Fourth-Century Syria Research Articles

Cursing in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

One of the most notable features of the so-called Infancy Gospel of Thomas is its depiction of several punitive miracles, or curses, performed by the child Jesus. Previous scholarly treatments of the text have often dismissed these curses as merely another type of miracle, rather than as a special feature of IGT deserving of further study. This article examines the curses with an eye toward their distinctive qualities, and then seeks to find a match for the resulting paradigm in other literature, both Christian and non-Christian, from the ancient Mediterranean setting. A possible match is found in the cursing stories told of the ascetics of fourth-century Syria, as related by Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Religious History.

Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth-Century Syria (review)

Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth-Century Syria (review)

Book Review: Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria

Book Review: Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By Christine Shepardson. Patristic Monograph Series 20. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2008. xii+191 pp. $34.95 cloth.

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By Christine Shepardson. Patristic Monograph Series 20. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2008. xii+191 pp. $34.95 cloth.

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By CHRISTINE SHEPARDSON.

In the first edition of his Symbols of Church and Kingdom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), Robert Murray wrote that Ephrem ‘hated the Jews’ (p. 68). He was not the first scholar to notice Ephrem’s anti-Jewish rhetoric that some have likened to modern day anti-Semitism (see K. H. Kuhlmann, ‘The Harp out of Tune: The anti-Judaism/anti-Semitism of St. Ephrem’, The Harp 17 [2004], pp. 177–83). For several decades now, scholars have studied Ephrem’s works in order to discern the historical context that drove his anti-Jewish polemic. Murray thought Ephrem feared ‘the Rabbis’ influence with his flock’ (p. 67). H. J. W. Drijvers (‘Jews and Christians at Edessa’, JJS 36 [1985], p. 87) concluded that Ephrem was addressing Christians who were drawn to Jewish customs. I have argued that the anti-Jewish remarks in the Commentary on the Diatessaron stem from his awareness of competing Jewish interpretations of particular Old Testament passages (C. E. Morrison, ‘The Jews in Ephrem’s Commentary on The Diatessaron’, JCSS 8 [2008], pp. 23–43). Now Shepardson, who has been part of this conversation for several years, examines Ephrem’s hymns and the Homily on Our Lord, in this revision of her Duke University dissertation (2003) that was written under the direction of Elizabeth A. Clark and Lucas Van Rompay. She argues that Ephrem’s ‘anti-Jewish writings emerged in the context of the complex Trinitarian controversy that consumed Roman Christianity during the fourth century’ (p. 6). Ephrem used ‘the familiar figure of “the Jew” more broadly as an anti-type of an orthodox Christian’ (p. 6). His underlying objective was ‘to establish clear Nicene boundaries around his community’ (p. 68).

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

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...

