ABSTRACT
Speakers of Arabic were among the first peoples to hear the gospel preached. 1 They witnessed the first Pentecost (Acts 2:11) and heard the Apostle Paul, who visited Arabia (present-day Jordan) immediately after his conversion (Gal. 1:17). Although several Arab tribes had converted to Christianity prior to the rise of Islam and undoubtedly used Arabic in their religious practice, the use of Arabic as a Christian literary language began with the Islamic conquest of the Middle East. 2 For over thirteen hundred years, from the seventh century until today, the constant struggle to articulate and proclaim the Christian faith in a language largely defined by Islam gave the Christian communities of the Arab lands much of their unique character.
