Sleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in Context

Sleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in ContextHugoye: Journal of Syriac StudiesSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/8BAN9GNY/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.J. EdwardWaltersSleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in Contexthttp://syriaca.org/cbss/8BAN9GNYhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/8BAN9GNYhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/8BAN9GNYHugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies22:22019433-465The fourth-century Syriac corpus known as the <i>Demonstrations</i>, attributed to Aphrahat, the Persian Sage, provides a unique window into the early development of Christianity among Syriac-speaking communities. Occasionally these writings attest to beliefs and practices that were not common among other contemporaneous Christian communities, such as Aphrahat’s apparent belief in the “sleep of the soul” and the implications of that belief for his concept of the soul-body relationship and what happens to the soul and body at the resurrection. Aphrahat addresses this topic in the context of a polemical argument against an unnamed opponent, which provides the occasion to consider whom these arguments might be addressed against. The present article seeks to understand Aphrahat’s views on the body and soul within the broad religious milieu of the eastern Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity. The article concludes with an argument for reading and understanding the <i>Demonstrations </i>as a witness to the contested development of Christian identity in the Syriac-speaking world. Walters, J. Edward. “Sleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in Context.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 22:2 (2019): 433–65. J. Edward Walters, Sleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in Context, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 22:2 (2019): 433–65.AphrahatIV CEIV-VII CEanthropologydeatheschatologyresurrectionsoul