The Medieval Church · c. 815–835
The Apologetic Treatises
Abu Ra'ita al-Takriti · c. 775 – c. 835
What it is
A Syriac Orthodox layman defending the Trinity and the incarnation in the vocabulary of Muslim theology, arguing that God's attributes of knowledge and life are what Christians call Word and Spirit, and explaining why the church venerates the cross.
Why it lasted
One of the first Christians to argue in the terms of Islamic kalam rather than translating Greek categories, and a witness to how quickly Arabic became a Christian theological language after the conquest.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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