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Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
This volume, edited by M. Perkams and A. M. Schilling, goes back to a colloquium
held at the University of Jena (Germany) on the occasion of the 100th
anniversary of the tragic death of Mar Addai Scher, who fell victim to the
Armenian and Assyrian genocide in 1915. The book principally consists of the
papers presented at the colloquium and is supplemented by three other essays.
The volume aims to present an up-to-date overview of research on the reception
of Greek philosophy in the East Syriac (hereafter: ES) schools in the late
antique and early medieval periods. This goal is met, even though the word Wissenschaft in the title of the book is misleading since
the volume contains no contribution to the history of natural sciences in the ES
schools, a desideratum which Perkams notes in his introduction. However, the
German word Wissenschaft can refer not only to science
but also to knowledge or learning in general, and it is probably this meaning
that justifies its place in the title, for in his introduction Perkams speaks of
“christ-liche Wissenstradition.”
Various contributions focus on one of two areas which traditionally have constituted main points of scholarly interest: forms of education in the ES schools (primarily the famous school of Nisibis) and the reception of Greek philosophy (with special focus on Aristotelian logic). The book gives attention also to the figure and legacy of Addai Scher, the Chaldean bishop of Siirt.
In the introduction, Perkams outlines several characteristics of the ES
tradition of philosophy, upon which he further elaborates in his article
“Ostsyrische Philosophie: Die Rezeption und Ausarbeitung griechischen Denkens in
der Schule von Nisibis bis Barḥaḏbšabbā.” Thus, Perkams approaches ES philosophy
primarily in terms of the reception of the Greek
M. Heimgartner, in his article on the knowledge of Greek philosophy by the ES catholicos Timothy I, states that in the time of Timothy the term “Greek philosophy” was constituted from two elements: Aristotle’s logic and patristic literature. Heimgartner stresses that cultural and political factors stimulated Timothy’s interest in Aristotelian works: the language of logic was applicable both to polemics against other Christian groups and to dialogue with the Muslim elite.
N. Kavvadas’ essay elaborates on the latter aspect, i.e., the
Sitz im Leben of Aristotelian logic in the ES schools, and presents a
number of notable cases of what the author calls “Jargon der Logik.” In the
examples given, Kavvadas discovers similar patterns in the use of Greek logical
terminology, which turns out to be an instrument of power (“Sprache der Macht”).
This pattern most likely goes back to the philosophical and rhetorical training
of the Christian elite. This training included Aristotelian logic for polemical
purposes and aimed at providing students with a powerful instrument for
confronting both Christian and non-Christian opponents.
Such an approach towards Greek philosophy brings the ES educated elite close to
their WS counterpart. This observation is supported by several essays that
present a number of case studies, the results of which generally point in the
same direction, namely, to the idea of an interdependence of ES and WS
traditions. J. O. Schmitt revisits the question of Barhebraeus’ use of ES
sources and concludes that the WS maphrian was generally “open-minded towards
the Church of the East.” A. M. Schilling offers a detailed analysis of the
so-called “Koran-Florilegium,” preserved by the twelfth-century WS author
Dionysius bar Ṣalībī, which turns out to be dependent upon an eighth-century
work of the ES catholicos Timothy I. M. Perkams demonstrates that the Cause of the Foundation of the Schools, written in the
early seventh century by Barḥadbšabbā, to a large extent depends upon the Commentary on the Categories Addressed to Theodore,
composed in the early sixth century by Corpus Dionysiacum was
second-hand and derived most likely from monastic florilegia. Fiori’s article
points at the need for a more detailed analysis of the forms of transmission of
Greek philosophical works, not only in ES but also in WS sources.
All contributions mentioned thus far present the ES philosophical tradition not
as an isolated phenomenon, but as part of a broader process of a Syriac
reception of the Greek philosophical heritage. This process was to a large
extent shaped by new forms of Christian education at both the ES and WS schools.
Two articles published in the volume deal specifically with the ES educational
system. A. Becker sums up the main points of his monograph, which appeared in
2006. Thus, speaking about the ES schools, he stresses their relation to the
Babylonian rabbinic educational system and highlights their general rejection of
classical rhetorical education in favor of monastic ascetic practice.
Additionally, Becker describes in his essay the role Addai Scher played in the
modern “recovery of East Syrian scholastic culture.” Both Scher’s catalogues of
Syriac manuscripts preserved in the monastic libraries, and his editions of
historical sources, such as the works of Barḥadbšabbā and Theodore Bar Kōnī,
greatly contributed to our knowledge of the intellectual life of the Church of
the East. At the same time, Becker asks how the educational background of Scher
himself might have shaped his understanding of the history of the Church, and
thus also our understanding of it. U. Possekel’s article on the School of
Nisibis re-examines the extant sources on this most famous ES educational
establishment. Based mainly on the Statutes, the article
outlines the school’s history, structure, and educational profile, and points
out the school’s legal and financial autonomy, and even a certain autonomy from
the local bishop. The author draws parallels between the mechanisms of
succession of leadership in Nisibis and the non-Christian Greek philosophical
schools of
The volume contains an extensive bibliography, divided into sources and scholarly literature, which covers works referenced in all the contributions. A short but informative general index helps navigating the volume. Both the bibliography and the index furnish English titles and keywords alongside the German ones, thus enlarging the possible audience of the publication. Overall, the book is a useful collection of studies which, taken together, give a systematic and up-to-date picture of the history of reception of Greek philosophy in the Church of the East and of its school system in the late antique and early medieval periods.