Download or read book Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia written by Jeffrey Wickes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ephrem the Syrian was one of the founding voices in Syriac literature. While he wrote in a variety of genres, the bulk of his work took the form of madrashe, a Syriac genre of musical poetry or hymns. In Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia, Jeffrey Wickes offers a thoroughly contextualized study of Ephrem’s magnum opus, the Hymns on Faith, delivered in response to the theological controversies that followed the First Council of Nicaea. The ensuing doctrinal divisions had tremendous impact on the course of Christianity and led in part to the development of a uniquely Syriac Church, in which Ephrem would become a central figure. Drawing on literary, ritual, and performance theories, Bible and Poetry shows how Ephrem used the Syriac Bible to construct and conceive of himself and his audience. In so doing, Wickes resituates Ephrem in a broader early Christian context and contributes to discussions of literature and religion in late antiquity.
Download or read book Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia written by Jeffrey Wickes and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ephrem the Syrian was one of the founding voices in Syriac literature. While he wrote in a variety of genres, the bulk of his work took the form of madrashe, a Syriac genre of musical poetry or hymns. In Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia, Jeffrey Wickes offers a thoroughly contextualized study of Ephrem’s magnum opus, the Hymns on Faith, delivered in response to the theological controversies that followed the First Council of Nicaea. The ensuing doctrinal divisions had tremendous impact on the course of Christianity and led in part to the development of a uniquely Syriac Church, in which Ephrem would become a central figure. Drawing on literary, ritual, and performance theories, Bible and Poetry shows how Ephrem used the Syriac Bible to construct and conceive of himself and his audience. In so doing, Wickes resituates Ephrem in a broader early Christian context and contributes to discussions of literature and religion in late antiquity.
Download or read book Genesis in Late Antique Poetry written by Andrew Faulkner and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2022-05-13 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis stands nearly without parallel in the shared history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Because of its abiding importance to late antique theology and practical life across religious boundaries, it gave rise to a wide range of literary responses. The essays in this book study an array of Jewish and Christian responses to Genesis as they took shape in specific literary forms—the unique genres of late antique poetry. While late antique and early medieval Jews and Christians did not always agree in their interpretations of Genesis, they participated broadly in a shared culture of poetic production. Some of these poetic genres paralleled one another simply as distinct examples of metered speech, while others emerged in conversation and through mutual influence. Though late antique poems developed in a variety of languages and across religious boundaries, scholarly study of late antique poetry has tended to isolate the phenomenon according to language. As a corrective to this linguistic isolation, this book initiates a comparative conversation around the Jewish and Christian poetry that emerged in late antique Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac. Tending equally to exegetical content and literary form, the essays in this book sit at the intersection of a variety of scholarly conversations—around the history of biblical exegesis, the formation of late antique and early medieval literature and literary culture, and the comparative study of Judaism and Christianity.
Download or read book Imagining the Death of Jesus in Fourth Century Mesopotamia written by Blake Hartung and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-10-09 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume Blake Hartung explores the place of the passion and death of Jesus in the writings of Ephrem of Nisibis (ca. 307–373). The book argues that the genre of Ephrem’s works (usually short poems for public performance), is key to understanding his unsystematic approach. Ephrem drew widely upon the Passion narratives and traditional motifs related to Christ’s death and deployed them differently in distinct settings. Each chapter explores a key theme in Ephrem’s discourse about the death of Christ in context (including anti-Judaism, the defeat of death, and economic imagery). Ultimately, Hartung urges further consideration of the role of Christ’s death in early Christian thought and practice beyond the traditional confines of atonement theology.
Download or read book The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity written by Lewis Ayres and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 1232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is for scholars and students of the ideas, literatures, and cultures of early Christianity and late antiquity, ancient philosophers, and historians of theology. It offers new perspectives on early Christian modes of knowing and ordering knowledge in relation to changing discourses, institutions, and material culture of late antiquity.
