On April 5th, Dialogue Across Borders helped sponsor an evening lecture at the Centre for Christian-Muslim Understanding and Partnership at All Saints Cathedral in Zamalek on the topic of early Arab Christianity. Our lecturer was Dr. Wageeh Mikhail who served as director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Christianity at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo from 2004 - 2019 and is now the MIddle East director for ScholarLeaders International. Dr. Mikhail completed his doctoral studies under Prof. David Thomas at the University of Birmingham, one of the world’s leading scholars of early Arab Christianity. 

(Dr. Mikhail lectures on early Arab Christianity.)

Throughout his lecture, Dr. Mikhail challenged the way many interpretations of Christian history neglect the emergence and significance of Arab Christianity, transitioning almost directly from early figures like St. Augustine (d.430 CE) to medieval and Reformation developments in Europe. After an introductory overview, the lecture focused on three key figures who made a decisive impact on the theological and interfaith legacy of Arab Christianity. 

John of Damascus (d.749) served in the waning years of the Umayyad caliphate before moving to the Mār Sābā Monastery near Jerusalem. His works, The Fount of Knowledge and A Dialogue between a Christian and a Saracen, were early and influential attempts to engage emerging Islamic theology. 

Bishop Timothy I (d.823) served the Nestorian Church of the East in Iraq and authored a small treatise, The Apology of Timothy I, which represents itself as a kind of summary of a longer dialogue between Timothy I and the ʿAbbāsid Caliph al-Maḥdī (d.785) about Christian and Islamic theology. Among other things, the work is an indication that Christians and Muslims have been capable of respectful and substantive dialogue since the earliest periods of Islamic history.

ʿAmmār al-Baṣrī (c.9th century) was from Baṣra, Iraq, and authored two important works. His Kitāb al-masāʾil wa al-ajwiba (The Book of Questions and Answers) and Kitāb al-burhān (The Book of Demonstrative Proof) presented a systematic vision of Christian theology in a largely Arabic and Islamic context.

In terms of Egypt, Dr. Mikhail clarified that the first work of Christian theology in Arabic was written in 970 by the Coptic Orthodox scholar, Sāwīris ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d.987). After the Mongol invasion destroyed Baghdad in 1258, Egypt became the new center of Arab Christian theology. 

With both Christians and Muslims in attendance, the lecture provided a valuable introduction to a vital part of Christian history and interfaith relations that is too often neglected. Dialogue Across Borders is grateful to Dr. Mikhail for sharing his expertise with us and for his continued leadership in this field. 

With best wishes,

Matthew Anderson

Executive Editor 

Dialogue Across Borders

May 1, 2023