Invitation to Syriac Christianity

Invitation to Syriac Christianity PDF Author: Michael Philip Penn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520971035
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 461

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Book Description
Despite their centrality to the history of Christianity in the East, Syriac Christians have generally been excluded from modern accounts of the faith. Originating from Mesopotamia, Syriac Christians quickly spread across Eurasia, from Turkey to China, developing a distinctive and influential form of Christianity that connected empires. These early Christians wrote in the language of Syriac, the lingua franca of the late ancient Middle East, and a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Collecting key foundational Syriac texts from the second to the fourteenth centuries, this anthology provides unique access to one of the most intriguing, but least known, branches of the Christian tradition.

Invitation to Syriac Christianity

Invitation to Syriac Christianity PDF Author: Michael Philip Penn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520971035
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 461

Get Book

Book Description
Despite their centrality to the history of Christianity in the East, Syriac Christians have generally been excluded from modern accounts of the faith. Originating from Mesopotamia, Syriac Christians quickly spread across Eurasia, from Turkey to China, developing a distinctive and influential form of Christianity that connected empires. These early Christians wrote in the language of Syriac, the lingua franca of the late ancient Middle East, and a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Collecting key foundational Syriac texts from the second to the fourteenth centuries, this anthology provides unique access to one of the most intriguing, but least known, branches of the Christian tradition.

Invitation to Syriac Christianity

Invitation to Syriac Christianity PDF Author: Michael Philip Penn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520299191
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 461

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Book Description
Introduction -- Origin stories -- Poetry -- Doctrine and disputation -- Liturgy -- Asceticism -- Mysticism and prayer -- Biblical interpretation -- Hagiography -- Books, knowledge, and translation -- Judaism -- Islam -- Religions of the Silk Road -- Appendix 1 : translations and editions -- Appendix 2 : biographies of named authors -- Appendix 3 : glossary.

Envisioning Islam

Envisioning Islam PDF Author: Michael Philip Penn
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812291441
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
The first Christians to encounter Islam were not Latin-speakers from the western Mediterranean or Greek-speakers from Constantinople but Mesopotamian Christians who spoke the Aramaic dialect of Syriac. Under Muslim rule from the seventh century onward, Syriac Christians wrote the most extensive descriptions extant of early Islam. Seldom translated and often omitted from modern historical reconstructions, this vast body of texts reveals a complicated and evolving range of religious and cultural exchanges that took place from the seventh to the ninth century. The first book-length analysis of these earliest encounters, Envisioning Islam highlights the ways these neglected texts challenge the modern scholarly narrative of early Muslim conquests, rulers, and religious practice. Examining Syriac sources including letters, theological tracts, scientific treatises, and histories, Michael Philip Penn reveals a culture of substantial interreligious interaction in which the categorical boundaries between Christianity and Islam were more ambiguous than distinct. The diversity of ancient Syriac images of Islam, he demonstrates, revolutionizes our understanding of the early Islamic world and challenges widespread cultural assumptions about the history of exclusively hostile Christian-Muslim relations.

East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China

East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China PDF Author: Li Tang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783447065801
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China (12th-14 Centuries) offers a comprehensive history of East Syriac (known as "Nestorian") Christianity in China under the Mongol rule. Christianity in its East Syrian form first reached China in A.D. 635 through the missionary efforts of the Church of East in Persia. The religion flourished in China for 210 years until A.D. 845 when a persecution towards all foreign religions was carried out under the reign of Emperor Wuzong (r. 840-846). The comeback of Christianity to China was made possible after the 13th century Mongol conquest of Eurasia and China. East Syriac Christianity spread again widely in Mongol-Yuan China, mainly as a result of the relocation of Turkic-speaking Christians from Central Asia and the Mongolian Steppe such as the Kerait, Ongut, Uighurs, Naimans etc, who had converted to East Syriac Christianity by the 12th century. Li Tang has studied and analysed Chinese Dynastic histories and local chronicles, medieval Syriac and Persian historical writings, as well as European medieval travelogues. A special emphasis is placed on biographies contained in Chinese historical records. An English translation to several newly unearthed tombstone inscriptions in Syro-Turkic or Chinese is rendered. Through studying these literary sources and archaeological finds, Tang is able to reconstruct and elaborate on the history of the spread of East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China (12th-14th centuries) from various perspectives such as the origin, migration and missionary activities of the East Syrian Christians as well as their political, economic and social status in medieval China.

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.

The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life

The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life PDF Author: Sebastian P. Brock
Publisher: Burns & Oates
ISBN:
Category : Fathers of the church, Syriac
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
The aim of this selection of excerpts translated from Syriac writers, mainly on the topic of prayer, is to introduce this little known tradition of Eastern Christian spirituality to a wider audience. For the reader who is unfamiliar with this tradition the General Introduction is intended to provide a brief orientation. Some supplementary information on the individual authors will be found in the introductions to each chapter.

When Christians First Met Muslims

When Christians First Met Muslims PDF Author: Michael Philip Penn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520284933
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The first Christians to meet Muslims were not Latin-speaking Christians from the western Mediterranean or Greek-speaking Christians from Constantinople but rather Christians from northern Mesopotamia who spoke the Aramaic dialect of Syriac. Living in what constitutes modern-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and eastern Turkey, these Syriac Christians were under Muslim rule from the seventh century to the present. They wrote the earliest and most extensive accounts of Islam and described a complicated set of religious and cultural exchanges not reducible to the solely antagonistic. Through its critical introductions and new translations of this invaluable historical material, When Christians First Met Muslims allows scholars, students, and the general public to explore the earliest interactions of what eventually became the world's two largest religions, shedding new light on Islamic history and Christian-Muslim relations.

Let Them Not Return

Let Them Not Return PDF Author: David Gaunt
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785334999
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The mass killing of Ottoman Armenians is today widely recognized, both within and outside scholarly circles, as an act of genocide. What is less well known, however, is that it took place within a broader context of Ottoman violence against minority groups during and after the First World War. Among those populations decimated were the indigenous Christian Assyrians (also known as Syriacs or Chaldeans) who lived in the borderlands of present-day Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. This volume is the first scholarly edited collection focused on the Assyrian genocide, or “Sayfo” (literally, “sword” in Aramaic), presenting historical, psychological, anthropological, and political perspectives that shed much-needed light on a neglected historical atrocity.

The Syriac World

The Syriac World PDF Author: Daniel King
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317482115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1064

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Book Description
This volume surveys the 'Syriac world', the culture that grew up among the Syriac-speaking communities from the second century CE and which continues to exist and flourish today, both in its original homeland of Syria and Mesopotamia, and in the worldwide diaspora of Syriac-speaking communities. The five sections examine the religion; the material, visual, and literary cultures; the history and social structures of this diverse community; and Syriac interactions with their neighbours ancient and modern. There are also detailed appendices detailing the patriarchs of the different Syriac denominations, and another appendix listing useful online resources for students. The Syriac World offers the first complete survey of Syriac culture and fills a significant gap in modern scholarship. This volume will be an invaluable resource to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Syriac and Middle Eastern culture from antiquity to the modern era. Chapter 26 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The Syriac World

The Syriac World PDF Author: Francoise Briquel Chatonnet
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300253532
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
A comprehensive survey of Syriac Christianity from its origins in Hellenistic and ancient Near Eastern cultures to the present