Arabic version of "Incorruptible Bodies" translated by Bishoy Shukri and Maurice Wahib, with pref... more Arabic version of "Incorruptible Bodies" translated by Bishoy Shukri and Maurice Wahib, with prefaces to the Arabic version by the author, and by the translators. Published by Christian Orient, Cairo.
In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and... more In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus debated the nature of Jesus's body: Was it corruptible prior to its resurrection from the dead? Viewing the controversy in light of late antiquity’s multiple images of the ‘body of Christ,’ Yonatan Moss reveals the underlying political, ritual, and cultural stakes and the long-lasting effects of this fateful theological debate. "Incorruptible Bodies" combines sophisticated historical methods with philological rigor and theological precision, bringing to light an important chapter in the history of Christianity.
Introduction and Chapter 1 of "Incorruptible Bodies", laying out the book's "Stereoscopic Approac... more Introduction and Chapter 1 of "Incorruptible Bodies", laying out the book's "Stereoscopic Approach" to the sixth-century debate about the Body of Christ, and the theological aspects of the dispute between Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus.
This article charts the changing uses of the interconnected terms 'sect', 'sectarian', 'sectarian... more This article charts the changing uses of the interconnected terms 'sect', 'sectarian', 'sectarianist', and 'sectarianism' in the academic study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Following a review of the term sect's early roots in Greco-Roman antiquity and its distinctly Christian transformation, three main steps are analyzed in the genealogy of the category in modern scholarship: (1) deployments by Weber and his early followers; (2) an influential sociological turn in the latter half of the twentieth century; and (3) a sharp decline in the years around the turn of the century in the popularity of sect as a category, followed by a redefinition of its derivative terms ('sectarian', etc.) in recent years. Toward the end of the article, lessons are drawn from this genealogy for the future use of the category within scholarship.
Religious and Intellectual Diversity in the Islamicate World and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Sarah Stroumsa, eds., Omer Michaelis and Sabine Schmidtke, 2024
There is no writing in Genesis. The first time the writing verb appears in the Bible is in Ex. 17... more There is no writing in Genesis. The first time the writing verb appears in the Bible is in Ex. 17.14, when Moses is commanded to write down "for a memorial in a book" about the Amalekite attack against the newly escaped Israelites. From then on Moses is repeatedly associated with writing of all sorts. Was this fact taken by ancient, late ancient, and early medieval readers of the Bible to mean that he invented writing? Some associate Moses with the invention of writing, but none connect it to Ex. 17.14. Others provide different answers to the question of who first invented writing. A range of Jewish and Christian sources in a variety of languages is reviewed, from which emerge some surprising conclusions.
A close examination of early twentieth-century literature written in Hebrew and Yiddish reveals t... more A close examination of early twentieth-century literature written in Hebrew and Yiddish reveals that many of its first representations of Christianity put a central emphasis on Mary. This fact has been overlooked in previous scholarship fixated on the role of Jesus. Our article aims to fill this lacuna by focusing on Mary's appearance in a short, controversial story published in 1909 by Sholem Asch. Through a close reading of Mary's encounter with the matriarch Rachel, we define Asch's 'maternal model,' an alternative paradigm for Jewish-Christian relations. We argue that the marginalization of Mary from the scholarly conversation is not a slipup. Rather, it is part of a gendered scheme that prioritized Jesus over his mother and narratives of persecution and victimhood over care and obligation. We show how Asch's artfully constructed fictional formation offers a political position founded on empathy and interconnectivity.
Within the rich literary tradition of the West Syrian (i.e., Syriac Orthodox) Church, two ninth-c... more Within the rich literary tradition of the West Syrian (i.e., Syriac Orthodox) Church, two ninth-century authors stand out thanks to a curious problem. The authors are the bishops John of Dara, who lived in the first half of the century, and Moses bar Kepha, who died in northern Iraq in 903. The problem is the literary relationship between several of the texts transmitted in their names. Applying a three-pronged approach to this synoptic problem, this article offers a path toward a solution. On the basis of biographical, stylistic, and philological arguments, it is argued that at least one text that goes under John's name, On Heretics, was not in fact written by him. The author of that text, likely operating in the tenth century, drew heavily from Moses bar Kepha's treatise On Paradise, while reshaping the material from Moses, and also incorporating additional material from other sources.
Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and Martin Goodman, eds., Essays on Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity in Honour of Oded Irshai, 2023
This essay offers a new approach to interpreting the famous enigma of the Helios and zodiac mosai... more This essay offers a new approach to interpreting the famous enigma of the Helios and zodiac mosaics in Palestinian synagogues of late antiquity. It seeks to understand the phenomenon as a development enabled by imperial Christianity. The new panegyrical tradition inaugurated by the Constantinian shift provides evidence for a reconfiguration of imperial solar imagery which previously had been, prior to Constantine, closely associated with emperor worship. In the new, Christian imperial figuration, the emperor is no longer identified with the sun, and worshipped as such, but is only compared to the sun, both being subordinated to one God. It is precisely this religious change in imperial ideology, namely the surrounding culture’s desacralization of the heavenly bodies, that first made Byzantine Jews comfortable to proudly depict solar and zodiacal images within their synagogues. It is further suggested that the mosaics were possibly even first conceived to proclaim allegiance to this new type of imperial government, which late ancient Jews may have been more enthusiastic about, at least initially, than is commonly assumed. Whether the Helios mosaics were merely enabled by the Constantinian shift or are to be seen as an active declaration of adherence to the imperial government, this new approach’s broader historiographical ramifications for the study of Judaism and its relation to imperial Christianity in late antiquity are explored towards the end of the essay.
Joseph Patrich, Ora Limor, and Hillel Newman, eds., Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity: Introductions and Studies (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi), 1.259-300 (in Hebrew) , 2022
Survey of the Christian literature written in Palestine between Origen and Sophronius of Jerusale... more Survey of the Christian literature written in Palestine between Origen and Sophronius of Jerusalem, focusing on works written in Caesarea, Gaza, and Jerusalem. Using Bakhtinian terms, it is showed that works produced in Jerusalem follow monoglossic patterns familiar from the rest of the Christian world in late antiquity. The literature of Caesarea and Gaza, by contrast, innovated a series of heteroglossic writings that break with the general late ancient Christian landscape. The heteroglossic poetics of Caesarea and Gaza are compared to the poetics of late ancient Jewish works.
Emiliano Fiori and Bishara Ebeid, eds., Florilegia Syriaca: Mapping a Knowledge-Organizing Practice in the Syriac World (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements 179; Leiden: Brill), 2023
From Emiliano Fiori's Introduction to the Volume in which this article appeared, Florilegia Syria... more From Emiliano Fiori's Introduction to the Volume in which this article appeared, Florilegia Syriaca: Mapping a Knowledge-Organizing Practice in the Syriac World (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements 179; Leiden: Brill, 2023):
"In his chapter, Yonatan Moss tackles some core methodological questions of the volume. Why did the florilegium become a predominant mode of organizing, transmitting, and creating knowledge in the Syriac world? How did the process of selection from larger texts, and compilation in florilegia, work in practice? Moss’ proposal to explore these overarching questions is highly concrete. He asks whether there are any material traces of the selection and extraction processes of individual passages from the continuous texts and their incorporation into the florilegia. Moss precisely finds such traces in at least one continuous sixth-century manuscript—London, British Library Add. 14567— which contains “minor” works by John Chrysostom, in conjunction with several of the later theological florilegia. BL Add. 14567 comes with dozens of scribal notes appearing in the margins and serving a variety of functions. Structurally, the link between the marginal notations and the main body of the text in this manuscript has the same function as that between headings to excerpts and the excerpts themselves in the florilegia. But there is more. Moss tracks down several cases of word-for-word identity between notations found in BL Add. 14567 and headings found in subsequent florilegia, both referring to the same texts. This would seem to open a window unto one of the concrete processes through which the late ancient and early medieval Syriac florilegia were formed."
