J.P.M. van der Ploeg O.P. (1909-2004)
Lucas
Van Rompay
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2005
Vol. 8, 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/hv8n1obvdploeg
Lucas Van Rompay
J.P.M. van der Ploeg O.P. (1909-2004)
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol8/HV8N1OBvdPloeg.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 8
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.
Syriac Studies
J.P.M. van der Ploeg
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[1] On
August 4, 2004, a few weeks after celebrating his ninety-fifth
birthday, Father Johannes P.M. van der Ploeg passed away
peacefully in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Father van der Ploeg,
a Dominican, was professor of Old Testament and Semitics at the
Catholic University of Nijmegen (now Radboud University) from
1951 until 1979; and, since his consecration by H.H. Patriarch
Tappouni in 1963, a chorbishop of the Syrian-Catholic
Church.
[2] In the
field of the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls Father van
der Ploeg published a number of important studies and
translations. With A.S. van der Woude and B. Jongeling he
co-authored the editio princeps of the Aramaic Job
Targum from Qumran (1971), and in the Netherlands and Belgium
his Vondsten in de Woestijn van Juda served for
decades as a reliable guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was
first published in Dutch in 1957 and was often revised and
reprinted; it was translated into English in 1958 (The
Excavations at Qumran. A Survey of the Judaean Brotherhood and
Its Ideas) and into German in 1959.
[3] Syriac
Christianity constituted a third important focus of Father van
der Ploeg’s academic work. In his later life his many
contacts with the Syrian Christians of Southern India gave him
the opportunity to pursue his Syriac interests. This is
expressed eloquently in the title of the Festschrift
that was offered to him for his seventieth birthday: Von
Kanaan bis Kerala (eds. W.C. Delsman, J.T. Nelis, J.R.T.M.
Peters, W.H.Ph. Römer, and A.S. van der Woude; Alter
Orient und Altes Testament 211; 1982).
[4] Father
van der Ploeg’s Syriac work can be traced back, however,
to a much earlier period in his life. His interesting
book on Oud-Syrisch
Monniksleven,
“Old-Syriac Monastic Life” (Leiden, 1942), written
and published during wartime, never received the attention it
deserved. It was not meant to be a history of Syriac
monasticism; the author intended merely to present “some
critical observations and a short explanation of the origins of
monastic life in Syria, along with a brief sketch of Syriac,
more particularly East-Syriac, monasticism as it existed for
centuries, following the reform introduced by Abraham of
Kashkar” (Preface, p. ix). While Thomas of
Marga, Isaac of Niniveh, and Bar Hebraeus are the most
prominent frequently quoted authors, several other texts,
Syriac and Greek, are used and referred to as well. A number of
important questions are dealt with in a clear and elegant
style, enlivened with anecdotes and personal observations. A
final section discusses monastic life of the present-day
Syrians. The Syrian Orthodox, with their monasteries in Tur
Abdin, Jerusalem (Mar Markos), and Iraq (Mar Mattay) are
singled out as the only community to have preserved,
uninterrupted, the tradition of early Syriac monasticism (p.
97). An appendix contains the Dutch translation of Rabban
Gabriel’s address to the monks of the Monastery of Rabban
Cyprian (from Thomas of Marga’s Book of
Governors, ed. E.A. Wallis Budge, I, 376-379). Although
this book is much more limited than Jules Leroy’s
Moines et monastères du Proche-Orient (1958;
published in English as Monks and Monasteries of the Near
East, 1963 – Gorgias Press reprint, 2004) or A.
Vööbus’ History of Asceticism in the Syrian
Orient (1958-1960), it can still serve nowadays as a
useful introduction for interested laypeople and students.
[5] Widely
used and well-known among Syriac scholars is Father van der
Ploeg’s book on The Christians of St. Thomas in South
India and their Syriac manuscripts (Placid Lecture Series
3; Bangalore, 1983), which is the product of many years of work
in Kerala and in Europe. While the focus is on the preserved
manuscripts—many of which are analyzed or briefly
described, often for the first time—the author’s
interest extends to the religious, literary, and cultural
history of the various Christian communities. The first chapter
provides a historical survey, followed by an overview of the
various categories of manuscripts (chapter 2). Chapter 3 lists
a number of important libraries in Kerala and provides
descriptions of the main manuscripts. Chapter 4 is devoted to
manuscripts copied in Kerala, but presently held in European
libraries (Rome, Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, Leiden, and
Amsterdam). In spite of its limitations (and the tantalizing
incompleteness of many a description!), this book, carrying the
clear mark of the author’s personal approach and
dedication, is a unique contribution to the uncovering and
study of Kerala’s rich manuscript treasures. Following
Van der Ploeg’s publication, the work was picked up by
various other scholars, but another publication of similar
breadth and erudition has not yet appeared.
[6] One of
the texts briefly described in his 1983 book became the subject
of an independent publication, which appeared eight years
later: The Book of Judith (Daughter of Merari)
(Môrân ’Ethô Series 3; Baker Hill,
Kottayam, 1991). It includes a facsimile edition, with English
translation and notes, of the text of the deuterocanonical (or
apocryphal) book of Judith as found in an 18th c. manuscript,
preserved in the library of the Malankara Catholic archbishop
at Trivandrum (see The Christians, 87-88). The text is
neither Peshitta nor Syro-Hexapla. Father van der Ploeg
recognized its importance and with his publication made it
available for further research.
[7] Even if
Syriac was not always at the center of Father van der
Ploeg’s academic work, Syriac scholars should be grateful
for his distinctive contributions to the field and for his
strong commitment to Syriac Christian culture in the Middle
East and in India. May he rest in peace!_______
Acknowledgement
The photograph was kindly provided by the editorial board of
the Dutch-Flemish periodical 'Catholica'.