Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian

Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian PDF Author: Ute Possekel
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042907591
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) has often been taken to represent an unhellenized Semitic form of Christianity in unbroken continuity with the tradition of Jesus and the apostles. This somewhat romanticized view of Ephrem disregards the fact that Syria had been subject to Greek influence since its conquest centuries earlier by Alexander the Great. Ephrem's own writings however frequently betray a familiarity with Greek philosophical ideas. This book first introduces Ephrem's intellectual context and his attitude towards learning. It then systematically analyzes parallels between Ephrem and Greek writers on the subjects of atomism, space, on corporeals, vision, and the four elements. This study thereby demonstrates that Ephrem draws not only on Semitic cultural traditions, but also on Greek philosophical thought.

Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian

Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian PDF Author: Ute Possekel
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042907591
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) has often been taken to represent an unhellenized Semitic form of Christianity in unbroken continuity with the tradition of Jesus and the apostles. This somewhat romanticized view of Ephrem disregards the fact that Syria had been subject to Greek influence since its conquest centuries earlier by Alexander the Great. Ephrem's own writings however frequently betray a familiarity with Greek philosophical ideas. This book first introduces Ephrem's intellectual context and his attitude towards learning. It then systematically analyzes parallels between Ephrem and Greek writers on the subjects of atomism, space, on corporeals, vision, and the four elements. This study thereby demonstrates that Ephrem draws not only on Semitic cultural traditions, but also on Greek philosophical thought.

Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian

Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian PDF Author: Ute Possekel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christian literature, Early
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description


Marcion and the Making of a Heretic

Marcion and the Making of a Heretic PDF Author: Judith M. Lieu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316239837
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 519

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Book Description
A comprehensive and authoritative account of the 'heretic' Marcion, this volume traces the development of the concept and language of heresy in the setting of an exploration of second-century Christian intellectual debate. Judith M. Lieu analyses accounts of Marcion by the major early Christian polemicists who shaped the idea of heresy, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Epiphanius of Salamis, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Ephraem Syrus. She examines Marcion's Gospel, Apostolikon, and Antitheses in detail and compares his principles with those of contemporary Christian and non-Christian thinkers, covering a wide range of controversial issues: the nature of God, the relation of the divine to creation, the person of Jesus, the interpretation of Scripture, the nature of salvation, and the appropriate lifestyle of adherents. In this innovative study, Marcion emerges as a distinctive, creative figure who addressed widespread concerns within second-century Christian diversity.

The Rabbula Corpus

The Rabbula Corpus PDF Author: Robert R. Phenix Jr.
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 0884140776
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 769

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Book Description
A significant new study of Rabbula and Christianity in Edessa This volume makes available for the first time both the Syriac text and an English translation of every available original composition by Rabbula, the controversial bishop of Edessa (ca. 411–435 CE). It includes a new edition of the Life of Rabbula and other biographical traditions about him, including his conversion from paganism to Christianity. The texts collected in the volume are a valuable source for studying the reception history of biblical themes. In addition, the corpus offers insights into the beginnings of ecclesiastical legislation in the East, charitable work, pilgrimage, ascetic ideals, and church administration. Horn and Phenix examine Rabbula’s contribution to the Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries, including his influence on Cyril of Alexandria in his debate with Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Features A critical study of the theological, cultural, and historical development of Syriac Christianity Thorough historical, theological, and socio-cultural analysis provided for each text A previously unidentified Christian Palestinian Aramaic fragment

Papers Presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 2003

Papers Presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 2003 PDF Author: Frances Margaret Young
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042918849
Category : Cappadocian Fathers
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description


Syriac Christian Culture

Syriac Christian Culture PDF Author: Aaron Michael Butts
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 0813233682
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Syriac Christianity developed in the first centuries CE in the Middle East, where it continued to flourish throughout Late Antiquity and the Medieval period, while also spreading widely, as far as India and China. Today, Syriac Christians are found in the Middle East, in India, as well in diasporas scattered across the globe. Over this extended time period and across this vast geographic expanse, Syriac Christians have built impressive churches and monasteries, crafted fine pieces of art, and written and transmitted a sizable body of literature. Though often overlooked, neglected, and even persecuted, Syriac Christianity has been – and continues to be – an important part of the humanistic heritage of the last two millennia. The present volume brings together fourteen studies that offer fresh perspectives on Syriac Christianity, especially its literary texts and authors. The timeframes of the individual studies span from the second-century Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible up to the thirteenth century with the end of the Syriac Renaissance. Several studies analyze key authors from Late Antiquity, such as Aphrahat, Ephrem, Narsai, and Jacob of Serugh. Others investigate translations into Syriac, both from Hebrew and from Greek, while still others examine hagiography, especially its formation and transmission. Reflecting a growing trend in the field, the volume also devotes significant attention to the Medieval period, during which Syriac Christians lived under Islamic rule. The studies in the volume are united in their quest to explore the richness, diversity, and vibrance of Syriac Christianity.