Within the framework of tracing the migration of scholia to florilegia this article offers a fundamental typology of scholia according to the strategies by which the gloss is connected to its lemma. These two types are "introvertive" vs. "extrovertive" scholia. The former point the reader to the text itself, providing signposts to the text and explaining it. The latter point outwards to a broader context, outside the text, often more connected to the world of the scholiast and his imagined reader than to the world of the text and its author."
How does one square Gal. 3.28 "...there is no male and female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus... more How does one square Gal. 3.28 "...there is no male and female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" with other statements in the Pauline corpus (e.g. 1 Cor. 11) which reinforce gender binaries and hierarchies? Following a categorization of the attempts (both traditional and scholarly) up to date to solve this problem, a new proposal is provided. I suggest viewing the coexistence of these two perspectives within the Pauline corpus as neither a contradiction, nor a harmonious whole, but as a fraught paradox. The meaning and ramifications of this suggestion are explored.
'I Am Not Writing an Apology': Samuel Krauss's Das Leben Jesu in Context, in Daniel Barbu and Yaacov Deutsch, eds., Toledot Yeshu in Context, 2020
An analysis of Samuel Krauss' (1866-1948) landmark publication, translation and study of Toledot ... more An analysis of Samuel Krauss' (1866-1948) landmark publication, translation and study of Toledot Yeshu, within the context of Krauss' own historical situation, operating with 'double-consciousness', as a Jewish scholar writing within a German Protestant context about a Jewish text concerning the origins of Christianity.
Aaron Butts and Simcha Gross, eds., Jews and Syriac Christians: Intersections across the First Millennium, 207-229, 2020
An examination of a cross-generational conversation on the interpretation of the genealogies in G... more An examination of a cross-generational conversation on the interpretation of the genealogies in Genesis 5 between the Syriac Christian polymath Jacob of Edessa (d. 708) and the Rabbanite intellectual powerhouse and community leader Saadia Gaon (882-942). Jacob claims that Jews purposefully altered the biblical chronology for anti-Christological reasons. Writing a little over two centuries later, Saadia Gaon responds to Jacob’s accusation with a counter-claim that it was Christians who altered the same text, for opposite reasons. This exchange provides a new window unto intersections between Jews and Christians. Unlike most cases from Late Antiquity, here we can read each side of the polemic. As a result, each side can be shown to illuminate our understanding of the other.
Ignatius of Antioch portrays his voyage to Rome as a journey which follows in Paul's footsteps, w... more Ignatius of Antioch portrays his voyage to Rome as a journey which follows in Paul's footsteps, while offering a diametrically opposite model of authority.
An edition, translation and study of a short West Syrian text anachronistically attributed to Cyr... more An edition, translation and study of a short West Syrian text anachronistically attributed to Cyril of Alexandria. The text claims that Islam is a syncretistic amalgamation of a range of different Jewish, Samaritan, pagan, and (orthodox and heretical) Christian beliefs and practices.
What language did Rashi use when he taught Talmud? His writings are in Hebrew and Aramaic, but we... more What language did Rashi use when he taught Talmud? His writings are in Hebrew and Aramaic, but were these also the languages of his oral instruction, or did he employ vernacular French? The question is discussed from four different socio-linguistic, historical, and grammatical angles. Evidence is presented for the interference of French in Rashi's Aramaic writing.
