A significant new study of Rabbula and Christianity in Edessa This volume makes available for the first time both the Syriac text and an English translation of every available original composition by Rabbula, the controversial bishop of Edessa (ca. 411–435 CE). It includes a new edition of the Life of Rabbula and other biographical traditions about him, including his conversion from paganism to Christianity. The texts collected in the volume are a valuable source for studying the reception history of biblical themes. In addition, the corpus offers insights into the beginnings of ecclesiastical legislation in the East, charitable work, pilgrimage, ascetic ideals, and church administration. Horn and Phenix examine Rabbula’s contribution to the Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries, including his influence on Cyril of Alexandria in his debate with Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Features A critical study of the theological, cultural, and historical development of Syriac Christianity Thorough historical, theological, and socio-cultural analysis provided for each text A previously unidentified Christian Palestinian Aramaic fragment

The so-called 'Nestorian' Church (officially known as the Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East, with its See in Baghdad) was one of the most significant Christian communities to develop east of the Roman Empire. In its heyday the Church had 8 million adherents and stretched from the Mediterranean to China. Christoph Baumer is one of the very few Westerners to have visited many of the most important Assyrian sites and has written the only comprehensive history of the Church, which now fights for survival in its country of origin, Iraq, and is almost forgotten in the West. He narrates its rich and colorful trajectory, from its apostolic beginnings to the present day, and discusses the Church's theology, christology, and uniquely vigorous spirituality. He analyzes the Church's turbulent relationship with other Christian chuches and its dialogue with neighboring world religions such as Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism. Richly illustrated with maps and over 150 full-color photographs, the book will be essential reading for those interested in a fascinating, but neglected Christian community which has profoundly shaped the history of civilization in both East and West.

Roman Edessa offers a comprehensive and erudite analysis of the ancient city of Edessa (modern day Urfa, Turkey), which constituted a remarkable amalgam of the East and the West. Among the areas explored are: * the cultural life and antecedents of Edessa * Edessene religion * the extent of the Hellenization at Edessa before the advent of Christianity * the myth of an exchange of letters between a King Abgar and Jesus.

Urban Religion is an emerging research field cutting across various social science disciplines, all of them dealing with “lived religion” in contemporary and (mainly) global cities. It describes the reciprocal formation and mutual influence of religion and urbanity in both their material and ideational dimensions. However, this approach, if duly historicized, can be also fruitfully applied to antiquity. Aim of the volume is the analysis of the entanglement of religious communication and city life during an arc of time that is characterised by dramatic and even contradicting developments. Bringing together textual analyses and archaelogical case studies in a comparative perspective, the volume zooms in on the historical context of the advanced imperial and late antique Mediterranean space (2nd–8th centuries CE).

One of the most important issues facing New Testament scholarship today is the issue of Gnosticism. So wrote the author in 1973 in the first edition. With the publication since then of the entire Nag Hammadi library, this observation has become even more incisive. Was there a pre-Christian Gnosticism? Did Gnosticism directly or indirectly influence nascent Christianity? Many modern scholars argue that Gnosticism preceded the emergence of New Testament Christianity and constituted the raw material from which the apostles formed their message about Jesus. The author here analyzes the evidence used to support this thesis. He notes a series of methodological fallacies in the use of this evidence and concludes that clearly Gnostic materials are late and pre-Christian materials are not clearly Gnostic. A new chapter in this paperback edition brings the discussion up to date.

Contents Announcement of the 2014 Symposium Abbreviations Introduction Klyne Snodgrass Visions of Horror, Visions of Hope: An Orientation for Urban Ministry from the Book of Amos M. Daniel Carroll R. Response to Carroll Nathan Bills Early Christian Communities in the Greco-Roman City: Perspectives on Urban Ministry from the New Testament Paul Trebilco Response to Trebilco Stephen Chester The Necessity of Lament for Ministry in the Urban Context Soong-Chan Rah Response to Rah Jessica Rivera Good Citizenship: A Study of Philippians 1:27 and Its Implications for Contemporary Urban Ministry Dennis R. Edwards Response to Edwards Kurt N. Fredrickson Love Yourself: Urban Ministry and the Challenge of Self-Love Chanequa Walker-Barnes Prophet, Pagan, Prayer: Urban Theology of Reversal in the Story of Jonah David Leong Response to Leong Daniel White Hodge The Ministerial Significance of Early Syriac Theology Vince L. Bantu Response to Bantu Armida Belmonte Stephens "No Shortcut to the Promised Land": The Fosdick Brothers and Muscular Christianity Amy Laura Hall Response to Hall Reggie Williams The Lord of the Rings Isaias Mercado Annotated Bibliography on Urban Ministry Presenters and Respondents Ex Auditu - Volumes Available