Review of Elena Narinskaya, Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage: A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish TraditionsThe Journal of Theological StudiesSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. MichelsonLandonQPMoralescbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero byLandonQPMoralesRecord edited in Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/DGRQU4YZ/tei
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Craig E.MorrisonReview of Elena Narinskaya, Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage: A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditionshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/DGRQU4YZhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/DGRQU4YZhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/DGRQU4YZThe Journal of Theological Studies622011748-751Students of Ephrem, the fourth-century theologian-poet, esteem his theological vigour while lamenting his anti-Jewish rhetoric. Even his most noted admirers, such as Robert Murray (Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition [Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2004], p. 68), confess that Ephrem held the Jews in contempt. More recently, Christine Shepardson (Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria [North American Patristics Society Patristic Monograph Series, 20; Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008]—see JTS, ns 61 [2010], pp. 342–4) has argued that Ephrem's anti-Jewish rhetoric must be understood within the christological controversies of the fourth century. Her argument indicates the necessity for an accurate historical reconstruction of Ephrem's world in order to contextualize his anti-Judaism. The question of early Christian anti-Jewish rhetoric in Syriac literature is part of a much larger conversation taking place in our post-Holocaust society that seeks to explore the nature of Christian accusations against the Jews through the centuries (see, for example, Leonard V. Rutgers, Making Myths: Jews in Early Christian Identity Formation [Leuven: Peeters, 2009]) in order to better understand the relationship between anti-Judaism/anti-Semitism and Christianity (see e.g. Robert Michael, A History of Catholic Antisemitism: The Dark Side of the Church [Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008]).
Morrison, Craig E. “Review of Elena Narinskaya, Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage: A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditions.” The Journal of Theological Studies 62, no. 2 (2011): 748–51. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flr133.
Craig E. Morrison, Review of Elena Narinskaya, Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage: A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditions,The Journal of Theological Studies 62, no. 2 (2011): 748–51, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flr133.