Judging from the contents of the large West Syriac dogmatic florilegia from the 8th-10th centurie... more Judging from the contents of the large West Syriac dogmatic florilegia from the 8th-10th centuries, there were four main doctrinal controversies that defined the theological profile of the Syrian-Orthodox Church: the Chalcedonian question of one-or-two natures in Christ; the debate about the corruptibility of the body of Christ prior to the resurrection; the "Agnoetic" controversy about whether Jesus was subject to ignorance; and the "Tritheist" debate about the precise relationship inhering between the persons of the Trinity. Focusing on all but the first of these four controversies, this paper shows that while all arising within the span of only three decades in the mid-sixth century, it was only the incorruptibility debate that did not fizzle out by the beginning of the seventh century. On the contrary, this controversy about the corruptibility of the body of Christ continued to split the Miaphysite community well into the ninth century. This paper offers an explanation as to why this was the case.
Through an examination of their respective treatments of the resurrection of the dead, this artic... more Through an examination of their respective treatments of the resurrection of the dead, this article argues that the ninth-century, northern Mesopotamian Syriac authors John of Dara and Moses bar Kepha provide a key to understanding Saadia Gaon’s knowledge of Christianity and his overarching project of “hellenizing” rabbinic Judaism under Abbasid Islam.
How did so much of anti-Chalcedonian Severus’ original Greek writings become preserved by his Cha... more How did so much of anti-Chalcedonian Severus’ original Greek writings become preserved by his Chalcedonian enemies? Close examination of the evidence leads to the conclusion that this was brought about by early efforts on the part of Severus' followers to incorporate fragments of Severus' writings throughout the biblical catenae. Once incorporated, the ecumenical bent of the catena genre allowed these numerous fragments to stay.
Arabic version of "Incorruptible Bodies" translated by Bishoy Shukri and Maurice Wahib, with pref... more Arabic version of "Incorruptible Bodies" translated by Bishoy Shukri and Maurice Wahib, with prefaces to the Arabic version by the author, and by the translators. Published by Christian Orient, Cairo.
In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and... more In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus debated the nature of Jesus's body: Was it corruptible prior to its resurrection from the dead? Viewing the controversy in light of late antiquity’s multiple images of the ‘body of Christ,’ Yonatan Moss reveals the underlying political, ritual, and cultural stakes and the long-lasting effects of this fateful theological debate. "Incorruptible Bodies" combines sophisticated historical methods with philological rigor and theological precision, bringing to light an important chapter in the history of Christianity.
Introduction and Chapter 1 of "Incorruptible Bodies", laying out the book's "Stereoscopic Approac... more Introduction and Chapter 1 of "Incorruptible Bodies", laying out the book's "Stereoscopic Approach" to the sixth-century debate about the Body of Christ, and the theological aspects of the dispute between Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus.
This article charts the changing uses of the interconnected terms 'sect', 'sectarian', 'sectarian... more This article charts the changing uses of the interconnected terms 'sect', 'sectarian', 'sectarianist', and 'sectarianism' in the academic study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Following a review of the term sect's early roots in Greco-Roman antiquity and its distinctly Christian transformation, three main steps are analyzed in the genealogy of the category in modern scholarship: (1) deployments by Weber and his early followers; (2) an influential sociological turn in the latter half of the twentieth century; and (3) a sharp decline in the years around the turn of the century in the popularity of sect as a category, followed by a redefinition of its derivative terms ('sectarian', etc.) in recent years. Toward the end of the article, lessons are drawn from this genealogy for the future use of the category within scholarship.
Religious and Intellectual Diversity in the Islamicate World and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Sarah Stroumsa, eds., Omer Michaelis and Sabine Schmidtke, 2024
There is no writing in Genesis. The first time the writing verb appears in the Bible is in Ex. 17... more There is no writing in Genesis. The first time the writing verb appears in the Bible is in Ex. 17.14, when Moses is commanded to write down "for a memorial in a book" about the Amalekite attack against the newly escaped Israelites. From then on Moses is repeatedly associated with writing of all sorts. Was this fact taken by ancient, late ancient, and early medieval readers of the Bible to mean that he invented writing? Some associate Moses with the invention of writing, but none connect it to Ex. 17.14. Others provide different answers to the question of who first invented writing. A range of Jewish and Christian sources in a variety of languages is reviewed, from which emerge some surprising conclusions.
