Narsai

Narsai († ca. 500) was a founding theologian of the Church of the East. Active first at the School of the Persians in Edessa and later at the School of Nisibis, Narsai creatively synthesized his native Syriac tradition with the newly translated works of Antiochene theology and exegesis. In a time of theological upheaval, his works helped forge a new theological tradition in Syriac. This groundbreaking collection of original essays refocuses attention on this fascinating Late Antique thinker and illustrates his importance for understanding Christianity in Late Antiquity. The essays highlight Narsai's contributions to exegesis, asceticism and moral formation, Jewish-Christian relations, liturgical theology, and place his work and thought within the cultural and intellectual world of two leading Christian centers in the Roman-Persian frontiers in the fifth century.Aaron M. Butts: Narsai's Life and Work – Daniel Becerra: Exegesis, Askesis, and Identity: Narsai's Mēmrā on the Parable of the Ten Virgins – Adam H. Becker: Names in Fervent Water: Ritual and the Mediating Power of the Divine Name in Narsai's Mēmrē – Dmitrij F. Bumazhnov: Jewish-Christian Anti-Paulinism and Merkabah Mysticism around the Schools of Edessa and of Nisibis: Narsai's Polemics against Deniers of Biblical Studies in Context – Jeff W. Childers: In Search of Jesus: Performative Christology in Narsai's Mēmrē on Baptism – Philip Michael Forness: The Construction of Metrical Poetry in the Homilies of Narsai of Nisibis and Jacob of Serugh – Kelli Bryant Gibson: An Early Syriac Apologia Crucis Mēmrā 54 'On the Finding of the Holy Cross' – Kristian S. Heal: Narsai and the Scriptural Self – Robert A. Kitchen: The Ascetic Narsai: Ascetical and Monastic Practice and Theology in the Mēmrē of Narsai – Craig E. Morrison: The Faculty of Discernment in Narsai – Ellen Muehlberger: Extraordinary Conceptions: Insemination and Theories of Reproduction in Narsai's Thought – Eva M. Rodrigo Gómez: Painting Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Narsai – Erin Galgay Walsh: »How the Weak Rib Prevailed!«: Eve and the Canaanite Woman in the Poetry of Narsai – J. Edward Walters: Where Soul Meets Body: Narsai's Depiction of the Soul-Body Relationship in Context