Tatian and the Jewish Scriptures

Tatian and the Jewish Scriptures
Author: Robert F. Shedinger
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2001
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9789042910423

It has long been argued that Tatian, in the production of the Diatessaron, made regular reference to the Old Testament Peshitta when he came across Old Testament citations in the Gospels. This book argues on the contrary that Tatian made little or no use of the Old Testament Peshitta, but regularly took over the text of the Old Testament citations as he found them in the Gospel sources out of which he created his harmony. Where they differ from the form of these citations in the standard Greek text tradition of the Gospels, it is because, in the second century, Tatian had access to Gospel sources which may have varied significantly from the text of the later manuscripts on which our modern critical editions are based. Thus, Tatian's Diatessaron becomes a window into an early state of the Gospel texts and supports the idea that a significant amount of textual fluidity characterized the Gospel texts in the first two centuries of their transmission. This study will be of interest to those working in the fields of Diatessaronic studies, New Testament Textual Criticism, and the history of the Syriac Church.

The Syriac Versions of the Writings of Cyril of Alexandria

The Syriac Versions of the Writings of Cyril of Alexandria
Author: Daniel King
Publisher:
Total Pages: 652
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9789042919990

This study presents an analysis of the Syriac translations of Cyril of Alexandria's Christological works, seeking to locate them in their literary context on the basis of a comparative typology of translation technique and by making full use of Biblical citations and parallel citations in other texts. The texts in question range from the middle of the fifth to the middle of the sixth century and are closely comparable to other contemporary documents. The decades either side of the turn of the sixth century are shown as the key period in which Syriac translators developed a new vision of their language and its capabilities. More widely, the translations in question are used to illuminate parallel developments in late antique culture in matters of textual authority, the exegesis of patristic texts and the development of Florilegia. The Syrian church's new vision of language use can be observed in other walks of life across and represents a typical 'late antique' phenomenon.

Jewish Law and Early Christian Identity

Jewish Law and Early Christian Identity
Author: Yifat Monnickendam
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2020-01-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 110857033X

Ephrem, one of the earliest Syriac Christian writers, lived on the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire during the fourth century. Although he wrote polemical works against Jews and pagans, and identified with post-Nicene Christianity, his writings are also replete with parallels with Jewish traditions and he is the leading figure in an ongoing debate about the Jewish character of Syriac Christianity. This book focuses on early ideas about betrothal, marriage, and sexual relations, including their theological and legal implications, and positions Ephrem at a precise intersection between his Semitic origin and his Christian commitment. Alongside his adoption of customs and legal stances drawn from his Greco-Roman and Christian surroundings, Ephrem sometimes reveals unique legal concepts which are closer to early Palestinian, sectarian positions than to the Roman or Jewish worlds. The book therefore explains naturalistic legal thought in Christian literature and sheds light on the rise of Syriac Christianity.

The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research

The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 897
Release: 2012-11-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 900423604X

The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research provides up-to-date discussions of every major aspect of New Testament textual criticism. Written by internationally acknowledged experts, the twenty-four essays evaluate all significant advances in the field since the 1950s.

Scriptural Interpretation and Community Self-Definition in Luke-Acts and the Writings of Justin Martyr

Scriptural Interpretation and Community Self-Definition in Luke-Acts and the Writings of Justin Martyr
Author: Susan Wendel
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2011-02-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004189203

Although scholars often assume that Luke and Justin similarly claim the sacred texts of Jews for the non-Jewish church, this book offers a fresh analysis that uncovers significant differences between their respective depictions of the relationship between Christ-believers and the Jewish scriptures.

Worshipping a Crucified Man

Worshipping a Crucified Man
Author: Jeremy Hudson
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0227177355

By the mid-second century Christian writers were engaging in debates with educated audiences from non-Jewish Graeco-Roman cultural backgrounds. A remarkable feature of some of the texts from this period is how extensively they refer to the Jewish scriptures, even though those scriptures were unfamiliar to non-Jewish Graeco-Romans. In Worshipping a Crucified Man, Jeremy Hudson explores for the first time why this should have been so by examining three works by Christian converts originally educated in Graeco-Roman traditions: Justin Martyr’s First Apology, Tatian’s Oratio and Theophilus of Antioch’s Ad Autolycum. Hudson considers their literary strategies, their use of quotations and allusions and how they present the Jewish scriptures; all against the background of the Graeco-Roman literary culture familiar to both authors and audiences. The scriptures are presented as a critically defining feature of Christianity, instrumental in shaping the way the new religion presented itself, as it strove to engage with, and challenge, the cultural traditions of the Graeco-Roman world.

The Gospel of Tatian

The Gospel of Tatian
Author: Matthew R. Crawford
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2019-07-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567679896

This volume combines some of the leading voices on the composition and collection of early Christian gospels in order to analyze Tatian's Diatessaron. The rapid rise and sudden suppression of the Diatessaron has raised numerous questions about the nature and intent of this second-century composition. It has been claimed as both a vindication of the fourfold gospel's early canonical status and as an argument for the canon's on-going fluidity; it has been touted as both a premiere witness to the earliest recoverable gospel text and as an early corrupting influence on that text. Collectively, these essays provide the greatest advance in Diatessaronic scholarship in a quarter of a century. The contributors explore numerous questions: did Tatian intend to supplement or supplant the fourfold gospel? How many were his sources and how free was he with their text? How do we identify a Diatessaronic witness? Is it legitimate to use Tatian's Diatessaron as a source in New Testament textual criticism? Is a reconstruction of the Diatessaron still possible? These queries in turn contribute to the question of what the Diatessaron signifies with respect to the broader context of gospel writing, and what this can tell us about how the writing, rewriting and reception of gospel material functioned in the first and second centuries and beyond.

Early Christian Thinkers

Early Christian Thinkers
Author: Paul Foster
Publisher: SPCK
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2012-04-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0281065160

This book introduces twelve key Christians from the second and third centuries, a formative period for the Church. These figures are: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Perpetua, Origen, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgos and Eusebius. Each chapter is self-contained and requires no preliminary knowledge of the figure under discussion, making this an ideal book for laity and for undergraduates studying Christian origins or Patristics.

Barbarian or Greek?

Barbarian or Greek?
Author: Stamenka Antonova
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2018-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004306242

In her book Barbarian or Greek?: The Charge of Barbarism and Early Christian Apologetics, Stamenka Antonova examines different aspects of the charge of barbarism in the Greek and Latin Christian apologetic texts (2-4th centuries) and the various responses to it by the early Christians. The author demonstrates that the charge of barbarism encompasses a broad range of meanings, such as low social class, inadequate education, immorality, criminal activity, political treason, as well as foreign ethnicity and language. In addition to contextualizing the charge of barbarism in ancient rhetorical practices, the author also applies literary criticism and post-colonial theory to shed light on the concept of the barbarian as an ideological-rhetorical tool for othering, marginalization and persecution in the Roman Empire.

Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God

Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God
Author: Robert J. Wilkinson
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 599
Release: 2015-02-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004288171

The Christian Reception of the Hebrew name of God has not previously been described in such detail and over such an extended period. This work places that varied reception within the context of early Jewish and Christian texts; Patristic Studies; Jewish-Christian relationships; Mediaeval thought; the Renaissance and Reformation; the History of Printing; and the development of Christian Hebraism. The contribution of notions of the Tetragrammaton to orthodox doctrines and debates is exposed, as is the contribution its study made to non-orthodox imaginative constructs and theologies. Gnostic, Kabbalistic, Hermetic and magical texts are given equally detailed consideration. There emerge from this sustained and detailed examination several recurring themes concerning the difficulty of naming God, his being and his providence.