After Bardaisan

The present collection of twenty-five studies represents the general theme of 'continuity and change', as applied to various topics connected with the rich heritage of Syriac culture. These studies cover the period from the early third to the fourteenth centuries, with an incidental excursion into modern times. The focal areas are early Syriac Christianity and its Umwelt and the later West Syrian and East Syrian traditions. Most of the contributions deal with historical subjects, with the general theme elaborated in two different directions: first, ecclesiastical history, monasticism, hagiography and theology, and second, secular history, literature, scholarship, ideas and religions. In a more specific sense the contributions focus on patterns of cultural continuity and change, such as the influence and reception of Greek secular and theological culture and literature, developments within early and later Syriac asceticism, religious controversy, the interaction between different religious communities, and the effects of major political and social changes on the cultural and religious life of the various Syriac communities. One of the most radical political changes in the Middle East concerns the Arab conquest and the rise of Islam in the seventh century. Some authors explicitly discuss the consequences of these changes for the Christian (Syriac and Armenian) populations. The effects of these historical events on intellectual, social and economic life are some of the topics discussed in this connection. Of particular interest is the number of newly edited Syriac texts in this volume, which make available translations of Greek theological works, works resulting from the reception of pagan philosophy, and magic texts reflecting popular belief.

Origen has been always studied as a theologian and too much credit has been given to Eusebius’ implausible hagiography of him. This book explores who Origen really was, by pondering into his philosophical background, which determines his theological exposition implicitly, yet decisively. For this background to come to light, it took a ground-breaking exposition of Anaxagoras’ philosophy and its legacy to Classical and Late Antiquity (Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Origen, Neoplatonism), assessing critically Aristotle’s distorted representation of Anaxagoras. Origen, formerly a Greek philosopher of note, whom Proclus styled an anti-Platonist, is placed in the history of philosophy for the first time. By drawing on his Anaxagorean background, and being the first to revive the Anaxagorean Theory of Logoi, he paved the way to Nicaea. He was an anti-Platonist because he was an Anaxagorean philosopher with far-reaching influence, also on Neoplatonists such as Porphyry. His theology made an impact not only on the Cappadocians, but also on later Christian authors. His theory of the soul, now expounded in the light of his philosophical background, turns out more orthodox than that of some Christian stars of the Byzantine imperial orthodoxy.

Comparing paradise imagery in two Persian religions, early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, this work contributes to religious studies methodology by introducing "symbolic paradigm analysis."

The Protevangelium of James is arguably the earliest surviving source that exhibits profound interest in Mary, the mother of Jesus. Although frequently cited for later Christian reflections about Mary, gender, and virginity and its influence on popular Christian art, music, and literature, it is not well known outside academic circles and is rarely studied for its own sake. Lily C. Vuong offers a sustained analysis of the text's narrative and literary features in order to explore the portrayal and characterization of Mary through a focus on the theme of purity. By tracing the various ways purity is described and presented in the text, the author contributes to discussions on early Jewish and Christian ideas about purity, representations of women in the ancient world, the early history of Mariology, and the place of non-canonical writings in the history of biblical interpretation.

The book deals with thinkers and movements that were embraced by many second-century religious seekers but which are now largely forgotten or known only as “heretics”: Basilides, Sethianism, Valentinus’ school, Marcion, Tatian, Bardaisan, Montanists, Cerinthus, Ebionites, Nazarenes, Jewish-Christianity of the Pseudo-Clementines, and Elchasites.

Were slavery and social injustice leading to dire poverty in antiquity and late antiquity only regarded as normal, "natural" (Aristotle), or at best something morally "indifferent" (the Stoics), or, in the Christian milieu, a sad but inevitable consequence of the Fall, or even an expression of God's unquestionable will? Social Justice and the Legitimacy of Slavery shows that there were also definitive condemnations of slavery and social injustice as iniquitous and even impious, and that these came especially from ascetics, both in Judaism and in Christianity, and occasionally also in Greco-Roman ("pagan") philosophy. Ilaria L. E. Ramelli argues that this depends on a link not only between asceticism and renunciation, but also between asceticism and justice, at least in ancient and late antique philosophical asceticism. Ramelli provides a careful investigation through all of Ancient Philosophy (not only Aristotle and the Stoics, but also the Sophists, Socrates, Plato, the Neoplatonists, and much more), Ancient to Rabbinic Judaism, Hellenistic Jewish ascetic groups such as the Essenes and the Therapeutae, all of the New Testament, with special focus on Paul and Jesus, and Greek, Latin, and Syriac Patristic, from Clement and Origen to the Cappadocians, from John Chrysostom to Theodoret to Byzantine monastics, from Ambrose to Augustine, from Bardaisan to Aphrahat, without neglecting the Christianized Sentences of Sextus. In particular, Ramelli considers Gregory of Nyssa and the interrelation between theory and practice in all of these ancient and patristic philosophers, as well as to the parallels that emerge in their arguments against slavery and against social injustice.