Christian Theology in Arabic Dress: Stylistic Features of the Kitāb al-Maǧdal

Abstract Kitāb al-Maǧdal ( The Book of Tower ) is one of the earliest known theological encyclopaedias produced in Arabic by a man called ʿAmr ibn Mattā who was a member of the Church of the East towards the end of the tenth century. Its peculiar stylistic features make it one of the most intriguing examples of Christian Arabic corpus. The book is composed in saǧʿ (rhymed prose) and embellished with various types of rhetorical figures. Each chapter represents part of a strong, defensive tower correlated with the metaphorical title of the work. Moreover, the work is divided into specific numbers of chapters and subsections, which all have biblical significance. Considering the socio-political and intellectual milieu in which the Kitāb al-Maǧdal was produced, this article focuses on these specific stylistic features of the work, analyses them in detail, and seeks an answer to the question of the author’s possible inspirational sources.