The Syrian Christ (Annotated‪)‬

The Syrian Christ is a richly illustrative work of biblical interpretation that seeks to recover the Semitic, village-world background of Jesus' words and actions. Rihbany reads the Gospels through the customs, idioms, gestures, and social codes of Greater Syria—hospitality, kinship, honor, shepherd life, lamentation, and proverbial speech. Written in lucid, anecdotal prose, the book belongs to an early twentieth-century tradition of cultural exegesis, yet it remains distinctive for grounding New Testament interpretation in lived Near Eastern experience rather than abstract theology alone. Abraham Mitrie Rihbany, born in Ottoman Syria in what is now Lebanon, later emigrated to the United States and became a Protestant minister, lecturer, and cultural mediator. His bilingual and bicultural life shaped the book's central purpose: to correct Western misunderstandings of Scripture by explaining the social world from which Christianity emerged. As an Arab Christian addressing English-speaking readers, Rihbany wrote with both intimacy and apologetic clarity. This book is recommended to readers of biblical studies, theology, history, and comparative culture. Though some terminology reflects its period, its insights remain valuable for anyone seeking to encounter the Gospels less as detached texts than as writings rooted in a living Eastern milieu.



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