Ibn al-Tayyib’s Commentary on Genesis
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The first English-language translation of a major biblical commentary written in Arabic by a seminal figure in the history of Christianity in the Middle East.
Abū-l-Faraj ibn al-Ṭayyib (d. 1043) spent his adult life in Baghdad, where he served as a priest in the Church of the East around the turn of the first millenium. He was a polymath—a physician, philosopher, and theologian—and part of an illustrious line of teachers dedicated to the transmission of scientific knowledge from Greek into Syriac and then later into Arabic. He authored commentaries on Aristotle, Galen, and Hippocrates, as well as original treatises on the Trinity, science and miracles, Christian law, and the resurrection. His major works of biblical interpretation included a complete commentary on the Bible, entitled The Paradise of Christianity. The first part of it, his Commentary on Genesis, is translated here into English for the first time and accompanied by a critical introduction to Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s life and writings; the form, method, and content of his biblical interpretation; and his theology of creation and the divine Word.
Abū-l-Faraj ibn al-Ṭayyib (d. 1043) lived in Baghdad from the late tenth to the middle of the eleventh century. A priest of the Church of the East, he was active as a translator of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into Arabic and as an author of major works on theology and biblical interpretation. His Commentary on Genesis is translated here into English for the first time.
Stephen J. Davis (Introducer)
Stephen J. Davis is Woolsey Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of History at Yale University. He is executive director of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project (YMAP) and editor-in-chief of the Christian Arabic Texts in Translation series.
Dominique Sirgy (Introducer)
Dominique Sirgy is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of South Carolina, specializing in Islamic and Eastern Christian theology, philosophy, science, and manuscript cultures.
Deirdre Dempsey (Translator)
Deirdre Dempsey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at Marquette University. She was a contributor to the limited revision of the NABRE Old Testament (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).
Safwat Marzouk (Translator)
Safwat Marzouk is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is the author of Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel (2015), and Intercultural Church: A Biblical Vision in an Age of Migration (2019).