Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition offers recent findings on the reception, translation and use of the Bible in Arabic among Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims from the early Islamic era to the present day. In this volume, edited by Miriam L. Hjälm, scholars from different fields have joined forces to illuminate various aspects of the Bible in Arabic: it depicts the characteristics of this abundant and diverse textual heritage, describes how the biblical message was made relevant for communities in the Near East and makes hitherto unpublished Arabic texts available. It also shows how various communities interacted in their choice of shared terminology and topics, and how Arabic Bible translations moved from one religious community to another.
Contributors include: Amir Ashur, Mats Eskhult, Nathan Gibson, Dennis Halft, Miriam L. Hjälm, Cornelia Horn, Naḥem Ilan, Rana H. Issa, Geoffrey K. Martin, Roy Michael McCoy III, Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Meirav Nadler-Akirav, Sivan Nir, Meira Polliack, Arik Sadan, Ilana Sasson, David Sklare, Peter Tarras, Alexander Treiger, Frank Weigelt, Vevian Zaki, Marzena Zawanowska.
Miriam L Hjälm, Ph.D. (2015), is doctor of Semitic Languages and active at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and at Sankt Ignatios Theological Academy. She has published extensively on Christian Arabic Bible traditions, including Christian Arabic Versions of Daniel (Brill, 2016).
About the Authors Introduction
Part 1: The Bible in Context
From Theodore Abū Qurra to Abed Azrié: The Arabic Bible in Context Alexander Treiger Apocrypha on Jesus’ Life in the Early Islamic Milieu: From Syriac into Arabic Cornelia B. Horn The Spirit Before the Letter: Theodore Abū Qurra’s Use of Biblical Quotations in the Context of Early Christian Arabic Apologetics Peter Tarras Ninth-Century Judeo-Arabic Texts of Biblical Questions and Answers David Sklare An Anonymous Mozarab Translator at Work Geoffrey K. Martin Religion in an Age of Reason: Reading Divine Attributes into the Medieval Karaite Bible Translations of Scriptural Texts Marzena Zawanowska The Biographical Stories of the Prophets in the Writing of Yefet ben ʿEli Meirav Nadler-Akirav Samaritan Bible Exegesis and its Significance for Judeo-Arabic Studies Frank Weigelt What Hath Rome to do with Seville? Exploring the Latin-to-Arabic Translation of the Gospel of Matthew in Ibn Barrajān’s (d. 536/1141) Qurʾān Commentary Roy Michael McCoy III Aspects of Abraham Maimuni’s Attitude towards Christians in His Commentary on Genesis 36 Naḥem Ilan Ismāʿīl Qazvīnī: A Twelfth/Eighteenth-Century Jewish Convert to Imāmī Šīʿism and His Critique of Ibn Ezra’s Commentary on the Four Kingdoms (Daniel 2:31–45) Dennis Halft OP Al-Shidyāq-Lee Version (1857): An Example of a Non-Synchronous Nineteenth-Century Arabic Bible Rana H. Issa
Part 2: Translating Tradition
A Mid-Ninth-Century Arabic Translation of Isaiah? Glimpses from al-Jāḥiẓ Nathan P. Gibson Geographica neotestamentica: Adapting Place Names in Arabic in an Andalusi Version of the Gospel of Mark Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala The Textual History of the Arabic Pauline Epistles: One Version, Three Recensions, Six Manuscripts Vevian Zaki Translation Technique in the Epistle to the Hebrews as Edited by Edvard Stenij from Codex Tischendorf Mats Eskhult Islamic Terminology, the Epithets and Names Used for God, and Proper Nouns in Yefet Ben ʿEli’s Translation of the Book of Job in Judeo-Arabic Arik Sadan The Major Prophets in Arabic: The Authorship of Pethiōn Revisited in Light of New Findings Miriam L. Hjälm
Part 3: Hitherto Unpublished Texts
Three Fragments of Saʿadya Gaon’s Arabic Translation of Isaiah Copied by the Court Scribe Joseph ben Samuel (c. 1181–1209) Amir Ashur, Sivan Nir, Meira Polliack Yefet ben ʿEli’s Introduction to His Commentary on the Book of Proverbs Ilana Sasson A Newly Discovered Karaite Arabic Translation of Genesis and Exodus (Undertext of the Palimpsest Sinai Gr. 930) Alexander Treiger
Index of Names Index of Manuscripts Index of Biblical and Qurʾān Verses
All interested in the Bible in Arabic, Bible interpretation and translation history and anyone concerned with religious interaction and the Near East.