Two papers on Aphrahat

Thursday, May 10, 2012

I recently gave a paper at the AEMA (Australian Early Medieval Association) conference in Brisbane, and here's the abstract:
Aphrahat’s “Resurrection Asceticism” and its journey across the Mediterranean.

When John Cassian traveled to Marseille in 415 he brought from the Orient a perspective on monasticism as being an “angelic life” which emphasised virginity. These concepts, along with a “resurrection asceticism” had previously been enunciated by Syriac bishop Aphrahat in 337 as the foundation for spirituality. Cassian may also have built on the views of Chrysostom and similar ideas already known in the West in Augustine’s De Virginitate. Yet in their journey West, key elements of Aphrahat’s asceticism did not translate or were lost, especially his “resurrection asceticism”. Aphrahat’s emphasis on an inaugurated eschatology as a motivation for virginity has not been explored and his focus on the “sons of the resurrection” has been either misunderstood or ignored. The differences between Aphrahat visavis Cassian and Augustine on these points has also not been treated. This paper explores these themes in Aphrahat through an analysis of the structure and central arguments of his “Demonstrations”, and compares his emphases with the related views of Cassian, Augustine, Chrysostom, and Gaudentius of Brescia. Whereas Augustine and Chrysostom emphasise Mary as a model of virginity and Paul’s focus on marriage as a distraction from pure devotion, Aphrahat concentrates on a present experience of the resurrection life, a life like the angels. His use of Luke 20:36 is unique and his approach is more hope-oriented than Augustine.

I also have a paper accepted to present in Malta in July at the international Syriac Symposium, with the abstract:

Sons of the Resurrection: Inaugurated eschatology as a structural key to Aphrahat’s Demonstrations.
The rationale for the structure of Aphrahat’s 23 Demonstrations continues to elude scholars, but a close reading of Demonstration 6 and its emphasis on the resurrection provides a way to understand the place of many other of the unexplained inclusions. Discussions of the bnay qyama have tended to sideline the relevance of the qyamtha. This paper uses metaphor analysis and close reading techniques to elucidate the core themes and rationale of Demonstration 6 and its links to the chapters on war, virginity, penitence, and death and the last things etc. Rather than being “out of place” (Lehto 2010:25), “On the Resurrection” and “On Wars” are shown to be closely related to the theme of the virginal state of the angelic life of the sons of the resurrection. This paper fills a gap in the understanding of Aphrahat’s thematic structuring, and also demonstrates that the Sons of the Covenant should also be understood as the Sons of the Resurrection.

What *is* the point of doing history?

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Oh there's been some very interesting and heated debates among academics on this topic which I've only just discovered! Many posts and sites including: Emile B, Eileen Joy and responders, Old Babel Working group site,(especially see Items #9 and #12) and the new Babel Working group site. Plus Historian on the Edge, and In the Middle. Very interesting.

Great Greek classics and language resources

Monday, March 12, 2012

Today I found "Elpenor"- some more useful Greek classics and language resources, to add to the
amazing Perseus resources at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
This is essential for researching the Greek background to the agon and other aspects of the virtues.

Some great books

Monday, March 5, 2012

Some great new books: 1. Spiritual Purification in Islam: The Life and Works of al-Muhasibi 2. The Secrets of Ascetism 3. The Remembrance of God 4. Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance : English Translation of Al Muhasibi's Risala al Mustarshidin (Zaid Shakir)
My thesis is so much easier to write with resources like these :-)

Resurrection asceticism

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"Resurrection asceticism"- this is the term that I think I've coined and that I'm now using for St Aphrahat's distinctive approach to ascetic motivation. In his "Demonstrations" he sees the main driver for ascetic practice (especially virginity) as the reality of a future resurrection, which he seems to see as already partially realised and being lived out now.

Finding stuff

Monday, January 9, 2012

Links that simplify the task of finding stuff are very valuable, and great resource person Roger Pearse provides these:

Patrologia Latina (PL) PDF’s
Patrologia Graeca (PG) PDF’s
Patrologia Orientalis (PO) PDF’s

and also pointed to these other links which also assist with finding contents in the Greek and Latin fathers: latina.patristica.net and graeca.patristica.net
Thanks Roger!

ZDMG online - vital German Oriental Publications

Monday, December 26, 2011

Great news- some key Syriac resources are now online.
Roger Pearse writes that he:
"...discovered what looks like all the issues of the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft online, for free, up to 2005, here:

http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/structure/2327

It includes indexes, supplements and all. You can’t download whole volumes, but you can download the individual articles you want. The scans are greyscale, and good quality.

This journal is very important for Syriac studies, I know. Probably for Arabic also. And it’s all here. Wow."