Tenth-century Syriac gospel manuscript (Duke University Libraries)

CHRISTIANITY IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Course Description Course Requirements

Online Resources for Syriac Studies

ENTER ZOOM ROOM

Meeting ID: 447 929 5000 // Passcode: 8GP9WV // Mondays 2 PM - 4 PM

SEP 14 / / Introduction to Syriac Studies

PRIMARY SOURCES

None.

SECONDARY SOURCES

S. P. Brock, “An Introduction to Syriac Studies.”

S. P. Brock, “Without Mushê of Nisibis, Where Would We Be? Some Reflections on the Transmission of Syriac Literature.” Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56 (2004): 15-24.

S. P. Brock, A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature. Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, 1997.

William Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired since the Year 1838, vol. 3. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1872, pp. i-xxv.

E-GEDSH

al-Suryān, Dayr

Mushe of Nisibis

Manuscripts

THE SYRIAC WORLD

No chapters are required for today, but I'd suggest briefly familiarizing yourself with The Syriac World and with the other Online Resources for Syriac Studies linked above.

OUT FOR REVIEW

No book reviews are required for today, but we'll discuss which two books you each might like to review during our first meeting. (See the Course Requirements about this.)

SEP 21 / / Earliest Syriac Christianity

PRIMARY SOURCES

Old Syriac Documents. H. J. W. Drijvers and J. F. Healey, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene: Texts, Translations, and Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 232-48.

Odes of Solomon. M. Lattke and M. Ehrhardt, Odes of Solomon: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009. See “Ode 1: The Wreath of Truth” (pp. 29-34), “Ode 3: Metaphors of Love and Gnōsis” (pp. 35-46), and “Ode 19: The Milk of the Father and the Mother of the Son” (pp. 268-84).

Bardaisan, The Book of the Laws of Countries. W. Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum: Containing Remains of Bardesan, Meliton, Ambrose, and Mara bar Serapion. London: F. and J. Rivington, 1855, pp. 1-34.

SECONDARY SOURCES

F. Millar, “The Euphrates and Mesopotamia” in The Roman Near East 31 B.C. – A.D. 337. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993, pp. 437-88.

J. F. Healey, “The Edessan Milieu and the Birth of Syriac.” Hugoye 10 (2011): 115-27.

U. Possekel, “Bardaisan of Edessa: Philosopher or Theologian?,” ZAC 10 (2004): 1-28.

E-GEDSH

Dura-Europos

THE SYRIAC WORLD

None.

OUT FOR REVIEW

S. K. Ross, Roman Edessa. Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114-242 C.E. London: Routledge, 2011. JUSTIN

SEP 28 / / Abgar, Addai, and Thomas

PRIMARY SOURCES

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book I.13, trans. J. M. Schott, Eusebuis of Caesarea, The History of the Church: A New Translation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019, pp. 71-75.

Itinerarium Egariae. The Pilgrimage of Etheria, trans. M. L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe. New York: SPCK, 1919, sec. 30-36.

Acts of Mār Māri. A. Harrak, The Acts of Mār Māri the Apostle. Atlanta: SBL, 2005.

Acts of Thomas. Acts 1-2 (sec. 1-29) and the Hymn of the Pearl.

SECONDARY SOURCES

S. P. Brock, “Eusebius and Syriac Christianity,” in H. W. Attridge and G. Hata (eds.), Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Detroit, 1992. 212-234.

J.-N. M. Saint-Laurent, “Saint Thomas, Missionary Apostle to India” in Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015, pp. 17-35.

E-GEDSH

Abgarids of Edessa

Addai, Teaching of

Chronicle of Edessa

Thomas, Acts of

THE SYRIAC WORLD

D. G. K. Taylor, “The Coming of Christianity to Mesopotamia.”

OUT FOR REVIEW

N. J. Andrade, The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity: Networks and the Movement of Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. KYLE

OCT 5 / / The Syriac Bible and Biblical Interpretation

PRIMARY SOURCES

None.

SECONDARY SOURCES

S. P. Brock, The Bible in the Syriac Tradition. Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI), 1988.

L. Van Rompay, “Between the School and the Monk’s Cell: The Syriac Old Testament Commentary Tradition.” Pp. 27-51 in The Peshitta: Its Use in Literature and Liturgy. Papers Read at the Third Peshitta Symposium, ed. B. ter Haar Romeny. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

E. J. Hunt, “Tatian and Syriac Christianity” in Christianity in the Second Century: The Case of Tatian. New York: Routledge, 2003, pp. 144-75 + notes.

