Not Like the Magians, Not Like the Jews: Sexual Ethics, Communal Identity, and the Formation of Family Law in the Church of the East (484

Not Like the Magians, Not Like the Jews: Sexual Ethics, Communal Identity, and the Formation of Family Law in the Church of the East (484–552 CE)Hugoye: 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/DLSBTEZJ/tei

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2025-05-20-05:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.NimaJamaliNot Like the Magians, Not Like the Jews: Sexual Ethics, Communal Identity, and the Formation of Family Law in the Church of the East (484–552 CE)http://syriaca.org/cbss/DLSBTEZJhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/DLSBTEZJhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/DLSBTEZJHugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies27:12024165-203From the late fifth to mid-sixth centuries, the leaders of the Church of the East had two main concerns concerning sexual ethics. On the one hand, celibacy, as the foundation of their Christian sexual ethics, was the subject of the state’s disapproval by the Sasanians and Zoroastrian clergy. It was also the subject of some Jewish polemics. On the other hand, some of the Christians in the western parts of the Sasanian Empire were following the sexual norms of the other traditions such as next-of-kin marriage, polygamy, and exogamy, which could not enjoy any form of ecclesiastical approval. At the end of the fifth century, addressing these external and internal challenges, Aqaq and Barṣauma were the first generation who embodied the earliest legal ideas in their works. These early reflections on sexual ethics as the core of an exclusive communal identity led to the birth of family law in the Church of the East in the works of Abā I. This study investigates this repertoire of legal literature to understand how defining a set of exclusive sexual norms to create a distinctive communal identity would lead to the formation of family law in this legal tradition. Jamali, Nima. “Not Like the Magians, Not Like the Jews: Sexual Ethics, Communal Identity, and the Formation of Family Law in the Church of the East (484–552 CE).” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 27:1 (2024): 165–203. https://doi.org/https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv27n1jamali. Nima Jamali, Not Like the Magians, Not Like the Jews: Sexual Ethics, Communal Identity, and the Formation of Family Law in the Church of the East (484–552 CE), Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 27:1 (2024): 165–203, https://doi.org/https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv27n1jamali.