Who Is the Man on the Camel?: Historical Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible and Christian-Muslim Debate
This article examines Christian and Muslim exchanges concerning Isaiah 21:7 and Deuteronomy 18:15, biblical texts that Muslims interpreted as referring to the Prophet Muḥammad. The focus of the article is the well-known letter in which the East Syrian Catholicos, Timothy I (d. 823), reports his deba...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2020]
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| In: |
Medieval encounters
Year: 2020, Volume: 26, Issue: 1, Pages: 49-80 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Timotheos I Bagdad, Catholicos 728-823
/ Bible. Jesaja 21,1-10
/ Bible. Deuteronomium 18,15
/ Mahdi Abbasids, Caliph 743-785
/ Christianity
/ Interfaith dialogue
/ Islam
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| RelBib Classification: | BJ Islam CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations HB Old Testament KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages |
| Further subjects: | B
Hebrew Bible
B Timothy I B ʿAlī ibn Rabban al-Ṭabarī B Caliph al-Mahdī B Biblical Exegesis B Christian-Muslim debate |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article examines Christian and Muslim exchanges concerning Isaiah 21:7 and Deuteronomy 18:15, biblical texts that Muslims interpreted as referring to the Prophet Muḥammad. The focus of the article is the well-known letter in which the East Syrian Catholicos, Timothy I (d. 823), reports his debate with the Caliph al-Mahdī. In this letter, Timothy draws upon exegetical traditions rooted in Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428) in order to undercut Muslim interpretation of Isaiah 21:7 and Deuteronomy 18:15 by insisting upon a strictly historical interpretation of these verses. The historical approach defended by Timothy received a Muslim rebuttal in the mid-ninth century and continued to be adapted by Christian readers who redacted Timothy’s letter. These sources demonstrate the interreligious transmission of Hebrew Bible exegesis. They show how Muslim biblical interpretation challenged basic principles of Christian exegesis, causing both Muslim and Christian authors to adapt and rearticulate longstanding methods of interpreting scripture. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0674 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Medieval encounters
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12340060 |