Apologetic aspect of the Medieval ‘Nestorian’ encyclopedic work The Tower (Kitāb al-maǧdal): the chapters on love (al-maḥabba) and purity (aṭ-ṭahāra)

Nikolai Seleznyov

doi:10.28995/2686-7249-2015-3-9-20

Apologetic aspect of the Medieval ‘Nestorian’ encyclopedic work The Tower (Kitāb al-maǧdal): the chapters on love (al-maḥabba) and purity (aṭ-ṭahāra)

Nikolai Seleznyov

https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2015-3-9-20

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Abstract

The present article provides some interesting examples of how Christian apologetic discourse was developed within the framework of the ‘Nestorian’ theological encyclopedia written in Arabic in the medieval Mesopotamia. The author illustrates his treatise on love with examples of the Prophets who forgot self, in particular, Abraham and Job (cf. Qurʾān 38) and, finally, refers to Christ’s self-sacrifice. In the chapter on purity, he emphasizes clothing in wool of those who practiced asceticism thus implicitly connecting Muslim Sufis (Arabic taṣawwuf is commonly derived from ṣūf ‘wool’) to the Biblical and Christian ascetics. The research is based on the Paris manuscript of the Kitāb al- maǧdal - BnF ar . 190.

Keywords

христианская апологетика, христианско-мусульманские связи, арабо-христианская письменность, Christian apologetics, Christian-Muslim contacts, Arabic Christian literature,

About the Author

Nikolai Seleznyov

Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation

References

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Supplementary files

For citation: Seleznyov N. Apologetic aspect of the Medieval ‘Nestorian’ encyclopedic work The Tower (Kitāb al-maǧdal): the chapters on love (al-maḥabba) and purity (aṭ-ṭahāra). RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2015;(3):9-20. https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2015-3-9-20

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