Islam and the Bible

Ayman  Ibrahim

Islam and the Bible

2023

As early as the seventh century, Christians living and ministering in Muslim contexts adapted their language and public witness to Islamic cultural and religious sensitivities. In Islam and the Bible, editors Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant B. Greenham invite leading voices, representing a spectrum of approaches, to explore the issues surrounding “Muslim Idiom Translations” of the Bible. This work will be insightful for students, theologians, missiologists, missionaries, and Bible translators seeking wisdom and clarity on gospel contextualization. This book has 20 outstanding chapters by international scholars and practitioners in the field to shed light on these important matters. The contributors represent Australasia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, North America, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa....Read more

ISLAM and the BIBLE Questioning Muslim Idiom Translations editors: Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant B. Greenham

Questioning Muslim Idiom Translations ISLAM and the BIBLE editors: Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant B. Greenham Questioning Muslim Idiom Translations ISLAM and the BIBLE editors: Ayman S. Ibrahim and Ant B. Greenham CONTENTS I 1 Chapter 1 Investing in Error: Muslim Idiom, Bible Translation, and Theological Method—Matthew Bennett 11 Chapter 2 The Integral Foundation of the “Father-Son” Revelation to the Perfection and Activity of the Divine Attributes —Imad N. Shehadeh 41 Chapter 3 The Son of God—Thomas R. Schreiner 73 Chapter 4 The Influence of Charles Kraft on Missions to Muslims —Mark Durie 97 Chapter 5 Continuing the Conversation: The World Evangelical Alliance Global Review Panel’s Report in the Light of the Forum of Bible Agencies International’s Principles and Postcolonial Theological Praxis and Discourse—Patrick Krayer ix 131 Contents x Chapter 6 Handling the Hot Potato: How Organizations Have Dealt with Muslim Idiom Translations—Seth Vitrano-Wilson 153 Chapter 7 An “Aye” on Islam: The Theological Assumptions of Translators of Muslim Idiom Translations—Fred Farrokh 189 Chapter 8 Scripture’s Use of Other Religious Material as a Source for a Biblical Theology of Translation—Kevin Higgins 221 Chapter 9 Muslim Idiom Translations and a Theology of Borrowing Elements from Other Religions—Derek Brotherson 231 Chapter 10 Deciding to Translate Genesis among the Mozambican Yaawo: A Case Study in Narrative Framing—Tobias J. Houston 257 Chapter 11 Accuracy: A Matter of Author or Audience?—Brad Willits 271 Chapter 12 The Translation of the Names of God in the Chadian Arabic Old Testament—Aaron M. Shryock 291 Chapter 13 Bible Translation by and for the Church—Kyle Davis 319 Chapter 14 Bible Translation, the Egyptian Church, and Donor Support —David V. Harriman 339 Chapter 15 The Arabic Bible: Shifting the Foundations—Georges Houssney 367 Contents xi Chapter 16 Is The True Meaning of Christ’s Gospel Islamic?—Emad A. Mikhail 379 Chapter 17 A Critical Examination of Two Arabic Muslim Idiom Translations —Youssef Nathan 385 Chapter 18 Are Islam-Friendly Translations of the Bible Justified? —Suheil Madanat 395 Chapter 19 Muslim Idiom Translation Practice in Islamic Turkic Languages —Noah Lee 401 Chapter 20 Should Christians Use the Qur’anic Name of Jesus in Arabic Bible Translations? A Response to Martin Accad’s “What’s in a Name?”—Ayman S. Ibrahim E A A  C N I S I S I 411 425 427 429 433 444 As early as the seventh century, Christians living and ministering in Muslim contexts adapted their language and public witness to Islamic cultural and religious sensitivities. In Islam and the Bible, editors Ayman Ibrahim and Ant Greenham invite leading voices, representing a spectrum of approaches, to explore the issues surrounding “Muslim Idiom Translations” of the Bible. This work will be insightful for students, theologians, missiologists, missionaries, and Bible translators seeking wisdom and clarity on gospel contextualization. “Since 2009, I’ve personally been involved in the controversy concerning ‘Muslim Idiom Translations’ (MITs). I was overjoyed to see scholars with the experience and backgrounds of Ayman Ibrahim and Ant Greenham take on the task of creating an anthology of articles on this subject, employing the expertise of many who have been at the forefront of this debate in the last two decades.” —JAY SMITH, director of the Master of Arts Program for Polemics and Apologetics to Islam, Veritas International University “I’ve often thought that missionaries and missiologists have one of the most difficult jobs. Balancing cultural issues with our core theological commitments is often difficult, especially when it comes to the hermeneutical issues that arise in Bible translation. I’m thankful for this important resource by Ayman Ibrahim and Ant Greenham (as well as their fellow contributors), which approaches these important questions with ministerial care and theological caution.” —JAMES K. DEW JR., president and professor of Christian philosophy, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary “Scholarly, yet understandable; academic, yet practical, Islam and the Bible deftly examines, explains, and confronts the problems, inconsistencies, and pitfalls within the ‘Muslim Idiom Translations’ controversy.” —ROBIN DALE HADAWAY, senior professor of missions, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary AYMAN S. IBRAHIM (PhD, University of Haifa; PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the Bill and Connie Jenkins Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. ANT B. GREENHAM (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Studies) served as professor of missions and Islamic studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. RELIGION/Islam/General 978-1-0877-7022-2 $49.99 USD 54999 9 781087 770222

This doctoral dissertation is a historiographical examination of the missionary encounter in Ottoman Syria (modern Syria and Lebanon) during the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Nahda, or Arab renaissance. It begins in 1870, when the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions transferred its Syria Mission to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. It ends in 1915 with the escalating effects of World War I in the Ottoman Arab provinces. Building upon Middle East mission historiographies, studies in world Christianity, and postcolonial critiques of missions, this study approaches the story of Syrian Protestantism as an enmeshed history in which Syrian and American lives became inextricably entwined. Moving beyond the traditional narrative, which presents American missionary men as the primary actors, this research points to the complex relationship of Syrians with American, British, and other missionaries in Ottoman Syria. It uses rare Arabic publications from the late Ottoman period and archival sources from the US, UK, and Lebanon to underline the agency of Syrian Protestant women and men who built the Syrian Evangelical Church and contributed to the socio-cultural currents of the Nahda alongside other Syrian Christians and Muslims. This dissertation demonstrates that Syrian Protestants challenged missionary authority in subtle and overt ways, while at the same time employing the resources of mission schools and the American Mission Press in Beirut to engage in the Arabic production of the Nahda. It argues that Syrian Protestant women played a significant, yet largely unrecognized, role in church and society as journalists, novelists, public speakers, and evangelistic preachers. Chapter 1 compares Syrian Protestant conversion narratives to missionary accounts of evangelical conversion. Chapter 2 investigates the American-Syrian Protestant relationship in light of a major schism within the Beirut Protestant community in the 1890s. Chapters 3 and 4 use Arabic books, periodicals, and pamphlets published at the American Mission Press to demonstrate the depth of Syrian Protestant participation in the cultural and religious discussions of the Nahda. Chapter 5 pieces together the stories of Syrian Biblewomen who worked as evangelists for American missionaries and for the female-led British Syrian Mission.

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Islam and the Bible