Abstract
The article discusses the usage of Arabic credal terminology in two texts by Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa', Bishop of Ashmūnain (10th century): the Explanation of Christian Faith (Tafsīr al-'amāna) as published in L'histoire des conciles de Sévère ibn al-Moqaffa' by L. Leroy. (Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 6.
Brepols 19712, pp.467-640), and the catechetical counterpart titled The Lamp of Understanding (Kitāb Miṣbāḥ al-'aql), published by Fr. Samīr Khalīl in Cairo in 1978.
Vocabulary study is preceded by contextual passages on the language diversity in the 10th century Egypt, the personality of Sāwīrus, and the heritage of polemical literature in Arabic. The lexicological material of the two texts is arranged in topics that reflect both the credal articles (an Arabic version of the Constantinopolitan creed of 381), and the catechetical chaptering of The Lamp of Understanding: One God, Christ the Son of God, Incarnation, Crucifixion, Ascension, the Holy Spirit and the Church, Baptism, Eschatology.
Arabic and Greek lexical material is compared and commented in respect to the Arabic cultural context. The aim is to show Bishop Sāwīrus' lexicological contribution within the context of Christian Arabic writing of the time.