A close examination of early twentieth-century literature written in Hebrew and Yiddish reveals t... more A close examination of early twentieth-century literature written in Hebrew and Yiddish reveals that many of its first representations of Christianity put a central emphasis on Mary. This fact has been overlooked in previous scholarship fixated on the role of Jesus. Our article aims to fill this lacuna by focusing on Mary's appearance in a short, controversial story published in 1909 by Sholem Asch. Through a close reading of Mary's encounter with the matriarch Rachel, we define Asch's 'maternal model,' an alternative paradigm for Jewish-Christian relations. We argue that the marginalization of Mary from the scholarly conversation is not a slipup. Rather, it is part of a gendered scheme that prioritized Jesus over his mother and narratives of persecution and victimhood over care and obligation. We show how Asch's artfully constructed fictional formation offers a political position founded on empathy and interconnectivity.
Within the rich literary tradition of the West Syrian (i.e., Syriac Orthodox) Church, two ninth-c... more Within the rich literary tradition of the West Syrian (i.e., Syriac Orthodox) Church, two ninth-century authors stand out thanks to a curious problem. The authors are the bishops John of Dara, who lived in the first half of the century, and Moses bar Kepha, who died in northern Iraq in 903. The problem is the literary relationship between several of the texts transmitted in their names. Applying a three-pronged approach to this synoptic problem, this article offers a path toward a solution. On the basis of biographical, stylistic, and philological arguments, it is argued that at least one text that goes under John's name, On Heretics, was not in fact written by him. The author of that text, likely operating in the tenth century, drew heavily from Moses bar Kepha's treatise On Paradise, while reshaping the material from Moses, and also incorporating additional material from other sources.
Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and Martin Goodman, eds., Essays on Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity in Honour of Oded Irshai, 2023
This essay offers a new approach to interpreting the famous enigma of the Helios and zodiac mosai... more This essay offers a new approach to interpreting the famous enigma of the Helios and zodiac mosaics in Palestinian synagogues of late antiquity. It seeks to understand the phenomenon as a development enabled by imperial Christianity. The new panegyrical tradition inaugurated by the Constantinian shift provides evidence for a reconfiguration of imperial solar imagery which previously had been, prior to Constantine, closely associated with emperor worship. In the new, Christian imperial figuration, the emperor is no longer identified with the sun, and worshipped as such, but is only compared to the sun, both being subordinated to one God. It is precisely this religious change in imperial ideology, namely the surrounding culture’s desacralization of the heavenly bodies, that first made Byzantine Jews comfortable to proudly depict solar and zodiacal images within their synagogues. It is further suggested that the mosaics were possibly even first conceived to proclaim allegiance to this new type of imperial government, which late ancient Jews may have been more enthusiastic about, at least initially, than is commonly assumed. Whether the Helios mosaics were merely enabled by the Constantinian shift or are to be seen as an active declaration of adherence to the imperial government, this new approach’s broader historiographical ramifications for the study of Judaism and its relation to imperial Christianity in late antiquity are explored towards the end of the essay.
Joseph Patrich, Ora Limor, and Hillel Newman, eds., Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity: Introductions and Studies (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi), 1.259-300 (in Hebrew) , 2022
Survey of the Christian literature written in Palestine between Origen and Sophronius of Jerusale... more Survey of the Christian literature written in Palestine between Origen and Sophronius of Jerusalem, focusing on works written in Caesarea, Gaza, and Jerusalem. Using Bakhtinian terms, it is showed that works produced in Jerusalem follow monoglossic patterns familiar from the rest of the Christian world in late antiquity. The literature of Caesarea and Gaza, by contrast, innovated a series of heteroglossic writings that break with the general late ancient Christian landscape. The heteroglossic poetics of Caesarea and Gaza are compared to the poetics of late ancient Jewish works.
