Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria Paul S. Russell Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By Christine Shepardson. [North American Patristics Society: Patristic Monograph Series, Vol. 20.](Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press. 2008. Pp. xiv, 191. $34.95. ISBN 978-0-813-21536-5.) The place of the early Church in the society surrounding it and the manner and timing of its separation from the Synagogue are especially resistant to study in the Syriac-speaking milieu. Surviving sources are few and their application is not always clear. It is not until the arrival on the stage of Aphrahat "the Persian Sage" (active from 337 to 345) and Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) that the mists begin to clear. For this reason, studies of these two early figures, especially Ephrem who left an entire library of varied works of prose and poetry, not only shed light on their immediate subjects but also illuminate the earlier, [End Page 780]dark period of the life of these communities in Mesopotamia and further East. Christine Shepardson's study of Ephrem's response to what he perceived as threats arising from the presence of Jews around his community and from non-Nicene Christians within his community offers both of these benefits. Shepardson sketches the outline of Ephrem's teaching about Judaism as an opponent to his Christian community by delineating Ephrem's defense of Nicene Christian teaching against Judaizing Christians, his shaping and use of the Bible story for current theological application, and, more briefly, by setting Ephrem's approach to these apologetic tasks alongside those of Athanasius and the three great Cappadocians. Thus, she moves from shedding light on Ephrem's milieu on the eastern fringe of the Roman world to a presentation of his contributions to our knowledge of the Nicene Church's response to the challenges posed by the ongoing liveliness of Judaism and the intellectual tangle we call "the Arian Controversy." A number of especially interesting points arise in the course of this study. Ephrem understands the casting of the Golden Calf in Exodusas the most important break between the Lord and the Children of Israel in the Old Testament period, which greatly affects his picture of the connection between Christianity and Old Testament religion. Because of this, Ephrem describes Jesus Christ as receiving the mantle of Old Testament prophecy and priesthood from Simeon during his presentation in the Temple (an apostate Israel being unable to pass these along to him). She makes clear how important in Ephrem's life was the imperial favoring of non-Nicene Christians, which left his group exposed to threats in the political world as well as to opposition in the religious realm. The old fears of persecution were not wholly dead. The reader is left with a more vivid sense of how tenuous Christian self-identity was during its formative period (and, so, how vehemently it was worked out in debate). Ephrem's sense of his community's place in salvation history must have been affected by his picture of the Old Testament faithful having been a marginalized minority after the stay at Sinai; would this spiritual parallel not have been balm to the souls of the marginalized Nicene Christians in Edessa? The development of boundaries between the Church and the Synagogue remains a fruitful subject of study, and Shepardson's subsequent work on St. John Chrysostom in this light shows that she is already casting her gaze more widely. It would have been interesting to see her evaluation of the effect on the Jewish/Christian and Nicene/non-Nicene struggles of the overwhelming pagan presence within the society. Would this not have made those two other self-described "biblical" faith groups particularly threatening to Ephrem and his community as they worked to sketch out a satisfying scriptural religion in a nonscriptural world? Like all good scholars, Shepardson leaves her reader asking new questions. [End Page 781] All libraries that support study of late antiquity, early Christianity, and early Judaism should possess this useful study. Paul S. Russell St. Joseph of Arimathea Anglican Theological College Berkeley, CA...