Download or read book Staging the Sacred written by Laura S. Lieber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this volume, Christian, Jewish, and Samaritan liturgical poetry from Late Antiquity (ca. 3rd-4th c. CE) is examined not only from within the context of religious traditions of biblical interpretation and conventions of prayer but also through the lenses of performance, entertainment, and spectacle. Recognizing that liturgical poets were as invested engaging their listeners as orators and actors were, this study analyses hymnody as a performative genre akin to oratory and theatre, the two primary modes of public performance from the wider societal context. Attention to liturgical poetry's "theatricality" draws our attention to a range of subjects, from how biblical stories were adapted to the liturgical stage, much in the way that the classical works of Greco-Roman antiquity were themselves popularized in this Late Antique period; to the adaptation of physical techniques and material structures to augment the ability of performers to engage their audiences. Specific techniques associated with both oratory and acting in antiquity will offer concrete means for elucidating the affinities of liturgical presentations and other modes of performance: indications of direct address, for example, and apostrophe, as well as the creation of character through speech (ethopoeia); and appeals to the audience's senses, including vivid descriptions (ekphrasis), a technique especially popular in antiquity. A serious consideration of performance also demands that we make the difficult leap to imagining the world beyond the page. While Late Antique hymnody has come down to the present primarily in textual form, the written word constitutes something quite remote from the actual experience these scripts reflect. We will thus attempt to consider more speculative but recognizably essential elements of these works' reception, including ways in which liturgical poetry could have borrowed from the gestures and body language of oratory, mime, and pantomime, and how poets may have used the physical spaces of performance and accelerated changes visible in the archaeological record"--
Download or read book Ritual Boundaries written by Joseph E. Sanzo and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2024-04-02 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In Ritual Boundaries, Joseph E. Sanzo transforms our understanding of how early Christians experienced religion in lived practice through the study of magical objects, such as amulets and grimoires. Against the prevailing view of late antiquity as a time when only so-called elites were interested in religious and ritual differentiation, the evidence presented here reveals that the desire to distinguish between religious and ritual insiders and outsiders cut across diverse social strata. The magical evidence also offers unique insight into early biblical reception, exposing a textual world in which scriptural reading was multisensory and multitraditional. As they addressed sickness, demonic struggle, and interpersonal conflicts, Mediterranean people thus acted in ways that challenge our conceptual boundaries between Christians and non-Christians; elites and non-elites; and words, materials, and images. Sanzo helps us rethink how early Christians imagined similarity and difference among texts, traditions, groups, and rituals as they went about their daily lives.
Download or read book The Power of Patristic Preaching written by Andrew Hofer, OP and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Word made flesh is manifested in the lives of those dedicated to his proclamation. The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh presents seven early preachers who show, by life and speech, the divine Word’s power at work in weak human life. The book is inspired by this question preached by Origen, “For what does it profit if I should say that Jesus has come in that flesh alone which he received from Mary and I should not show also that he has come in this flesh of mine?” In seven chapters, The Power of Patristic Preaching studies the exemplars of Origen for holiness, Ephrem for the humility of repentance, Gregory of Nazianzus for purification and faith, John Chrysostom for the hope of salvation, Augustine for love, Leo the Great for love of the poor and the weak, and Gregory the Great for accepting our own weakness. With an emphasis on the incarnation, deification through the virtues, and proclamation, The Power of Patristic Preaching serves as a resource for those dedicated to the ministry of the Word (clerical, religious, and lay), and as a text for students of early Christian theology and practices. A Catholic work for a broad ecumenical audience, the book gives a cry from the heart in a suffering Church traveling through a world that is passing away.
Download or read book Review of Biblical Literature 2022 written by Alicia J. Batton and published by SBL Press. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages.
Download or read book The Many Faces of Job written by Choon-Leong Seow and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2024-02-02 with total page 846 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: the Handbooks of the Bible and Its Reception (HBR) provide comprehensive introductions to individual topics in biblical reception history. They address a wide range of academic fields and interdisciplinary matters, including reception of the Bible in various contexts and historical periods; in diverse geographic areas; in particular cultural, social, and political contexts; and in relation to important biblical themes, topics, and figures.
Download or read book Eastern Christianity written by J. Edward Walters and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English translations of Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, Coptic, and Ethiopic Christian texts from late antiquity to the early modern period In order to make the writings of Eastern Christianity more widely accessible this volume offers a collection of significant texts from various Eastern Christian traditions, many of which are appearing in English for the first time. The internationally renowned scholars behind these translations begin each section with an informative historical introduction, so that anyone interested in learning more about these understudied groups can more easily traverse their diverse linguistic, cultural, and literary traditions. A boon to scholars, students, and general readers, this ample resource expands the scope of Christian history so that communities beyond Western Christendom can no longer be ignored. Contributors Jesse S. Arlen, Aaron M. Butts, Jeff W. Childers, Mary K. Farag, Philip Michael Forness, John C. Lamoreaux, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Erin Galgay Walsh, J. Edward Walters, and Jeffrey Wickes.
