The Arabic Translations of John Chrysostom: State of the Art and Methodology

In recent years the transmission of patristic texts in Arabic has attracted considerable attention from scholars of Oriental Christianities and Arabic studies. This field offers a host of texts, research questions, and methodological issues deserving further inquiry. This paper provides an introductory study of the transmission of the Arabic corpus Chrysostomicum and addresses various lines of potential research. Its aim is threefold: to give an overview of past research on the Arabic John Chrysostom; to delineate the contexts of the Arabic translations of the corpus Chrysostomicum; and to investigate the agenda and criteria of selection. The concluding section deals with methodological issues and desiderata. The findings of this article show that a better understanding of the social and historical contexts of translation as well as of the motivations and agendas driving the reception of John Chrysostom is of importance also for several other fields of study related to Arab Christianity, including history of theology, exegesis, and liturgy.