Emiliano Fiori and Bishara Ebeid, eds., Florilegia Syriaca: Mapping a Knowledge-Organizing Practice in the Syriac World (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements 179; Leiden: Brill), 2023
From Emiliano Fiori's Introduction to the Volume in which this article appeared, Florilegia Syria... more From Emiliano Fiori's Introduction to the Volume in which this article appeared, Florilegia Syriaca: Mapping a Knowledge-Organizing Practice in the Syriac World (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements 179; Leiden: Brill, 2023):
"In his chapter, Yonatan Moss tackles some core methodological questions of the volume. Why did the florilegium become a predominant mode of organizing, transmitting, and creating knowledge in the Syriac world? How did the process of selection from larger texts, and compilation in florilegia, work in practice? Moss’ proposal to explore these overarching questions is highly concrete. He asks whether there are any material traces of the selection and extraction processes of individual passages from the continuous texts and their incorporation into the florilegia. Moss precisely finds such traces in at least one continuous sixth-century manuscript—London, British Library Add. 14567— which contains “minor” works by John Chrysostom, in conjunction with several of the later theological florilegia. BL Add. 14567 comes with dozens of scribal notes appearing in the margins and serving a variety of functions. Structurally, the link between the marginal notations and the main body of the text in this manuscript has the same function as that between headings to excerpts and the excerpts themselves in the florilegia. But there is more. Moss tracks down several cases of word-for-word identity between notations found in BL Add. 14567 and headings found in subsequent florilegia, both referring to the same texts. This would seem to open a window unto one of the concrete processes through which the late ancient and early medieval Syriac florilegia were formed."
Within the framework of tracing the migration of scholia to florilegia this article offers a fundamental typology of scholia according to the strategies by which the gloss is connected to its lemma. These two types are "introvertive" vs. "extrovertive" scholia. The former point the reader to the text itself, providing signposts to the text and explaining it. The latter point outwards to a broader context, outside the text, often more connected to the world of the scholiast and his imagined reader than to the world of the text and its author."
How does one square Gal. 3.28 "...there is no male and female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus... more How does one square Gal. 3.28 "...there is no male and female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" with other statements in the Pauline corpus (e.g. 1 Cor. 11) which reinforce gender binaries and hierarchies? Following a categorization of the attempts (both traditional and scholarly) up to date to solve this problem, a new proposal is provided. I suggest viewing the coexistence of these two perspectives within the Pauline corpus as neither a contradiction, nor a harmonious whole, but as a fraught paradox. The meaning and ramifications of this suggestion are explored.
'I Am Not Writing an Apology': Samuel Krauss's Das Leben Jesu in Context, in Daniel Barbu and Yaacov Deutsch, eds., Toledot Yeshu in Context, 2020
An analysis of Samuel Krauss' (1866-1948) landmark publication, translation and study of Toledot ... more An analysis of Samuel Krauss' (1866-1948) landmark publication, translation and study of Toledot Yeshu, within the context of Krauss' own historical situation, operating with 'double-consciousness', as a Jewish scholar writing within a German Protestant context about a Jewish text concerning the origins of Christianity.
Aaron Butts and Simcha Gross, eds., Jews and Syriac Christians: Intersections across the First Millennium, 207-229, 2020
An examination of a cross-generational conversation on the interpretation of the genealogies in G... more An examination of a cross-generational conversation on the interpretation of the genealogies in Genesis 5 between the Syriac Christian polymath Jacob of Edessa (d. 708) and the Rabbanite intellectual powerhouse and community leader Saadia Gaon (882-942). Jacob claims that Jews purposefully altered the biblical chronology for anti-Christological reasons. Writing a little over two centuries later, Saadia Gaon responds to Jacob’s accusation with a counter-claim that it was Christians who altered the same text, for opposite reasons. This exchange provides a new window unto intersections between Jews and Christians. Unlike most cases from Late Antiquity, here we can read each side of the polemic. As a result, each side can be shown to illuminate our understanding of the other.
