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Influences of Syriac Christianity on Islam?

It was fascinating to learn about the influence of Syriac Christianity, via Anthony McRoys book review

of Diarmaid MacCullochs A History of Christianity. Syriac Christianity is characterised by two strands,Miaphysite (or Monophysite), that is, believing Christ had but one nature, and Nestorian, believing Christ

had two natures, one fully human and the other fully [...]

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uences of Syriac Christianity on Islam? - Face to Face Intercultural http://www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au/influences-of-syriac-christia...

2 9.9.2012 13:46

7/27/2019 Influences of Syriac Christianity on Islam - Face to Face Intercultural

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It was fascinating to learn about the influence of Syriac Christianity, via Anthony McRoys book review

of Diarmaid MacCullochsA History of Christianity. Syriac Christianity is characterised by two strands,

Miaphysite (or Monophysite), that is, believing Christ had but one nature, and Nestorian, believing Christ

had two natures, one fully human and the other fully divine. Islam is an unintended consequence of the

Christological controversies that led to the Chalcedonian Miaphysite-Nestorian split.

When the northern Arab Ghassanid kingdom became Christian it adopted the Miaphysite tradition of the

Syrian Orthodox Church. Similarly, Ethiopian Christianity, though it looked to Coptic Egypt rather thanSyria, was also Miaphysite. Yet another Miaphysite community existed in Najran near Yemen. But a year

after their overlord converted to Judaism he massacred many in this community. Ethiopian Christians

came to their rescue and this led to the establishment of a flourishing Arab Christian kingdom.

Catastrophe struck in the 570s, the same decade in which Muhammad was born. This was the time when

the great Marib dam collapsed in Yemen, bringing to an end the ancient Sabaean civilisation of South

Arabia centered on the city of Marib and completely dependent on this dam. Christianity lost

its credibility when this event led to the ruination of the prosperity of the region an event mentioned in

the Quran 34:16:

They ignored (the evidence) and We sent to them a flood, arising from a broken dam.

Nothing was left in their gardens but bitter fruits, some tamarisk and a few lotus trees.

MacCulloch speculates that the Quranic repudiation of Jesus divinity may be due to a misunderstanding

of the Monophysite position (that Christ had one divine-human nature) as meaning that Jesus only had a

divine nature. McRoy also contends that the Quranic name for Jesus Isa doubtless derives from the

Nestorian Syriac Isho, betraying Nestorian influence on Islam.

Source:Evangelicals Now (June 2010) 29

Posted July 10, 2010

www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au

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uences of Syriac Christianity on Islam? - Face to Face Intercultural http://www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au/influences-of-syriac-christia...

2 9.9.2012 13:46