Alberto Rigolio, Christians in Conversation:
A Guide to Late Antique Dialogues in Greek and Syriac (Oxford: University
Press, 2019)
J. Edward
Walters
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
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James E. Walters
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2023
Volume 26.1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv26n1prwalters
J. Edward Walters
Alberto Rigolio, Christians in Conversation:
A Guide to Late Antique Dialogues in Greek and Syriac (Oxford: University
Press, 2019)
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol26/HV26N1PRWalters.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2023
vol 26
issue 1
pp 311-315
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.
File created by James E. Walters
Alberto Rigolio, Christians in Conversation:
A Guide to Late Antique Dialogues in Greek and Syriac (Oxford: University
Press, 2019). Pp. xii + 297; $105.
Scholars of both classical literature and Christian literature
of late antiquity are certainly acquainted with texts that are presented in dialogue
format, whether as a didactic tool or as a representation of a “real” historical
conversation. Despite obvious connections, much previous scholarship on these bodies
of literature has resisted the idea that late ancient Christian dialogues are an
extension of the classical genre, preferring instead to view Christian dialogues as
merely derivative in form and propagandistic in function. Yet, while some Christian
dialogue texts have been studied at length (e.g., Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho) many others remain understudied and undervalued as
comparative points of study with classical dialogues. The present volume thus serves
(at least) two purposes: first, the author, Alberto Rigolio provides a basic
introduction to sixty Christian dialogue texts preserved in Greek and Syriac, many
of which are little-known works, and second, Rigolio demonstrates time and again the
ways that these late ancient dialogues show awareness of and/or influence by
classical dialogues.
In format, the volume Christians in Conversation is essentially a
handbook for Christian dialogue texts in Greek and Syriac, with a single
introductory chapter followed by the “guide” with sixty distinct entries for the
dialogue texts being introduced. In the introduction, the author deftly covers a
range of topics pertinent to the volume’s structure and content. First, Rigolio
provides justification for the linguistic and chronological boundaries that
determine which dialogue texts have been included. The volume is limited to Greek
and Syriac. Rigolio notes that Latin dialogues have already been treated
systematically P.
L. Schmidt, “Zur Typologie und Literarisierung des frühchristlichen
lateinischen Dialogs,” in Al. Cameron, ed., Christianisme et formes littéraires de l’Antiquité
Tardive en Occident (Geneva, 1977), 109-190. whereas
Greek and Syriac dialogues “remain in greater need of systematic work” (3). The
chronological scope of the volume begins with the earliest extant Christian dialogue
texts of the second century and extends up to the beginning of the seventh century.
Rigolio justifies this cutoff point by noting various developments in the dialogue
genre that took place over the course of the seventh century that would have made
the present work more complicated. Among these developments are the advent of
Christian-Muslim dialogues, which likely would have required the volume to expand
into Arabic and perhaps Coptic sources as well. Additionally, there are a number of
Syriac dialogue poems of unknown composition date that would have needed to be
included if the range had been extended beyond 600 CE. So, this chronological
framework was likely a wise editorial decision for the scope of the volume. Indeed,
Rigolio notes that this is largely an artificial chronological division, which
should not “overemphasize conventional divides” (3). Otherwise, Rigolio provides
justification for the exclusion of short dialogues that are inserted within
otherwise narrative texts, and texts that are more properly described as “Question
and Answer” format (erotapokrisis) rather than dialogue.
Rigolio addresses this distinction at some length (pp. 22–24).
Throughout the remainder of the introduction, Rigolio surveys
previous literature on the dialogue genre for both classical and late antique
Christian literature. The author is—again, wisely—reluctant to propose a formal
typology of what constitutes a “dialogue” based on the various tropes and
characteristics shared across the genre. Nevertheless, he has provided a detailed
list in table format (pp. 34–36) of the various formal features that are common to
dialogues, noting which texts discussed in the volume include each feature.
Ultimately, Rigolio makes an appeal—building on recent work by Averil Cameron, Kate
Cooper, and Matthew Dal Santo—for late ancient Christian dialogues to be read and
understood as a natural development of—and not a radical departure from—classical
dialogues. Indeed, as Rigolio contends, the dialogue genre did not disappear
altogether after classical antiquity, but “emerged transformed and reinvigorated in
the religiously diverse world of late antiquity” (36).
The entries for the sixty dialogue texts featured in the guide
follow a standardized format, though each entry varies in length, depending on the
text. Some entries are quite short, such as no. 10, an anonymous fragmentary
“Anti-Jewish Dialogue” which takes up less than a single page, while others require
significantly more attention because of their complexity and/or history of
scholarship. Methodius’ Symposium (no. 13), by comparison,
takes up roughly five and half pages. Each entry begins with a list of standardized
data about the text: author, full title (generally provided in native
language/script), original language, date of composition, edition(s), and modern
translation(s). Following this list, most entries include two distinct sections: 1)
summary and 2) discussion of scholarship. For many of the shorter entries, however,
these two sections are combined under a single heading. Finally, each entry
concludes with a short bibliography specific to the scholarship on that text.
This volume is a welcome addition to scholarship on dialogues in
Greek and Syriac. While the practical concerns of the chronological boundaries for
the volume are certainly understandable, Syriac scholars in particular may wish that
the artificial boundaries had allowed for the inclusion of at least some dialogue
poems (sogyātā), even if many of them are anonymous and
difficult to date. Even without the sogyātā, however, the
present work provides a now standard reference work for those who wish to delve into
the dialogue genre in both Greek and Syriac. Hopefully this volume will encourage
even more scholarship on these important works.
***
Appendix: List of Syriac Works discussed
in the volume In each case I have simply provided the name/title conventions employed by
Rigolio.
Readers of Hugoye will likely be most
interested in the Syriac texts discussed in the volume. Thus, for quick reference, I
have created a list that provides the entry number and titles of the Syriac
texts—that is, texts that were either composed in Syriac or for which the primary
surviving witness is a Syriac translation. I have not included every single text that has a
Syriac witness in addition to a surviving Greek witness.
Entry
Number
Author
(if known)
Text
title
4
?Hippolytus
Chapters against Gaius
5
Philip Bardaisanite
The
Book of the Laws of the
Countries (also includes a discussion of Bardaisan’s lost dialogues)
6
Anonymous
Erostrophus
8
Gregory the Wonderworker
Discourse of Saint Gregory the Great to Theopompus, on the
Impassibility of God
37
Theodotus of Ancyra
Contra
Nestorium
38
Nestorius
Adversus Theopaschitas
39
Nestorius
Dialogue in the Bazaar of Heracleides
41
John of Apamea
Six
Dialogues with Thomas
42
John of Apamea
Four
Dialogues with Eusebius and Eutropius
43
John of Apamea
Discourse on the Mystery of Baptism
48
Zacharias of Mytilene
Life of
Severus
54
John bar Aphthonia
Conversation with the Syrian Orthodox under Justinian
58
Paul of Nisibis
Conversation with Caesar