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

Reviewed by: Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria Adam H. Becker Christine Shepardson, Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. North American Patristics Society Patristic Monographs Series 20 Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University Press, 2008 Pp. xii + 191. $34.95. This is a book that needed to be written. It fruitfully synthesizes two disparate scholarly trends. The first is the historiographical transformation of Ephrem of Nisibis from an obscure, eastern, Semitic, turgid poet of little relevance to mainstream patristics into a pro-Nicene exponent of an anti-Arian Christianity akin to the fourth-century Greek fathers. The second trend concerns the increased focus over the past ten years on Jewish-Christian relations with particular attention to the social context and rhetorical function of Christian anti-Jewish literature. The latter trend is especially relevant to Ephrem because scholars have long noted the severity of his anti-Judaism. In this revised dissertation Christine Shepardson provides a brief, readable monograph, accessible to scholars of Syriac literature, patristics, and the history of late antiquity. The first chapter presents the background and context of Ephrem's works and sets the stage for Shepardson's broader argument that "Ephrem's Syriac texts demonstrate his passionate participation in the imperial theological struggles of the fourth century, as well as his relation to his Greek-speaking contemporary Athanasius" (3). In Chapter Two she places Ephrem's often vitriolic writing within the tradition of early Christian anti-Judaism, especially that of the ante-Nicene period, and then examines Ephrem's anti-Jewish language and motifs. Ephrem's rhetoric depicting Jews and Christians as clearly distinct categories, Shepardson argues, does not represent social reality, but rather is an ideological attempt to impose a binary opposition on the more blurred communal boundaries of fourth-century Nisibis and Edessa. Ephrem's claims about Jews are really about the limits of Christianity, and Shepardson rejects the claims of earlier scholars such as Edmund Beck—the modern editor of Ephrem's works—that Ephrem was responding to aggressive Jewish proselytism. She then turns to "Ephrem's Use of Scriptural History" (Chapter Three) and addresses the broader category of "Jew" developed by Ephrem through his exegesis, especially of paradigmatic [End Page 477] biblical events such as the episode of the golden calf and the Jewish rejection of Jesus. The book takes a more innovative turn in its analysis of the relationship between Ephrem's anti-Judaism and his polemic against "Arian" Christianity (Chapter Four). The "Jews" are no longer simply the actual Jews and Judaizing Christians of Ephrem's community; the category "Jew" has expanded to fit Ephrem's "Arian" Christian opponents as well. This chapter also compares Ephrem's attacks on "Arians" to those of Athanasius, the Cappadocians, and John Chrysostom, thus demonstrating the usefulness of reading Ephrem next to the fourth-century Greek fathers. In the final, brief chapter, Shepardson makes the case that Ephrem and Syriac Christianity must be removed from its isolation from the Roman Empire and early Christianity. While Shepardson's book suggests that an ideological counterposition developed in reaction to a certain social reality and yet ultimately affected that reality, she is in fact only addressing images, inasmuch as most of our evidence unfortunately consists of these highly ideological texts. Nonetheless, her presentation would have benefited from a closer look at the evidence for actual Jews in the region, which, aside from one long footnote (17–18 n. 62), she fails to do. The tenor of those scholars who argue for looking at Ephrem next to contemporary Greek authors is accurate, but it would be helpful if we had a better sense of how this "Nicene Roman Empire" was imagined by someone like Ephrem (despite 106 n. 1). Does he ever mention Nicaea? Furthermore, Ephrem's works are engaged in a deep theological mode that may help us to understand better his anti Judaism (e.g., "truth" and "symbol" in Hymns on Unleavened Bread 19 [32]; "hidden" and "revealed" [54, 90]). Shepardson is, however, more interested in the possible function of his arguments, that is, as tools for creating starker communal boundaries, than in how anti-Judaism...

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By CHRISTINE SHEPARDSON.

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. By CHRISTINE SHEPARDSON.

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

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

Silke Trzcionka: Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth-Century Syria

Silke Trzcionka: Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth-Century Syria. London/New York: Routledge 2007. XI, 220 S. 17,99 £.

Astrology in the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions

The Pseudo-Clementines contain a lengthy debate about astrology that stands in some literary relationship to Bardaisan's writings. Connections with earlier works are important, but the Recognitions' fourth-century Syrian context – much neglected by earlier scholarship – reveals why it devotes such a large amount of narrative space to a dialogue about astrology, fate and free will. This article argues that such material is more than just a remnant of the past carelessly appropriated by the Pseudo-Clementines. Astrology plays a crucial role in the Recognitions' polemical agenda, which reflects a complex rivalry between several groups in fourth-century Syria.

Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines: Situating the Recognitions in Fourth Century Syria (review)