E-GEDSH

Bible (general)

Bible, Old Testament manuscripts

Bible, New Testament manuscripts

Exegesis, Old Testament

Exegesis, New Testament

THE SYRIAC WORLD

J. Loopstra, “The Syriac Bible and its Interpretation.”

OUT FOR REVIEW

M. P. Weitzman, The Syriac Version of the Old Testament. Cambridge, 1999. [Not online; paper copy in Robarts.]

W. L. Petersen, Tatian’s Diatessaron. Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship. Leiden, 1994. RACHEL

OCT 12 / / Thanksgiving (No Class)

OCT 19 / / Ephrem the Syrian

PRIMARY SOURCES

Ephrem, Commentary on Genesis. St. Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Prose Works, ed. and trans. E. G. Matthews, Jr., J. P. Amar, and K. McVey. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2004, pp. 148-56.

Ephrem, Hymns against Julian. K. E. McVey, Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns. New York: Paulist Press, 1989, pp. 221-57.

Ephrem, Nisibis under Siege in Comparison with Noah’s Ark. Ephrem the Syrian: Select Poems, ed. and trans. S. P. Brock and G. A. Kiraz. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2006.

SECONDARY SOURCES

L. Van Rompay, “Notes on Ephrem.” Unpublished.

S. P. Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem, 2nd ed. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1992.

S. H. Griffith, “Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa, and the Church of the Empire.” Pp. 22-52 in Diakonia. Studies in Honor of Robert T. Meyer, ed. T. Halton and J. P. Williman. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1986.

E-GEDSH

Ephrem

THE SYRIAC WORLD

None.

OUT FOR REVIEW

C. Shepardson, Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy. Ephrem’s Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. Washington, D.C., 2008. [Not online; paper copy in Robarts.]

J. Wickes, Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019. KATARINA

OCT 26 / / Aphrahat, Rabbula, and Syriac Asceticism

PRIMARY SOURCES

Aphrahat, Demonstration 5 “On Wars” and Demonstration 27 “On the Messiah.” A. Lehto, The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Persian Sage. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2010.

Life of Rabbula. R. Doran, Stewards of the Poor. The Man of God, Rabbula, and Hiba in Fifth-Century Edessa. Kalamazoo, 2006, pp. 65-105.

Book of Steps, Editor’s Preface and Mēmrē 1-3. R. A. Kitchen and M. F. G. Parmentier, The Book of Steps. The Syriac Liber Graduum. Kalamazoo, 2004, pp. 3-37.

SECONDARY SOURCES

L. Van Rompay, “Notes on Aphrahat.” Unpublished.

S. H. Griffith, “Monks, ‘Singles,’ and the ‘Sons of the Covenant.’ Reflections on Syriac Ascetic Terminology.” Pp. 141-60 in ΕΥΛΟΓΗΜΑ: Studies in Honor of Robert Taft, S.J., ed. E. Carr, S. Parenti, A.-A. Thiermeyer, and E. Velkovska. Rome: Pontificio Ateneo San Anselmo, 1993.

S. A. Harvey, “The Holy and the Poor: Models from Early Syriac Christianity.” Pp. 43-66 in Through the Eye of a Needle. Judeo-Christian Roots of Social Welfare, ed. E. A. Hanawalt and C. Lindberg. Kirksville: 1994.

J. Walters, “Reconsidering the Compositional Unity of Aphrahat’s Demonstrations.” Pp. 50-65 in Syriac Christian Culture: Beginnings to Renaissance, ed. A. M. Butts and R. D. Young. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2020.

E-GEDSH

THE SYRIAC WORLD

None.

OUT FOR REVIEW

N. Koltun-Fromm, Hermeneutics of Holiness: Ancient Jewish and Christian Notions of Sexuality and Religious Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. RACHEL

R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition, rev. ed. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2004. [Not online; paper copy in Robarts.] JADAON

NOV 2 / / Martyrdom in Syriac Christianity

PRIMARY SOURCES

The Martyrdom and History of Blessed Simeon bar Ṣabbaʿe, trans. K. Smith. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2014.

SECONDARY SOURCES

T. D. Barnes, “Constantine and the Christians of Persia.” Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985): 126-36.

