Defending the Messiah in the Islamic Milieu: A Critical Analysis and Translation of the Earliest Arabic-Christian Apology

How did Christians living under the hegemony of the Muslims respond to the rise of Islam? This dissertation offers the first complete English translation and textual analysis of the earliest Arabic-Christian apologetic work to engage Islam. Chapter 1 serves as a compass for the work, outlining the thesis, methodology, limitations, and anticipated contributions that I aim to make in the work. After charting the path, in chapter 2, I analyze every work written on the manuscript since its rediscovery in the 1890s. This includes an outline and evaluation of unique arguments made by other scholars. In chapter 3, I survey the historical, theological, and dialogical contexts surrounding the manuscript’s composition in the eighth century, with particular attention to how certain events affected the Chalcedonian Christian communities to which the anonymous author belonged. In chapter 4, I address preliminary manuscript considerations, offering a fresh outline of how the text should be structured, a proposed emendation to the title of the text, and additional internal evidence to support a date of writing in 754/755. In chapter 5, the framework of the monk’s writing is analyzed, where I detail the heart of the work—his focused exposition of the metanarrative of Scripture—and argue that his later biblical testimonies function to support this exposition. I offer a linguistic survey in chapter 6, highlighting the monk’s integration of both explicit and implicit Qur’ānic references. These allusions are used in the last section of the chapter to address the question of the intended audience of the manuscript. I address arguments made by other scholars that suggest the audience is likely Christians and propose alternatively that the textual analysis indicates that the intended audience appears to be Muslims. Chapter 7 contains a concise summary of the primary arguments made throughout the work, along with personal reflections interlaced throughout. Finally, appendix 1 provides an Arabic transcription and English translation of the manuscript.

Grantor dc:publisher

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Provencher, Devon McKyle

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ibrahim, Ayman S.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10392/7657

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.sbts.edu:10392/7657