Richelieu in Arabic: the Catholic printed message to the Orient in the seventeenth century

Throughout most of the seventeenth century, the printer and publisher Antoine Vitré dominated the printing of Arabic in Paris. He produced mainly religious texts, intended for use by missionaries in the Orient. One of these books was the Arabic translation of Cardinal Richelieu's famous catechi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Main Author: Ayalon, Yaron 1977- (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge 2008
In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Further subjects:B Richelieu,Armand J. du Plessis de
B Islam
B mission / world mission
B Mission / Weltmission
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Throughout most of the seventeenth century, the printer and publisher Antoine Vitré dominated the printing of Arabic in Paris. He produced mainly religious texts, intended for use by missionaries in the Orient. One of these books was the Arabic translation of Cardinal Richelieu's famous catechism Instruction du Chrétien. This article looks at the story behind the preparation of the Arabic edition, its printing, and its use by missionaries. It explores the role written texts played in conveying a religious message to an essentially illiterate society. In addition, it uses the story of Richelieu's text in Arabic to attempt to explain why Middle Eastern societies declined to adopt mass printing before the nineteenth century, even though there were apparently no interdictions against its implementation.
ISSN:0959-6410
Contains:In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410801923535