‘Fear of God’ as the Foundation of Morality in the Ethical Writings of Medieval Arabophone Christian AuthorsStudia PatristicaSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/CKM7UATY/tei
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Ayşeİçöz‘Fear of God’ as the Foundation of Morality in the Ethical Writings of Medieval Arabophone Christian Authorshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/CKM7UATYhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/CKM7UATYhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/CKM7UATYStudia Patristica125 [22]2021223-235Ethical writings produced by Arabic speaking Christians are intriguing examples of Christian Arabic literature. This article examines a common theme in the ethical works of two select medieval Christian authors who were the members of the Church of the East in the late tenth and early eleventh century, namely Elias of Nisibis (d. 1046) and ‘Amr ibn Mattā (ca. 1050). Elias of Nisibis’ <i>Kitāb Daf’ al-Hamm</i> (The Book of Elimination of Grief) is written to provide a scheme of dealing with unwanted anxiety. The first chapter of this book is entitled as ‘The Merit of Godliness and the Defect of Impiety’. In this part, he depicts the essence of devoutness as ‘fear of God’ and explains its ben- efits in detail to achieve a virtuous life. ‘Amr ibn Mattā is the author of the voluminous theological encyclopaedia called <i>Kitāb al Majdal</i> (The Book of Tower). The fourth chapter of the <i>Kitāb al-Majdal</i> is divided into seven subsections, each of which deals with a certain spiritual or moral practice. The first section of the fourth chapter in this work is entitled ‘al-taqwā’ (piety/fear of God) where the author describes ‘fear of God’ as the compulsory element of moral development.
Considering both the Islamic intellectual setting and the Christian backgrounds of the authors and focusing on the different aspects of the texts including linguistic features, sources, and possible audiences, this article examines how ‘fear of God’ is explained in these two medieval Christian Arabic writings. The conclusion reached at the end is that both authors creatively employed the traditional Christian sources and Islamic material to encourage their fellow religionists to lead a virtuous life essentially motivated by the ‘fear of God’.
İçöz, Ayşe. “‘Fear of God’ as the Foundation of Morality in the Ethical Writings of Medieval Arabophone Christian Authors.” Studia Patristica 125 [22] (2021): 223–35.
Ayşe İçöz, ‘Fear of God’ as the Foundation of Morality in the Ethical Writings of Medieval Arabophone Christian Authors,Studia Patristica 125 [22] (2021): 223–35.