A Syriac Adapter: The Importance of the S1 Translation in Shaping the Theological Legacy of Evagrius PonticusAfkar: The Undergraduate Journal of Middle East 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/JT9EKPRW/tei
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2025-05-20-05:00
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.PaulFletcherA Syriac Adapter: The Importance of the S1 Translation in Shaping the Theological Legacy of Evagrius Ponticushttp://syriaca.org/cbss/JT9EKPRWhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/JT9EKPRWhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/JT9EKPRWAfkar: The Undergraduate Journal of Middle East Studies6202437-45Evagrius Ponticus was a theologian and mystic of the fourth century, whose writings helped shape Near Eastern Christianity. His imprint on the Syriac world in particular involved a fifth century translation of his work, the Kephalaia Gnostica, known as Syriac 1 (S1). Until the twentieth century, scholars agreed that this adaptation was an accurate translation of Evagrius’s original Greek. However, when a more theologically unorthodox translation, Syriac 2 (S2), was discovered in the 1950s, scholars came to realize that Evagrius’s original work may have included Neoplatonic and Origenist rhetoric. Yet the translation that shaped Syriac Christianity was S1, a more orthodox adaptation of the original. In this paper, I examine portions of the S1 and S2 translations, demonstrating that this mystery adapter did more than just expurgate Evagrius’s writing; he expanded upon it, clarified imprecise language, added context, and theologically reworked the text. This alteration of the work was both theologically personal and practically accessible. It impacted Evagrius's personal legacy, shaped the reception of Christianity in Syria, and altered the theological landscape of the Late Antique Mediterranean.
Fletcher, Paul. “A Syriac Adapter: The Importance of the S1 Translation in Shaping the Theological Legacy of Evagrius Ponticus.” Afkar: The Undergraduate Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (2024): 37–45.
Paul Fletcher, A Syriac Adapter: The Importance of the S1 Translation in Shaping the Theological Legacy of Evagrius Ponticus,Afkar: The Undergraduate Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (2024): 37–45.