The Syriac Version of John Chrysostom's Homilies on John (1-30)

FAIN: FT-52641-04

Jeff Wayne Childers
Abilene Christian University (Abilene, TX 79601-3761)

Although Chrysostom's texts were originally Greek, Syriac versions were made early, and Syriac manuscripts of the 5th-7th centuries greatly predate the earliest Greek ones by 3-5 centuries. Yet the Syriac has not been edited or translated. This project will edit and translate the Syriac text of Chrysostom's Homilies 1-30 on John's Gospel from extant manuscripts, for publication in the series, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Not only will the project enrich our knowledge of an ancient, eastern literature--it will also provide invaluable information for those preparing critical editions of the Greek texts, and it will help expand the window looking into the dynamics of cultural exchange that the early Syriac translation tradition so famously provides.

Associated Products

Chrysostom in Syriac Dress (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Chrysostom in Syriac Dress
Author: Jeff Childers
Abstract: John Chrysostom’s Exegetical Homilies on the Gospel of John were translated into Syriac in the fifth century and enjoyed great popularity in Syriac-speaking churches. As instances of cross-cultural reception and recontextualization, they put the voice of the Golden Mouth into an oriental idiom, drawing him into various conversations that were fundamental to the development of the Syriac heritage. His impact on that heritage is signalled by the number of Syriac manuscripts containing the Homilies, the controversy alleged to have surrounded his exegetical legacy in the Syriac Church of the East (i.e. “Nestorians”), and his continuing Nachleben in the broader Syriac interpretive, ascetic, and liturgical traditions. The Homilies are saturated with biblical citation and exposition, supplying early evidence pertinent to the rich Syriac biblical tradition and illuminating the ways in which Greek Antiochene exegesis was being appropriated into oriental Christian communities. The Syriac Homilies have even been heralded as a principal source of evidence for a pre-canonical form of the Greek text of John’s Gospel. Despite the remarkable age and inherent richness of the texts, only preliminary studies have been done so far. Indeed, it has only recently become possible to gain access to portions of the extant Syriac evidence in Damascus, and due to recent work, it has also now become possible to identify previously unknown manuscripts and fragments containing portions of the text and to “reunite” formerly separated portions of important early evidence from Sinai that had been scattered across Europe. This paper briefly presents the results of a thorough analysis of these texts, including those having recently come to light, in order to clarify their significance as early evidence for Chrysostom’s Homilies and for multiple avenues of other research across a wide range of interests in Greek and Syriac patristics.
Date: 08/11/2011
Primary URL: http://oxfordpatristics.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeff-childers-chrysostom-in-syriac.html
Conference Name: XVI International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford

Hermeneutics and Magic: Syriac Biblical Manuscripts as Oracles of Interpretation (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Hermeneutics and Magic: Syriac Biblical Manuscripts as Oracles of Interpretation
Author: Jeff Childers
Abstract: Religious World of Late Antiquity, Word as Object: The centrality of scripture in early Syriac Christian tradition is obvious. Less well-understood are the methods by which the power of scripture was brought to bear on the ordinary lives of common Christian folk, outside the official contexts of liturgical practice. A unique early Syriac manuscript of John’s Gospel supplies a glimpse into the practices of specialized interpreters who sought mystical guidance in the Bible according to methods that were often considered illicit. The manuscript includes an apparatus unlike that of any known collection of sortes, incorporated directly into the biblical text. In response to specific questions, the volume offers inspired words of guidance to the inquirer in a process superintended by clergy who were considered unconventional. Although its true function was effectively disguised by means of a spurious scribal association with Chrysostom’s Commentary on John, this paper makes evident the true nature of the volume as a biblical text interspersed throughout a magical framework. That the practice of consulting Bibles in such a manner was fairly widespread and long-lived is evident both from the repeated canonical attempts to suppress the practice and from the fragmentary, often vestigial testimony in the Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, and Syriac biblical traditions. The proposed paper will present a summary of the unique evidence of the Syriac manuscript and compare it to other pertinent evidence. The study focuses interest on the text as an expression of popular faith in scripture’s authority and as evidence for a particular mode of Christian interpretation, one that seeks to establish dynamic connections between the biblical text and the daily lives of common folk within a sophisticated context of clerical practice, institutional prohibition, and widespread popular use.
Date: 11/20/2011
Conference Name: Society of Biblical Literature Annual Conference

Mapping the Syriac Chrysostom: The Topography of His Exegetical Legacy in the Syriac Tradition (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mapping the Syriac Chrysostom: The Topography of His Exegetical Legacy in the Syriac Tradition
Author: Jeff Childers
Abstract: Syriac Literature and Interpretations of Sacred Texts, Interdisciplinary Approaches. Focusing especially on John Chrysostom's Exegetical Homilies on the Gospel of John, this paper traces and interprets important ways in which Syriac versions of his texts were being used within the Syriac tradition. It follows some of the lines of reception from the original versions to their adaptation into such applications as homiliaries, polemical florilegia, doctrinal anthologies, and so forth. For this work, the paper draws on West Syrian, Melkite, and Eastern sources.
Date: 11/20/2011
Conference Name: Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

The Syriac Version of John Chrysostom’s Commentary on John I. Mêmrê 1–43 (Edition) (Book)
Title: The Syriac Version of John Chrysostom’s Commentary on John I. Mêmrê 1–43 (Edition)
Author: Jeff W Childers
Editor: Jeff W. Childers
Abstract: in press; forthcoming in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
Year: 2012
Publisher: Peeters (Leuven)
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9789042927285
Translator: Jeff W. Childers
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

The Syriac Version of John Chrysostom’s Commentary on John I. Mêmrê 1–43 (Translation) (Book)
Title: The Syriac Version of John Chrysostom’s Commentary on John I. Mêmrê 1–43 (Translation)
Author: Jeff W Childers
Editor: Jeff W. Childers
Abstract: in press; forthcoming in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
Year: 2012
Publisher: Peeters (Leuven)
Type: Translation
ISBN: 9789042927285
Translator: Jeff W. Childers
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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