Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Scribes and Scriptures: The Church of
the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500-1850)
Mark
Dickens
St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Patrick Conlin
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2019
Volume 22.2
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/review/hv22n2prdickens
Mark Dickens
Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Scribes and Scriptures: The
Church of the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500-1850)
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol22/HV22N2PRDickens.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2019
vol 22
issue 2
pp 476–480
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 Patrick Conlin
Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Scribes and
Scriptures: The Church of the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces
(1500-1850), Eastern Christian Studies 21 (Leuven: Peeters, 2015). Pp.
xiv + 399; €82.
This volume examines the Church of the East in the Early Modern
era. East Syriac Christianity typically receives less scholarly attention during
this period, when it was no longer spread throughout Asia. The book looks at
East Syriac manuscripts and the scribes who wrote them, with particular
attention to scribal production in Mesopotamia. It includes an Introduction,
seven chapters and Conclusions, followed by three appendices, a bibliography and
an index.
The Introduction begins by challenging the “narrative of decline
that was shared by Western and Middle Eastern Christians” regarding the
19th-century history of the Church (p. 2). Inspired and informed by the works of
David Wilmshurst, Amir Harrak, Jean-Maurice Fiey, Alessandro Mengozzi and many
other scholars, Murre-van den Berg notes at the outset her view of manuscripts,
and particularly colophons, as “literary productions reflecting on the religious
world of their time” (pp. 7-8).
The author’s extensive knowledge of East Syriac manuscripts and her
ability to parse their data is on display throughout the volume. Three themes
underlie much of this study: 1) “the centrality of religious ritual and the
importance of the sacred as a living reality in everyday life”; 2) the notion of
manuscripts as “objects that function in the liturgical construction,” like
icons; and 3) the fact that “scribes... constitute an essential but often
overlooked part of the process [of manuscript production]” (pp. 14-15).
Chapter 1, Patriarchs, Popes and
Missionaries, provides the general historical and religious background
to the period covered by the volume, including an overview of the Church of the
East prior to the mid-16th century. Much of the chapter concerns the most
significant factor of this era relative to East Syriac Christianity: its
complicated relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. The author does an
excellent job describing the vicissitudes of that relationship, as different
branches of the Church of the East allied themselves with Rome at different
times. The story is told with attention to facts, but in a manner that makes
sense out of the seemingly endless list of patriarchs named Eliya, Shimʿon or
Yosep. As the author notes, “this process was far from smooth...reasons for
conversion to Catholicism differed greatly” (p. 76).
Chapter 2, The Production of Manuscripts,
examines technical aspects of manuscript production. The author notes that “the
substantial number of manuscripts that have survived...indicates a period of
considerable cultural, ecclesial and literary activity” in the Church of the
East (p. 80). Graphs accompany the discussion of when and where manuscripts were
produced and the chapter concludes with a lengthy and informative discussion of
various aspects of manuscript production (e.g., paper sourcing, writing styles,
manuscript decoration). On many of these topics, the author notes the need for
further study (pp. 101, 102, 103, 108, 109).
Chapter 3, The Colophons, concerns that
aspect of manuscript production which is easily overlooked by non-specialists,
but which historians know can prove to be a goldmine of information on the
historical context of manuscript writing. As the author suggests, colophons
exert a “profound and central function in the economy of the textual culture”
(p. 141). The chapter breaks down the constituent parts of typical colophons
(title, date and place of writing, scribal and donor names) and discusses the
use in them of Syriac verbs, the Seleucid dating system and scribal
self-deprecation; she also remarks upon the many women who commissioned
manuscripts.
Chapter 4, The Texts of the Ritual, begins
the second part of the volume by examining different types of liturgical texts
copied between 1500 and 1850. The author notes, “the majority of the manuscripts
from the Ottoman period are directly connected to the liturgical life of the
Church of the East” (p. 145). The chapter goes on to consider liturgical texts
in general, including how the liturgy developed in both traditional and Catholic
circles. Following this, specific liturgical texts are considered: biblical
lectionaries, ʿonyatha, soghyatha,
ḥuttame, turgame and funeral
madrashe. As elsewhere in the volume, the need for
further study is frequently emphasized (pp. 155, 170, 177, 181). Interestingly,
some of these works were translated not only into Arabic, but also into Turkish
(pp. 163, 165).
