Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches
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Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

  1. 232 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

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About This Book

Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches analyzes the hagiographic traditions of seven missionary saints in the Syriac heritage during late antiquity: Thomas, Addai, Mari, John of Ephesus, Simeon of Beth Arsham, Jacob Baradaeus, and Ahudemmeh. Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent studies a body of legends about the missionaries' voyages in the Syrian Orient to illustrate their shared symbols and motifs. Revealing how these texts encapsulated the concerns of the communities that produced them, she draws attention to the role of hagiography as a malleable genre that was well-suited for the idealized presentation of the beginnings of Christian communities. Hagiographers, through their reworking of missionary themes, asserted autonomy, orthodoxy, and apostolicity for their individual civic and monastic communities, positioning themselves in relationship to the rulers of their empires and to competing forms of Christianity. Saint-Laurent argues that missionary hagiography is an important and neglected source for understanding the development of the East and West Syriac ecclesiastical bodies: the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East. Given that many of these Syriac-speaking churches remain today in the Middle East and India, with diaspora communities in Europe and North America, this work opens the door for further study of the role of saints and stories as symbolic links between ancient and modern traditions.

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Information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
2015
ISBN
9780520960589
Edition
1
Topic
Theology & Religion
Subtopic
History of Christianity

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction: Missionary Narratives in the Syriac Tradition
  7. 1. Saint Thomas, Missionary Apostle to India
  8. 2. The Teaching of Addai: Founding a Christian City
  9. 3. Mari as Apostle to the Church of Persia
  10. 4. John of Ephesus as Hagiographer and Missionary
  11. 5. Legends of Simeon of Beth Arsham, Missionary to Persia
  12. 6. Hagiographical Portraits of Jacob Baradaeus
  13. 7. Ahudemmeh among the Arabs
  14. Conclusion
  15. Notes
  16. Abbreviations
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index