Walid Saleh, a professor of religious studies at the University of Toronto, has been researching the historical significance of Arabic-language Bibles and the interaction with Islamic writings in the medieval period.
One area of his research that Saleh finds especially intriguing: many 19th-century Arab novelists and poets were strongly influenced by these Biblical texts. As he explores the literary and liturgical interplay between the Bible and Arabic thought, Saleh has unearthed hitherto unknown intellectual and spiritual connections between these great cultures. As he observes, “This is a long and complicated story that’s not represented by our current political environment.”
This short article details some of Saleh’s research and we will look forward to finding more examples the dynamic influence between language and culture in forming religious expression.