Download or read book From Distant Days written by Benjamin Read Foster and published by Penn State University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection and abridgment of Benjamin Foster's comprehensive, two-volume work on Babylonian and Assyrian literature, Before the Muses. This paperback edition is well-suited for college courses in Biblical Studies, Classical Studies, Religious Thought, Mythology, or Comparative Literature. Among the many compositions included are: Epic of Creation; Story of the Flood; When Ishtar Went to the Netherworld; How Nergal Became King of the Netherworld; How Adapa Lost Immortality; Etana; the King without an Heir; Anzu the Bird Who Stole Destiny; How Erra Wrecked the World; Legends of Sargon of Akkad; Legend of Naram-Sin; Tukulti-Ninurta Epic; Nebuchadnezzar and Marduk; Tiglath-Pileser and the Beasts; The King of Justice; Letters from Gods; Marduk Prophecy; Oracles to Assyrian Kings; Prayers to the Gods; Coronation Prayer for Assyrian Kings; Sargon II for His New City; Assurbanipal Pious Scholar; Nebuchadnezzar II for His Public Works; Diviners' Prayers; Dialogue between a Man and His God; Poem of the Righteous Sufferer; A Sufferer's Salvation; The Babylonian Theodicy; Who Has Not Sinned?; The Piteous Sufferer; Elegy for a Woman Dead in Childbirth; Love Charms; Love Lyrics; Ishtar at the Tavern; The Faithful Lover; At the Cleaners; The Poor Man of Nippur; Why Do You Curse Me?; The Jester; The Gilgamesh Letter; The Dialogue of Pessimism; Land for the Birds; Counsels of Wisdom.
Download or read book Christian Thought in the Medieval Islamicate World written by Salam Rassi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "John Wesley and George Whitefield are remembered as founders of Methodism, one of the most influential movements in the history of modern Christianity. Characterized by open-air and itinerant preaching, eighteenth-century Methodism was a divisive phenomenon, which attracted a torrent of printed opposition, especially from Anglican clergymen. Yet, most of these opponents have been virtually forgotten. The Struggle for True Religion is the first large-scale examination of the theological ideas of early anti-Methodist authors. By illuminating a very different perspective on Methodism, Simon Lewis provides a fundamental reappraisal of the eighteenth-century Church of England and its doctrinal priorities. For anti-Methodist authors, attacking Wesley and Whitefield was part of a wider defence of 'true religion', which demonstrates the theological vitality of the much-derided Georgian Church. This book, therefore, places Methodism firmly in its contemporary theological context, as part of the Church of England's continuing struggle to define itself theologically"--
Download or read book She Who Loved Much written by Kevin James Kalish and published by Holy Trinity Publications. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This sharply honed and well-constructed work brings to the fore and explores the New Testament story regarding the woman who entered a house where Jesus was dining and anointed him with precious oil shortly before His Passion and Crucifixion. The author unveils the intricate nature of the tradition of the Church that gives the woman a voice and elucidates her backstory through its liturgical poetry, oratory, and other writings. Scholarly consideration is given to all these sources in addressing questions such as: Who was this woman? Where did she come from? How did she acquire the precious oil? How did she enter into the house of Simon uninvited? How did she perceive her own bold actions? The reader will learn that in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church, as found in the hymnology of Holy Week, this sinful woman is shown to be an example of repentance and unconstrained love. The intricate nature of the hymns and homilies of the Orthodox Church give greater scope and application to the biblical record primarily in Greek and Syriac manuscripts, with particular attention given to the former texts, too often overshadowed by the latter. The author shares previously inaccessible texts of late antiquity such as homilies by Amphilochius of Iconium and Ephrem Graecus found here in English for the first time. This in-depth and readable study will engage those who encounter the story of the sinful woman in the living tradition of worship within the Orthodox Church, together with those who have encountered this story in Scripture, or in the course of their academic studies.
Download or read book The Hymns on Faith written by Saint Ephraem (Syrus) and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity written by Bruce W. Longenecker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-08-24 with total page 864 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, and multiple permutations in the formative period of Christian history. Within those multiples lie numerous contests, as varieties of Christian identity laid claim to authority and authenticity in different ways. The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity addresses these contested areas with both nuance and clarity by reviewing, synthesizing, and critically engaging recent scholarly developments. The 27 thematic chapters, specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of scholars, also offer constructive ways forward for future research.
Download or read book Mesopotamia and the Bible written by Mark W. Chavalas and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of Syro-Mesopotamian civilization has greatly advanced in the past twenty-five years. In particular the renewed interest in Eastern (or Mesopotamian) Syria has radically altered our understanding of not only the ancient Near East, but of the Bible as well. With Syria east of the Euphrates becoming one of the most active areas of archaeological investigation in the entire Near East, the need for a synthesis of this research and its integration with the Hebrew Bible has greatly increased.This volume charts the state of our knowledge, following a general chronological flow, and will appeal not only to scholars of the ancient Near East but also to Biblical specialists interested in the historical and religious backgrounds to the Israelite and Judahite kingdoms.