Ignatius of Antioch portrays his voyage to Rome as a journey which follows in Paul's footsteps, w... more Ignatius of Antioch portrays his voyage to Rome as a journey which follows in Paul's footsteps, while offering a diametrically opposite model of authority.
An edition, translation and study of a short West Syrian text anachronistically attributed to Cyr... more An edition, translation and study of a short West Syrian text anachronistically attributed to Cyril of Alexandria. The text claims that Islam is a syncretistic amalgamation of a range of different Jewish, Samaritan, pagan, and (orthodox and heretical) Christian beliefs and practices.
What language did Rashi use when he taught Talmud? His writings are in Hebrew and Aramaic, but we... more What language did Rashi use when he taught Talmud? His writings are in Hebrew and Aramaic, but were these also the languages of his oral instruction, or did he employ vernacular French? The question is discussed from four different socio-linguistic, historical, and grammatical angles. Evidence is presented for the interference of French in Rashi's Aramaic writing.
Judging from the contents of the large West Syriac dogmatic florilegia from the 8th-10th centurie... more Judging from the contents of the large West Syriac dogmatic florilegia from the 8th-10th centuries, there were four main doctrinal controversies that defined the theological profile of the Syrian-Orthodox Church: the Chalcedonian question of one-or-two natures in Christ; the debate about the corruptibility of the body of Christ prior to the resurrection; the "Agnoetic" controversy about whether Jesus was subject to ignorance; and the "Tritheist" debate about the precise relationship inhering between the persons of the Trinity. Focusing on all but the first of these four controversies, this paper shows that while all arising within the span of only three decades in the mid-sixth century, it was only the incorruptibility debate that did not fizzle out by the beginning of the seventh century. On the contrary, this controversy about the corruptibility of the body of Christ continued to split the Miaphysite community well into the ninth century. This paper offers an explanation as to why this was the case.
Through an examination of their respective treatments of the resurrection of the dead, this artic... more Through an examination of their respective treatments of the resurrection of the dead, this article argues that the ninth-century, northern Mesopotamian Syriac authors John of Dara and Moses bar Kepha provide a key to understanding Saadia Gaon’s knowledge of Christianity and his overarching project of “hellenizing” rabbinic Judaism under Abbasid Islam.
How did so much of anti-Chalcedonian Severus’ original Greek writings become preserved by his Cha... more How did so much of anti-Chalcedonian Severus’ original Greek writings become preserved by his Chalcedonian enemies? Close examination of the evidence leads to the conclusion that this was brought about by early efforts on the part of Severus' followers to incorporate fragments of Severus' writings throughout the biblical catenae. Once incorporated, the ecumenical bent of the catena genre allowed these numerous fragments to stay.
Ever since Peter Brown's famous essay on his rise and function, the holy man of the the fifth and... more Ever since Peter Brown's famous essay on his rise and function, the holy man of the the fifth and sixth centuries has received volumes of scholarly attention. Less noticed, however, has been the parallel, contemporary challenge to this concept, manifestations of which we witness in later antique culture. Evidence to this effect is examined from the works of Severus of Antioch. Severus contests the authority of dreams, prophecies and miracles. The challenge to charismatic authority goes hand in hand with a parallel phenomenon chraracteristic of Severus' works: his valorization of intellectual authority. This intellectual authority lies, as it does in the Babylonian Talmud (possibly redacted during Severus' lifetime), in an expert knowledge of one's revered textual tradition in one's exegetical ability to harmonize contradictions within this tradition. The comparative example of the Babylonian Talmud, as well as evidence from the Quran, conspire with the material from Severus to demonstrate that alongside the late antique holy man, there was also a contemporary, cross-cultural current that prioritized holy messages and intellectual argumentation above holy people and miraculous deeds in the determination of theological truth.
