The Arabic Bible and the History of Christian Translation
A comprehensive history of Christian text translation into Arabic, from the earliest Syriac and Coptic influences to modern ecumenical projects, and what CCTR builds upon.
The history of the Arabic Bible is longer, more complex, and more contested than most Christian readers realize. The common assumption — that Arabic Christianity is a relatively recent phenomenon shaped primarily by Protestant missionary efforts — is simply wrong. Arabic-speaking Christians have been translating, reading, and arguing about Holy Scripture in Arabic for more than a millennium.
The First Arabic Translations
The earliest Arabic translations of biblical texts probably date from the 8th or 9th century, though the precise dating is disputed. These were produced in contexts of intense cross-cultural exchange — in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, where Christian scholars were in dialogue (and sometimes conflict) with the rising Islamic civilization around them.
These early translations were not uniform. They came from diverse sources: some from Greek, some from Syriac, some (controversially) from Coptic, and some from a combination of all three. The textual history of the Arabic Bible is accordingly complicated — more complicated than that of any other major Bible translation tradition.
Medieval Developments
The 10th through 13th centuries were a golden age of Arabic Christian literature. Scholars like Saʿid ibn al-Biṭrīq (Eutychius of Alexandria) and Ibn al-Rāhib produced Arabic theological works of enduring importance. The translation of biblical and theological texts into Arabic was a serious scholarly enterprise, pursued with rigorous attention to textual sources.
The Modern Period
The modern period of Arabic Bible translation begins with the Protestant missionary movements of the 19th century. The most significant result was the Van Dyck Bible (1865), translated by Cornelius Van Dyck and Butrus al-Bustani. This translation, based on Masoretic Hebrew and Received Text Greek, has been the standard Arabic Protestant Bible for over 150 years.
More recent translations include the Good News Arabic Bible (1992), the Arabic New Van Dyck Bible (2015), and various Catholic and Orthodox versions. Each of these translations reflects different textual bases, theological commitments, and intended audiences.
CCTR's Place in This History
CCTR stands in this long tradition of Arabic Christian translation — but with a specific focus on theological and historical texts rather than the Bible itself. We build on the tradition of scholarly Arabic translation and aim to bring the same rigor to theological literature that previous generations brought to biblical translation.