Review of: Sebastian Brock, Fire from Heaven: Studies in Syriac Theology and Liturgy
David G. K.
Taylor
University of Oxford
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2008
Vol. 11, No. 1
For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full
copyright.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/HV11N1PRTaylor
David G.K. Taylor
Review of: Sebastian Brock, Fire from Heaven: Studies in Syriac Theology and Liturgy
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol11/HV11N1PRTaylor.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 11
issue 1
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.
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[1] �Fire
from Heaven� is the fourth volume of Sebastian Brock�s
collected articles in the Variorum Collected Studies
Series
The previous volumes were: Syriac Perspectives
on Late Antiquity (VCSS 199, 1984); Studies in Syriac
Christianity (VCSS 357, 1992); From Ephrem to Romanos:
Interactions between Syriac and Greek in Late Antiquity
(VCSS 664, 1999).
(the titles of all the papers are listed in full
at the end of this review), and as the title of the volume
suggests, a majority of the papers (10 out of 17) are related
to the invocation and descent of the Holy Spirit in Syriac
sources. Four of these (X-XIII) explore the history and
development of the technical vocabulary used in Syriac to
describe this descent (primarily aggen, but also
shrā, n
h
et, ra
hh
ep) in biblical, liturgical, and
homiletic texts. Other papers (V-VI) address the visualisation
of this descent in the form of fire, and the Syriac development
of the concept that the Holy Spirit is essentially female,
leading certain writers and texts to describe her as �Mother�.
Three papers (VII-IX) focus on the eucharistic anaphoras and
epicleses, and it is worth noting that VIII includes a very
useful table listing all 71 of the known West Syrian anaphoras,
together with references to available editions or, if
unpublished, inclusion in key manuscripts. A final paper (XIV)
in this section examines the debate among Syriac writers about
how best to translate ruah
elohim in Genesis 1.2.
[2] The
volume begins with three important articles on the christology
of the Church of the East which will be of great assistance to
anyone who has to grapple with the theological complexities
involved. All three include variant versions of a table which
graphically demonstrates the extraordinary range of
christological opinions that were being expounded in the fifth
to seventh centuries, and seeks to undermine the arguments of
reductionists who wish to focus on just two or three rival
schools of thought. This table will be well-known to
Sebastian�s colleagues and former students, nearly all of whom
have copied it and made use of it shamelessly in their own
teaching! (The version of the table in paper II is the most
complete, but cross-reference to the others will add
clarification.) The fourth paper is a stimulating discussion of
the theme of Christ as hostage, hmayrā, in East Syriac
thought.
[3] The
volume ends with three articles on early Syriac liturgical
commentaries. Papers XV and XVI provide an edition,
translation, and analysis of a single short, but highly
influential, commentary on the baptismal and eucharistic
liturgies which predates the fifth-century church divisions and
is preserved in Syriac in Melkite and Syrian Orthodox
manuscripts, as well as in a fragmentary Soghdian translation
produced by the Church of the East. Article XVII is a
translation and study of the early seventh-century commentary
on the liturgy by Gabriel of Qatar. (Unfortunately the lengthy
Syriac edition of the text, included in the original article,
is not reprinted here, but can be consulted online in
Hugoye Vol. 6.2 [July
2003]).
[4]
Sebastian Brock�s scholarship is, as always, ground-breaking
and of outstanding quality, and given that his work is
frequently published in a diverse range of journals and
Festschriften, some more easily found in libraries than others,
the convenience of having these articles collected together in
a single volume will clearly recommend it to Syriac scholars
and to libraries with an interest in Syriac Christianity,
Patristic theology, or liturgical studies.
Contents of
Fire from Heaven:
Studies in Syriac Theology and Liturgy
The Christology of
the Church of the East
I.
The
�Nestorian� Church: a lamentable misnomer (1996)
II.
The Church
of the East in the Sasanian Empire up to the sixth century
and its absence from the Councils in the Roman Empire
(1994)
III.
The
Christology of the Church of the East (1996)
IV.
Christ
�The Hostage�: a theme in the East Syriac liturgical
tradition and its origins (1993)
Invocations to the
Holy Spirit and their Background
V.
Fire from
heaven: from Abel�s sacrifice to the Eucharist. A theme in
Syriac Christianity (1993)
VI.
�Come,
compassionate Mother ..., come Holy Spirit�: a forgotten
aspect of early Eastern Christian imagery (1991)
VII.
The
epiklesis in the Antiochene baptismal ordines
(1974)
VIII.
Towards a
typology of the epicleses in the West Syrian anaphoras
(2000)
IX.
Invocations to/for the Holy Spirit in Syriac liturgical
texts: some comparative approaches (2001)
X.
The lost
Old Syriac at Luke 1:35 and the earliest Syriac terms for
the Incarnation (1989)
XI.