Through an examination of the early 6th century debate between Severus of Antioch and Julian of H... more Through an examination of the early 6th century debate between Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus about the incorruptibility of the body of Christ, this essay uncovers the novelty of Severus's rhetoric and exegesis. Severus confers on certain ecclesiastical authors a new status as inerrant and completely harmonious dogmatic authorities, decontextualized from their historical backgrounds. This leads to their reinvention as Church Fathers. The roots of this new conception are to be found in the combined application of legal hermeneutics and biblical notions of divine inspiration. However, Severus's institutionalization of the Fathers paradoxically also entails a more individual approach to them, in which the son exegetically reshapes the fathers in his own theological image.
Conference to be held, in Hebrew, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on June 27, 2024, marking... more Conference to be held, in Hebrew, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on June 27, 2024, marking 750 years since the death of Thomas Aquinas.
Following the success of the first, 2023, "Studying Syriac in the Holy Land" conference, which br... more Following the success of the first, 2023, "Studying Syriac in the Holy Land" conference, which brought together scholars from a range of disciplines in Syriac studies, from universities across Israel, Hebrew University's Center for the Study of Christianity hosts its second, 2024, conference, along similar lines, with a new roster of scholars.
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"In his chapter, Yonatan Moss tackles some core methodological questions of the volume. Why did the florilegium become a predominant mode of organizing, transmitting, and creating knowledge in the Syriac world? How did the process of selection from larger texts, and compilation in florilegia, work in practice? Moss’ proposal to explore these overarching questions is highly concrete. He asks whether there are any material traces of the selection and extraction processes of individual passages from the continuous texts and their incorporation into the florilegia. Moss precisely finds such traces in at least one continuous sixth-century manuscript—London, British Library Add. 14567— which contains “minor” works by John Chrysostom, in conjunction with several of the later theological florilegia. BL Add. 14567 comes with dozens of scribal notes appearing in the margins and serving a variety of functions. Structurally, the link between the marginal notations and the main body of the text in this manuscript has the same function as that between headings to excerpts and the excerpts themselves in the florilegia. But there is more. Moss tracks down several cases of word-for-word identity between notations found in BL Add. 14567 and headings found in subsequent florilegia, both referring to the same texts. This would seem to open a window unto one of the concrete processes through which the late ancient and early medieval Syriac florilegia were formed."
Within the framework of tracing the migration of scholia to florilegia this article offers a fundamental typology of scholia according to the strategies by which the gloss is connected to its lemma. These two types are "introvertive" vs. "extrovertive" scholia. The former point the reader to the text itself, providing signposts to the text and explaining it. The latter point outwards to a broader context, outside the text, often more connected to the world of the scholiast and his imagined reader than to the world of the text and its author."
"In his chapter, Yonatan Moss tackles some core methodological questions of the volume. Why did the florilegium become a predominant mode of organizing, transmitting, and creating knowledge in the Syriac world? How did the process of selection from larger texts, and compilation in florilegia, work in practice? Moss’ proposal to explore these overarching questions is highly concrete. He asks whether there are any material traces of the selection and extraction processes of individual passages from the continuous texts and their incorporation into the florilegia. Moss precisely finds such traces in at least one continuous sixth-century manuscript—London, British Library Add. 14567— which contains “minor” works by John Chrysostom, in conjunction with several of the later theological florilegia. BL Add. 14567 comes with dozens of scribal notes appearing in the margins and serving a variety of functions. Structurally, the link between the marginal notations and the main body of the text in this manuscript has the same function as that between headings to excerpts and the excerpts themselves in the florilegia. But there is more. Moss tracks down several cases of word-for-word identity between notations found in BL Add. 14567 and headings found in subsequent florilegia, both referring to the same texts. This would seem to open a window unto one of the concrete processes through which the late ancient and early medieval Syriac florilegia were formed."
Within the framework of tracing the migration of scholia to florilegia this article offers a fundamental typology of scholia according to the strategies by which the gloss is connected to its lemma. These two types are "introvertive" vs. "extrovertive" scholia. The former point the reader to the text itself, providing signposts to the text and explaining it. The latter point outwards to a broader context, outside the text, often more connected to the world of the scholiast and his imagined reader than to the world of the text and its author."