Reviewed by: Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines: Situating the Recognitions in Fourth-Century Syria Kristi Upson-Saia Nicole Kelley Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines: Situating the Recognitions in Fourth-Century Syria Wissenschaftlich Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 213 Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006 Pp. vii + 250. €54. Scholars interested in the Pseudo-Clementines have been largely concerned with source-critical issues and with parsing and categorizing elements of the collection into a variety of earlier sources. This approach, by and large, uses the classifications of heresiologists to isolate and match redacted material to an "original" (often Jewish-Christian) source or group. In this book, however, Nicole Kelley is interested in the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions as a final product of redaction. She hopes to demonstrate how the redacted text, which places philosophical and astrological sources side by side (sources that are separated according to a source-critical approach), illuminates the multifaceted rivalries over "true" knowledge in the world of its editor. Over against this epistemic competition, the Recognitions attempts to establish a particular vision of the orthodox production of knowledge, i.e., prophetic knowledge. To this end, Kelley utilizes Pierre Bourdieu's notion of field as the theoretical lens through which to analyze the Recognitions. According to Bourdieu, a field is any environment in which different groups compete for scarce (symbolic or cultural) capital; established players attempt to maintain their capital through "conservation strategies" while newcomers attempt to undermine the latter's stronghold through "subversion strategies," which both participate in the organizing principles of the field and simultaneously attempt to redefine and appropriate those principles for themselves. Kelley argues that the author of the Recognitions participates in just such a contest over epistemic authority. In Chapters 2 and 3, Kelley analyzes how the Recognitions uses philosophical and astrological sources as counterpoints to its own position, which privileges prophetic knowledge. Kelley argues that philosophy and astrology were epistemological rivals of Christianity; for both groups, "knowledge involves a proper understanding of how the world works, correct interpretation of past and present events, as well as accurate predictions of future occurrences" (85). Moreover, both of these disciplines held sway in the field since their knowledge was specialized and authenticated (according to institutional backing and public perception) and their practitioners were regarded as experts. In order to demonstrate [End Page 576] Christianity's—the "newcomer's"— superiority over these rivals, the author of the Recognitions utilized two primary "subversion strategies." First, the Christian protagonists are shown to possess the same specialized knowledge as their rivals, being trained in a range of philosophical and astrological traditions and skills. This positioning of the protagonists, who share their rivals' epistemic capital, allows them to criticize their rivals from within. Second, after undermining the epistemic capital of traditional philosophical and astrological expertise, the field is taken over by the protagonists, who propose a superior path to "true" knowledge. Although the author of the Recognitions utilizes different rhetorical strategies against philosophical and astrological knowledge (clearly outlined by Kelley in these two chapters), in both cases the overall goal is to "divorce knowledge from expertise . . . recognized by the field" in order to provide space for Christianity to assert its own epistemic authority (81). In Chapter 3, Kelley argues that the Recognitions proposes a unique and superior alternative to philosophical and astrological knowledge, i.e., prophetic knowledge, which derives from the True Prophet. The Recognitions posits that prophetic knowledge is the rare commodity of Christian specialists and is distinct in that such knowledge can only be handed down by the True Prophet and not acquired through the honing of particular modes of intellection. The protagonist of the Recognitions, Peter, need not cultivate any special skills but could claim unique access to prophetic knowledge because he was a witness to Jesus' teaching, and by extension Clement, the disciple of Peter, could make the same claim. Peter's teaching, in turn, is not based on innovation but rather is a faithful transmission of the words of the True Prophet. In this chapter Kelley demonstrates how the text establishes and authenticates Peter's personal acquaintance with Jesus so as to refute not only rival apostolic claimants (such as...

Indice Griego-Hebreo del Texto Antioqueno en los libros historicos. Vol. 1: Indice general. Vol. 2: Indice de nombres proprios. By NATALIO FERNaNDEZ MARCOS, MARiA VICTORIA SPOTTORNO DiAZ-CARO, and JOSe MANUEL CAnAS REiLLO.

One of the most significant contributions to the textual history of the Septuagint (LXX) has been the identification and gradual reconstruction of the so-called Antiochene (or Antiochian) Text. This was originally called the Lucianic Text (or Recension), but Antiochene/Antiochian is increasingly preferred, since this distinctive text type certainly has its origins long before the fourth century ce recension traditionally attributed to Lucian of Antioch. In fact, in some cases, it may well preserve a purer form of the Old Greek (OG) than the earliest major uncials (Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Sinaiticus). It survives chiefly in the L group of manuscripts (bo(r)c2e2) and in citations in the fourth-century Antiochene patristic writers, especially John Chrysostom and Theodoret of Cyrrhus. The Antiochene text has proved to be of particular importance in establishing the OG of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. A landmark publication in this area was the reconstruction of the Antiochene text of these books by members of the CSIC in Spain, led by Natalio Fernández Marcos and J. R. Busto Saiz. El texto antioqueno de la Biblia griega, I–III (Madrid, 1989–96) is not only an essential tool for the study of the text history of Samuel–Kings–Chronicles, but also breaks new ground in presenting these biblical books in the way in which they would have been read and studied in a particular area of the Christian church, in this case, fourth-century Syria.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Mary—The Bold Women in Ephrem the Syrian's HymnDe Nativitate 9

Ephrem the Syrian's hymn De Nativitate 9 is translated and its structure and the presence and function of various literary tropes in it are discussed. It is concluded that the most important polarities in the hymn are those between Christ's divinity and his humanity, between fear and love, between impurity and holiness, and between symbol and truth. It is argued that the purpose of the hymn was to instil awe for the wonder of Christ's birth from a woman, but also to encourage Christians in fourth century Syria to emulate the bold dedication of women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth to Christ alone, and to provide answers to Jewish criticism and ridicule of the virgin birth of Christ.