Revelations of the ‘Other’ that Belongs to Christianity in Pre-Islamic Poetry from the Perspective of Culture Semiotics

Abstract

This study incorporates "culture semiotics" to present an accurate reading of the revelations of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity in pre-Islamic poetry, and it reveals the various signs that represent this ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity in the aesthetic text in order to know the levels of self-awareness of the poet of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity and the nature of the relationships between the pagan Bedouin culture and the Christian culture within the semiotic space of this text. The study is divided into two parts: a theoretical part which discusses the critical foundations of cultural semiotics theories, the relationship between the semiotics and cultural analysis of texts, and the position of the cultural system in the structure of the sign. A practical part which studies the semiotic cultural revelations of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity in pre-Islamic poetry through three axes: the image of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity as a cultural threat, the image of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity as a source of enlightenment, and the image of the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity as a model of religiosity. The study concluded that the pre-Islamic poets were concerned about cultural identity, which made them insist on isolating the ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity, and stigmatize it as weak. However, their indirect invocation of this ‘Other’ that belongs to Christianity reveals the consolidation of his model in wisdom and reliable knowledge, with the cultural desires of these poets to satisfy the needs of a spirituality that is not satisfied by the pagan culture nor the political model of Arab Christianity.