Syrian Christians Under Islam: The First Thousand Years

This volume contains papers from the Third Woodbrooke-Mingana Symposium on Arab Christianity and Islam (September 1998) on the theme of "Arab Christianity in "Bilad al-Sham" (Greater Syria) in the pre-Ottoman Period." It presents aspects of Syrian Christian life and thought during the first millennium of Islamic rule. Among the eight contributing scholars are Sidney Griffith on ninth-century Christological controversies, Samir K. Samir on the Prophet Muhammed seen through Arab Christian eyes, Lawrence Conrad on the physician Ibn Butlan, and Lucy-Anne Hunt on Muslim influence on Christian book illustrations. There is also a foreword by the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo. The picture that emerges is of community life developing in its own way and finding a distinctive character, as Christians responded to the social and intellectual influences of Islam.