R. E. Payne, “Belonging to a Land: Christians and Zoroastrians in the Iranian Highlands.” Pp. 59-92 in A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015.

K. Smith, “When Christians Became Iranian.” Review of R. E. Payne, A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity. University of California Press, 2015. Marginalia Review of Books (February 16, 2016).

A. H. Becker, "The Invention of the Persian Martyr Acts." Pp. 113-48 in Syriac Christian Culture: Beginnings to Renaissance, ed. A. M. Butts and R. D. Young. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2020.

E-GEDSH

Martyrs and persecutions

Shemʿon bar Ṣabbaʿe

THE SYRIAC WORLD

Geoffrey Herman, "The Syriac World in the Persian Empire."

OUT FOR REVIEW

J. T. Walker, The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

K. Smith, Constantine and the Captive Christians of Persia: Martyrdom and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2016. JUSTIN

NOV 9 / / Christology and the Syriac Churches

PRIMARY SOURCES

None.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Map of patriarchates

S. P. Brock, “The Christology of the Church of the East in the Synods of the Fifth to Early Seventh Centuries: Preliminary Considerations and Materials.” Pp. 125-42 in Aksum – Thyateira. A Festschrift for Archbishop Methodios of Thyateira and Great Britain. London: Thyateira House, 1985.

L. Van Rompay, “Society and Community in the Christian East.” Pp. 239-66 in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. M. Maas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

S. P. Brock, “The ‘Nestorian’ Church: A Lamentable Misnomer.” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78:3 (1996): 23-35.

E-GEDSH

Nestorius

Theodore of Mopsuestia

THE SYRIAC WORLD

V. Menze, “The Establishment of the Syriac Churches.”

OUT FOR REVIEW

V. Menze, Justinian and the Making of Syrian Orthodox Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

P. Forness. Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East: A Study of Jacob of Serugh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

NOV 16 / / The School of Nisibis

PRIMARY SOURCES

A. H. Becker, Sources for the Study of the School of Nisibis. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009.

SECONDARY SOURCES

A. H. Becker, Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and Christian Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.

E-GEDSH

THE SYRIAC WORLD

None.

OUT FOR REVIEW

A. H. Becker, Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. Might as well make this “Adam Becker Day.”

NOV 23 / / Hagiography and (or as?) Historiography

PRIMARY SOURCES

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, A History of the Monks of Syria, trans. R. M. Price. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1985.

John of Ephesus, Lives of the Eastern Saints. John of Ephesus: Lives of the Eastern Saints, 3 vols., trans. E. W. Brooks in Patrologia Orientalis. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1923-1926. See “Author’s Preface” (pp. 1-4), “Lives of Abraham and Maro” (pp. 56—84), and “Lives of Simeon and Sergius” (pp. 84-111).

SECONDARY SOURCES

S. P. Brock, “Syriac Historical Writing: A Survey of the Main Sources.” Journal of the Iraq Academy, Syriac Corporation 5 (1979-80): 1-30.

M. Debié, “Syriac Historiography and Identity Formation.” Church History and Religious Culture 89 (2009): 93-114.

J.-N. M. Saint-Laurent, "Prologues as Narthexes in Syriac Hagiography." Unpublished draft for a forthcoming volume on Syriac hagiography. Do not cite.

E-GEDSH

John of Ephesus

Theodoret of Cyrrhus

THE SYRIAC WORLD

P. Wood, “Historiography in the Syriac-speaking World, 300-1000.”

OUT FOR REVIEW

S. A. Harvey, Asceticism and Society in Crisis. John of Ephesus and the Lives of the Eastern Saints. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

J.-N. M. Saint-Laurent, Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. KATARINA

NOV 30 / / The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque

PRIMARY SOURCES

M. P. Penn, When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015.

SECONDARY SOURCES

R. Hoyland, "Early Islam as a Late Antique Religion." In S. F. Johnson, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

M. P. Penn, Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

E-GEDSH

Too many to include here; search as necessary as you read the primary and secondary sources noted above.

THE SYRIAC WORLD

None.

OUT FOR REVIEW

S. H. Griffith, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. JADAON

J. Tannous, The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.

DEC 7 / / Conference Paper Presentations

We will spend the entire session today hearing your 20-minute conference papers with 5-10 minutes each for Q + A following your presentation. See the Course Requirements page for more details.