Chapter 5, Popular Prose and Poetry,
considers texts used apart from formal liturgical settings, primarily by
non-elites. Several types of texts are examined, including those of a
para-biblical or hagiographic nature, discussing “holy men and women [seen] as
visible and tangible signs of divine incarnation” (p. 195). The author reminds
us of “the highly fluid boundaries between Bible, apocrypha and hagiography in
the Syriac tradition” (p. 197). Protective texts constitute another category of
popular texts, whether booklets containing charms, anathemas and prayers of
protection as templates to be copied, or personalized scrolls and amulets
prepared for specific individuals. As the author observes, “in real life the gap
between religion as expressed in the communal liturgy and these protective
practices was nowhere near as great as later scholars and clergy have sometimes
suggested” (p. 215).
Chapter 6, The Scriptures of the Learned,
examines texts used by clerical and scribal elites: biblical commentaries,
liturgical commentaries, canon law, theology, ascetic and devotional texts,
history, philosophy, grammar and personal texts. For both canon law and
theology, the name of ʿAwdishoʿ bar Brikha is prominent, but most new
theological works come from the Catholic camp. Catholic influence is also
apparent in the ascetic and devotional literature from this period, with many
translations of Western Catholic works. Personal texts from the period include
the fascinating Arabic travelogue of Ilyas ibn Ḥanna, narrating travels in the
Americas during the late 17th century. In conclusion, “the prevailing negative
views of the erudition of the clergy of the Church of the East” need to be
nuanced (p. 268). Again, the author reminds us throughout the chapter of the
need for more research (pp. 233, 244, 245, 256, 261, 262, 266).
Chapter 7, Knowledge, Power and Mediation,
acts as a theoretical reflection on the large amount of data introduced in the
previous six chapters, by asking the question “What was it that the scribes of
these manuscripts intended to achieve with their writing?” In short, three
things: “the storage and transferral of knowledge, the attribution,
legitimisation and exertion of power, and the mediation of divine merit, grace
and power” (p. 271). Regarding knowledge, most texts from this period treasured
knowledge “of the ritual framework and its accompanying stories” (p. 274).
Concerning the legitimization of power, the colophons are key, benefitting not
only the reader, but also “those mentioned in the colophon [who] acquire power
by virtue of the special status of the text” (p. 282). Finally, “the mediation
of the divine [must be] included in the discussion” (p. 286). Liturgical texts
mediate divine power through rituals and prayers; protective texts do so as a
result of being “worn, stored and sometimes even eaten by those who ordered
them” (p. 288).
In the Conclusions, the author again reminds
us of her attempts to counter the narrative of “stagnation and oppression” in
the Church of the East by seeing these centuries as ones of “recovery rather
than decline” (p. 293). We are reminded too of the contrast between “the
traditional socio-religious community,” loyal to the Church of the East, and
“the modernising and globalising middle class,” ultimately won over to
Catholicism (p. 294). As the author notes, “conversion to Catholicism directly
challenged existing power structures within the Church of the East” and
“reflected the search for a religion that fitted the circumstances better than
the type of East Syriac Christianity that had evolved in northern Mesopotamia”
(p. 295). In the end, that search for a religion able to engage with globalism
“neatly coincided with the interests of missionaries and other agents from the
Catholic West” (p. 296).
The volume closes with three helpful appendices. Appendix A is a
list of all patriarchs of the Church of the East and its various Chaldean
offshoots from ca. 1500 on. Appendix B gives the text and translation of an
extensive gospel lectionary colophon. Appendix C is a list of all known East
Syriac authors from 1500 to 1850.
The volume has many strong points. The author displays deep and
consistent knowledge of pre-modern East Syriac manuscripts. The value she places
on manuscript colophons as a source of social information is clear throughout
the volume. Also commendable is her ability to bring religious studies theory to
bear on the subject matter, whether considering the manuscripts or the scribes
that produced them. It is clear that the author has a mastery of the historical
background, especially relations with other religious communities. At the same
time, in addition to those broad brush strokes, she is intimately aware of the
details of where, when, how and by whom the manuscripts were produced. Masterful
too are her treatment of Syriac literary genres, including texts that cross
genres (protective texts come to mind) and her matter-of-fact yet sensitive way
of dealing with relations between the Church of the East and its Catholic
offshoot(s).
Overall, the book is a welcome addition to the rather sparse
selection of sources on the Church of the East after the Mongol era. Scholars
from a variety of academic fields – Syriac Studies, Islamic Studies, Ottoman
Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and Religious Studies – will want to have this
volume on their bookshelves.