Bücher der Reihe Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies

Questions concerning sacred spaces and their relationship to ritual is of interest to historians of religion and others as well. How sacred spaces emerge and are constructed and what relationship they have to rituals are some of the areas that are dealt with in this study in relation to Syriac Orthodox liturgy. The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding of how the Sedr¿ of Entrance has been practiced in earlier periods and architectural contexts and to investigate what role the entrance rite may have had in constructing the sanctuary as sacred space and the worshipping community as church. The Sedr¿ of Entrance is a prayer employed during the rite of entrance into the altar in Syriac Orthodox Eucharistic liturgy. This study uses ritual theory to frame the rite of entrance and studies the intersection of ritual text, action and place. Two research questions are addressed: a) How is the rite of entrance into the altar, in the Syriac Orthodox liturgy, performed during the 9th-13th centuries? b) How does the rite of entrance construct the sanctuary as sacred space and the worshipping community as church? The study builds on historical material, manuscripts from the 9th to the 13th centuries, architecture, and other historical textual material. The rite of entrance is framed with ritual theory. Theological analysis is also used to support the ritual theory. The themes of the dissertation include, among others, the relationship between ritual process, ritual place, and the ritual body. It also explores the role of language in the ritual process.

This study of his two works that were only discovered in the 1970's seeks to analyse the way he defends Christian beliefs from criticism by Muslims over the authenticity of the Gospels, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Incarnation, the death of Christ by crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ, and the nature of the afterlife.

This book collects systematically all the personal names found in Old Syriac sources in such a way as to enable them to be dealt with from a structural and lexical point of view, and compared with other corpora of Aramaic personal names as well as Hebrew and Arabic names.

A long-awaited and essential tool for the study of one of the earliest texts of the Christian Apocrypha and an important text in Syriac literature, theology, and history.

Explores the historical geography and toponyms of the Beth Qatraye region.

Each chapter highlights a thematic feature of the literary form, demonstrating that Christian and Muslim authors did not part ways in the first century of Islamic rule, but rather continued a dialogue commending God's faithful believers.

This book is a classic in the history of the Oriental Churches, which are sometimes portrayed as heretical in general church history books, if mentioned at all.

The year 652 marked a fundamental political change in the Middle East and the surrounding region. An important and contemporary source of the state of the Christian Church at this time is to be found in the correspondence of the patriarch of the Church of the East, Isu'yahb III (649-659), which he wrote between 628 and 658.

This book examines the function and development of the cult of saints in Coptic Egypt, focusing primarily on the material provided by the texts forming the Coptic hagiographical tradition of the early Christian martyr Philotheus of Antioch, and more specifically, the Martyrdom of St Philotheus of Antioch (Pierpont Morgan M583).

Is monastic profession in the West-Syriac tradition a "second baptism"? A relationship clearly exists between the two rites of initiation in the West-Syriac tradition: the monastic profession and baptism.

One of the most popular monastic authors with a nearly universal spread over time is Isaac of Nineveh, a mystic of the late 7th century, who belonged to the East Syriac Church.

An exploration of the ways in which crosses reflect and shape ideas and practices in Ethiopian culture: from religious values and rituals to magic and apocalyptic beliefs, and from individual identities to socio-political structures and power relations.

Brock, this volume contains 34 essays from a variety of scholars across the field of Syriac studies. The breadth of the submissions illustrates the multiplicity of approaches taken in contemporary Syriac studies, and while no overall limitations were set for the contributions, a lively interest in Jacob of Serug remains evident.

The Syriac writers of Qatar themselves produced some of the best and most sophisticated writing to be found in all Syriac literature of the seventh century, but they have not received the scholarly attention that they deserve in the last half century.

Despite having been written over a century ago, the 3rd edition of Rubens Duval's History of Syriac Literature remains one of the best - and most readable - introductions to Syriac literature. This edition provides the first English translation of the work, translated by Olivier Holmey.

A collection of studies on the Syriac sixth century writer Jacob of Sarug by a team of international scholars, including Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Sebastian P. Brock, Sharbil Iskandar Bcheiry, Khalid Dinno, Sidney Griffith, Mary Hansbury, Amir Harrak, George A. Kiraz, Edward Matthews, Aho Shemunkasho, and Lucas Van Rompay.

Although his life and writings came to our knowledge in Syriac, gaining him the title "Crown of the Syriac Literature," many texts relating to his life and works survived in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic tradition, as well as a number of other texts that were traditionally attributed to him.

The account of the Martyrs of Najran has hitherto been known only through the Greek and the Syriac textual tradition, but this book offers an analysis of the original Arabic account to provide information about the most important details, and for identifying the original text of the Arabic version.

Jacob of Edessa was a seventh century polymath who witnessed the coming of Islam. In this collection of papers, specialists discuss the life and works of this figure with emphasis on the cultural landscape of the seventh century. Brock, Richard Price, Andreas Juckel, Alison Salvesen, Theresia Hainthaler, Amir Harrak, and Khalid Dinno.

A sensitive and evocative treatment of the role of the Holy Spirit in worship. With a keen awareness of the tradition of Syrian Christianity, Brock begins his exploration with the role of the Holy Spirit in the Syriac Bible.

The Syriac writers of Qatar themselves produced some of the best and most sophisticated writing to be found in all Syriac literature of the seventh century, but they have not received the scholarly attention that they deserve in the last half century.

Origen's construal of the Bible as a textual incarnation of the Word encourages an assimilationist interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures as a proto-Christian gospel. Although in partial agreement with this thesis, this study suggests a non-assimilationist reading of Origen's biblical exegesis.

The Malabar Independent Syrian Church is the smallest of the jurisdictions into which the St Thomas Christian community is divided today. The present work shows how the bishops of this tiny, one-Diocese Church, now largely forgotten, once stood at the centre of the events that shaped the present ecclesiastical situation.

This comprehensive study offers a critical, comparative analysis of the sources available on Bardaisan and a reinterpretation of his thought. Bardaisan's thought emerges as a deeply Christian one, depending on the exegesis of Scripture read in the light of Greek philosophy.

Twenty-four contributions on matters dealing with Byzantine and Oriental lands, people, and cultures through different perspectives, including history, maritime trade, documents, travelers, and art.

The main purpose of the book is to demonstrate that as early as the first phase of his activity (386-393 AD), Augustine did make use of some Origenian works, and that basic elements of his early theology were derived from the Alexandrian master.

Explores the potential insights provided by a distinct tradition of biblical interpretation that has its roots in both the patristic School of Antioch and in the Syriac Fathers, such as Ephrem and Jacob of Sarug, and which has survived and developed in the Churches of the Antiochene Patrimony, such as the Maronite and Syriac.

This volume contains papers from the First International Congress on Eastern Christianity held in Cordoba, Spain, November 2005. The encounter of medieval Christian writers with several linguistic traditions through the Middle Ages produced one of the most important branches of Middle Eastern literature.