period differ regarding dating and geographical setting, the emergence of the texts shares a lot of similarities. In both cases the writings emerged in a multicultural milieu, and the texts were written as a defence for or in favour of a religion, in a situation where the religion of the author differed from the religion of the ruling power.