The School of Antioch: Biblical Theology and the Church in Syria

138 Pages·2016·1.66 MB·English

by  Vahan S. Hovhanessian (ed.)

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Edited by
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WWW.PETERLANG.COM
Hovhanessian_cpi_cb_NORMAN~1.qxp 1/31/2016 10:59 AM Page 1
6 B@IBLE IN THE CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX TRADITION
H
O
V
H
A
N
The School of Antioch: Biblical Theology and the Church in Syriacontains E
S
the latest conclusions and findings of academic research by specialized bib- S
I
lical scholars in biblical theology of the Church in the East commonly A
N The School
referred to as the School of Antioch. This collection of essays will be of ,

e
special interest to scholars of theology and religion, including those inter- d
.
ested in the fields of hermeneutics, Apocrypha, Chrysostom, Orthodox
of Antioch
Eastern Christianity, and Eastern Christianity.
T
@
h
e
Biblical Theology
S
c
@
h
and the Church in Syria
o
o
l

o
f

A
Bishop Vahan S. Hovhanessian, Primate of the Armenian Orthodox
n
Church in France, holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from Fordham Uni-
t
i
versity, New York. He is also Chairman of the unit “Bible in Eastern and
o
Oriental Orthodox Tradition” of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). c
h
He is currently an Honorary Fellow at the University of Cardiff, United
Kingdom.
P
E
T
E
R
Edited by
L
A
N
G Vahan S. Hovhanessian
WWW.PETERLANG.COM
The School of Antioch
@

BIBLE IN THE CHRISTIAN
ORTHODOX TRADITION

Vahan S. Hovhanessian
General Editor

Vol. 6

This book is a volume in a Peter Lang monograph series.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
The School of Antioch

Biblical Theology
and the Church in Syria

Edited by
Vahan S. Hovhanessian

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The School of Antioch: biblical theology and the church in Syria /
edited by Vahan S. Hovhanessian.
pages cm. — (Bible in the Christian Orthodox tradition; Vol. 6)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—History. 2. Bible—Hermeneutics.
3.Antiochian school. 4. John Chrysostom, Saint, –407.
5.Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus. 6. Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia,
approximately 350–428 or 429. I. Hovhanessian, Vahan, editor.
BS483.3.S346 230’.14—dc23 2015009645
ISBN 978-1-4331-2806-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1550-9 (e-book)
ISSN 1947-5977
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2016 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Contents

Acknowledgments .............................................................................. vii
Abbreviations ....................................................................................... ix

Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
Bradley Nassif

Exegesis for John Chrysostom: Preaching and Teaching the Bible ...... 5
Paul Nadim Tarazi

Biblical Fragments from the Christian Library of Turfan, .................. 19
an Eastern Outpost of the Antiochian Tradition
Mark Dickens

John Chrysostom and the Johannine Jews ........................................... 41
Michael Azar

Theōria as a Hermeneutical Term in the Commentaries of ................. 49
Theodore of Mopsuestia and Theodoret of Cyrus
Richard J. Perhai

The Commentary of St. Ephrem the Syrian on the .............................. 69
Apocryphal Third Corinthians
Vahan S. Hovhanessian

Notes .............................................................................................................. 85
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 119
Index ............................................................................................................ 123

Acknowledgments
M
embers of the unit “Bible in the Eastern and Oriental
Orthodox Traditions” of the Society of Biblical Literature
(SBL) are happy to present this book into the hands of
scholars and students of biblical studies, as a new volume in the series
“Bible in the Christian Orthodox Tradition” of the Peter Lang
International Academic Publishers.
As in the previous volumes of the series, this book offers the latest
scholoarly findings and conclusions in the field of biblical theology
and research from the perspective, and based on the traditions, of the
hisrtocial Orthoox Churches which read, studied, taught and
commented on the Bible in their native languages. In this volume we
focus on the biblical hermeneutics, criticism, interpretation and
theology of the Church of Antioch: the Church that was born and
nurtured in the historical Roman province of Syria-Palestina.
Thanks are due to all the scholars who contributed to this volume.
Special thanks to Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi for his contribution to
this volume and for being the inspiration behind the creation and
continuation of our SBL group.
As the objective of our SBL unit is, may this volume function as a
bridge introducing contemporary readers to the richness of the biblical
theology of the centuries-old Churches of the East, the majority of
whose theological literature remains unearthed until today. At the
same time, may it be an opportutnity to invite scholars to explore the
interpretive, hermenutical and exegetical tools used by these churches
and to incorporate them into the contemporary critical approaches of
biblical criticism.

+Vahan S. Hovhanessian, PhD
Series Editor