An early
interpretation of pāsah:�aggēn in the
Palestinian Targum (1982)
XII.
Passover,
Annunciation and Epiclesis. Some remarks on the term
aggen in the Syriac versions of Lk. 1:35
(1982)
XIII.
From
Annunciation to Pentecost: the travels of a technical term
(1993)
XIV.
The
ruah elōhīm of Gen. 1,2 and
its reception history in the Syriac tradition (1999)
Editions and
Translations
XV.
Some early
Syriac baptismal commentaries (1980)
XVI.
An early
Syriac commentary on the liturgy (1986)
XVII.
Gabriel of
Qatar�s commentary on the liturgy (2003)
[5] Readers
of this online review may perhaps find it useful to have a
listing of the articles found in Sebastian Brock�s earlier
volumes, and so these are provided below.
Syriac
Perspectives on Late Antiquity (VCSS 199,
1984)
General
Themes
I.
Early
Syrian Asceticism (1973)
II.
Greek into
Syriac and Syriac into Greek (1977)
III.
Aspects of
Translation Technique in Antiquity (1979)
IV.
Some
Aspects of Greek Words in Syriac (1975)
V.
From
Antagonism to Assimilation: Syriac Attitudes to Greek
Learning (1982)
VI.
Christians
in the Sasanid Empire: A Case of Divided Loyalties
(1982)
VII.
Syriac
Sources for Seventh-Century History (1976)
VIII.
Syriac
Views of Emergent Islam (1982)
New Texts and their
Significance
IX.
A Martyr
at the Sasanid Court under Vahran II: Candida (1978)
X.
A Letter
attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem on the Rebuilding of the
Temple under Julian (1977)
XI.
The
Orthodox-Oriental Orthodox Conversations of 532 (1980)
XII.
An Early
Syriac Life of Maximus the Confessor (1973)
XIII.
A Syriac
Fragment on the Sixth Council (1973)
XIV.
John of
Nhel: An Episode in Early
Seventh-Century Monastic History (1978)
XV.
Notes on
Some Monasteries on Mount Izla (1980/1)
Studies in Syriac
Christianity: History, Literature and Theology (VCSS 357,
1992)
I.
Syriac
Historical Writing: A Survey of the Main Sources
(1979/80)
II.
North
Mesopotamia in the Late Seventh Century: Book XV of John
bar Penkāyē�s Rī� Mellē (1987)
III.
Syriac
Inscriptions: A Preliminary Check List of European
Publications (1978)
IV.
Jewish
Traditions in Syriac Sources (1979)
V.
A Piece of
Wisdom Literature in Syriac (1968)
VI.
Syriac and
Greek Hymnography: Problems of Origins (1985)
VII.
A Syriac
Collection of Prophecies of the Pagan Philosophers
(1983)
VIII.
The
Laments of the Philosophers over Alexander in Syriac
(1970)
IX.
Secundus
the Silent Philosopher: Some Notes on the Syriac Tradition
(1978)
X.
Towards a
History of Syriac Translation Technique (1983)
XI.
Clothing
Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac
Tradition (1982)
XII.
The
Christology of the Church of the East in the Synods of the
Fifth to Early Seventh Centuries: Preliminary
Considerations and Materials (1985)
XIII.
The
Conversations with the Syrian Orthodox under Justinian
(532) (1981)
XIV.
A
Monothelete Florilegium in Syriac (1985)
XV.
Two Sets
of Monothelete Questions to the Maximianists (1986)
From Ephrem to
Romanos: Interactions between Syriac and Greek in Late
Antiquity (VCSS 664, 1999)
I.
Greek and
Syriac in Late Antique Syria (1994)
II.
Eusebius
and Syriac Christianity (1992)
III.
The Syriac
Background to the World of Theodore of Tarsus (1995)
IV.
From
Ephrem to Romanos (1989)
V.
Ephrem�s
Verse Homily on Jonah and the Repentance of Nineveh: Notes
on the Textual Tradition (1994)
VI.
Two Syriac
Verse Homilies on the Binding of Isaac (1986)
VII.
Syriac
Dispute Poems: The Various Types (1987)
VIII.
A Dispute
of the Months and Some Related Syriac Texts (1985)
IX.
Tales of
Two Beloved Brothers: Syriac Dialogues between Body and
Soul (1995)
X.
The
Baptist�s Diet in Syriac Sources (1970)
XI.
Two Syriac
Poems on the Invention of the Cross (1992)
XII.
Some Uses
of the Term Theoria in the Writings of Isaac of Nineveh
(1995)
XIII.
The Syriac
Commentary Tradition [on Aristotle] (1993)
XIV.
The Syriac
Background to Hunayn�s Translation
Techniques (1991)
XV.
Greek
Words in Syriac: Some General Features (1996)
XVI.
�The
Scribe reaches Harbour� (1995)
_______
Notes