Christian Salvation Through Muslim Domination: Divine Punishment and Syriag Apocalyptic Expectation in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries

Abstract

AbstractSyriac apocalyptic texts are among the most important literary responses to the rise and establishment of the Islamic state in the indigenous lands of Syriac-speaking Christians. The apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius and other Syriac apocalyptic sources are used to demonstrate the negative reactions of Christians to Muslim political authority. These reactions are discussed in relation to Syriac patterns of response to crisis in the pre-Islamic period which explained wide-spread, severe suffering in the physical world as a consequence of Christians' sins, but also a demonstration of God's chastizing love.