Scenting Salvation

Scenting Salvation PDF Author: Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520287568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
This book explores the role of bodily, sensory experience in early Christianity (first – seventh centuries AD) by focusing on the importance of smell in ancient Mediterranean culture. Following its legalization in the fourth century Roman Empire, Christianity cultivated a dramatically flourishing devotional piety, in which the bodily senses were utilized as crucial instruments of human-divine interaction. Rich olfactory practices developed as part of this shift, with lavish uses of incense, holy oils, and other sacred scents. At the same time, Christians showed profound interest in what smells could mean. How could the experience of smell be construed in revelatory terms? What specifically could it convey? How and what could be known through smell? Scenting Salvation argues that ancient Christians used olfactory experience for purposes of a distinctive religious epistemology: formulating knowledge of the divine in order to yield, in turn, a particular human identity. Using a wide array of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian sources, Susan Ashbrook Harvey examines the ancient understanding of smell through religious rituals, liturgical practices, mystagogical commentaries, literary imagery, homiletic conventions; scientific, medical, and cosmological models; ascetic disciplines, theological discourse, and eschatological expectations. In the process, she argues for a richer appreciation of ancient notions of embodiment, and of the roles the body might serve in religion.

The Hymns on Faith

The Hymns on Faith PDF Author: Saint Ephraem (Syrus)
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 0813227356
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Ephrem is known for a theology that relies heavily on symbol and for a keen awareness of Jewish exegetical traditions. Yet he is also our earliest source for the reception of Nicaea among Syriac-speaking Christians. It is in his eighty-seven Hymns on Faith - the longest extant piece of early Syriac literature - that he develops his arguments against subordinationist christologies most fully. These hymns, most likely delivered orally and compiled after the author's death, were composed in Nisibis and Edessa between the 350s ans 373. They reveal an author conversant with Christological debates further to the west, but responding in a uniquely Syriac idiom. As such, they form an essential source for reconstructing the development of pro-Nicene thought in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Geʻez Acts of Abba Esṭifanos of Gwendagwende

The Geʻez Acts of Abba Esṭifanos of Gwendagwende PDF Author: Getatchew Haile
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042917408
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Abuna Estifanos (Stephen), the edition and translation of whose hagiographical life is presented here, was the leader of a monastic reform movement that shook the foundations of the Ethiopian State and Church in the fifteenth century. Estifanos (Stephen) started his movement at the end of the reign of the king whom Emperor Yeshaq succeeded in 1413 AD. The reform movement of Estifanos and his followers, called Daqiqa Estifanos or Estifanosites or Stephanites, was known to the local clergy from the time of the reign of Emperor Zar'a Ya'eqob (1434-1468). As we know from Zar'a Ya'eqob's writings, including some miracles of Mary or Ta'ammera Maryam, the Estifanosites were at loggerheads with the monarch. The outside world first became aware of the Daqiqa Estifanos from the narratives of the Portuguese embassy that visited Ethiopia during the years 1520-1527. Since then several travelers and scholars have written about these monks. The basis of the Estifanosites reform movement was that monks should observe a strict monastic life, according to the rules laid down by the fathers of monasticism, and that the teachers of the Church should limit the doctrine of Christianity to what was found in the eighty-one canonical books of the Bible, recognized by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the observance of God's Commandments found in them. As they understood it, the main commandment neglected at that time was the order to worship God alone - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They considered the segdat, "prostration to the ground," a form of worship that should not be performed in reverence even to the Holy Cross or to the icon of the Madonna and Child, and certainly not out of respect for the king and his name. We hear little about the activities of the Daqiqa Estifanos after Na'od (1494-1508). But their history is a major component of the history of the Church. Although the acts of a few of the followers of Estifanos were published decades ago, the publication of the acts of their leader, the Gadla Abuna Estifanos, has somehow had to await the present day. Coincidentally, there is at present a movement to revive and pursue the reforms of the Estifanosites, which adds importance and urgency to the publication of this Gadla.

Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum

Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum PDF Author: Michael G. Wechsler
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042916487
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
In this volume is presented, for the first time, a critical edition of the earliest retrievable text (i.e., the Versio Antiqua) of the Gospel of John in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez). Altogether 21 manuscripts have been collated, representing four different text types and, for the first two of these, three and four sub-types respectively. The Versio Antiqua is represented by the first text type, of which, for the most part, the important Mss Abba Garima I and III, dated to 1270 or earlier, have been employed for the basic text. Five appendices are also included, in the last of which is supplied a collation of the Versio Antiqua with the critical apparatus of the 27th edition of Novum Testamentum Graece. This volume, consequently, should prove useful to anyone interested in textual criticism of the New Testament, the textual history of the Ethiopic Gospel of John, or Ge'ez literature generally.