“Stories of the Cross”: Ephrem and His Exegesis in Fourth-Century Mesopotamia

“Stories of the Cross”: Ephrem and His Exegesis in Fourth-Century MesopotamiaSyriaca.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/M9DPHAXP/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Blake A.Hartung“Stories of the Cross”: Ephrem and His Exegesis in Fourth-Century Mesopotamiahttp://syriaca.org/cbss/M9DPHAXPhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/M9DPHAXPhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/M9DPHAXP2017Prior to the schism of the Syriac Christian churches in the mid-fifth century CE, the renowned poet and teacher Ephrem of Nisibis (ca. 307-73) was the most influential figure in the Syriac Christian tradition. Later Syriac Christians would come to revere Ephrem in large part for his accomplishments as a teacher of Christian Scripture. Despite renewed scholarly interest in Ephrem in recent decades, however, scholarship on his biblical exegesis remains rather fragmented. This dissertation examines Ephrem’s literary corpus with an eye to his practices as a reader and interpreter of Scripture. While the current scholarship has tended to emphasize Ephrem’s theological hermeneutic of Scripture, this dissertation argues that no single exegetical method unites Ephrem’s diverse corpus of hymns, homilies, commentaries, and polemical discourses, which were by nature occasional compositions. Rather, Ephrem used a variety of exegetical practices to bring Scripture’s words and imagery to bear in various literary genres and performative contexts. Given the broad scope of the topic, this study focuses on Ephrem’s use of one particular cluster of biblical passages—the Gospel accounts of the suffering and death of Jesus (identified hereafter as “the Passion narrative”). Ephrem regularly cites, references, and alludes to the Passion narrative throughout his corpus, making it a valuable case study for exploring how he engaged with, drew from, and transformed biblical sources. The argument of this dissertation proceeds in two stages. The first chapter serves as a prolegomenon to those that follow, outlining Ephrem’s exegetical methods and practices in the various literary genres in which he wrote. The following chapters (two through four) proceed to examine the three most common thematic motifs associated with the Passion narrative in Ephrem’s writings: anti-Jewish polemic (chapter two); payment of human debt (chapter three); and finally, the climactic victory of life over death (chapter four). Each of these chapters contributes further evidence to support the contention that Ephrem’s exegesis was fundamentally occasional, inextricably linked to the unique contexts and audiences of each of his many writings. Hartung, Blake A. “‘Stories of the Cross’: Ephrem and His Exegesis in Fourth-Century Mesopotamia.” Ph.D. dissertation, Saint Louis University, 2017. Blake A. Hartung, ‘Stories of the Cross’: Ephrem and His Exegesis in Fourth-Century Mesopotamia (Ph.D. dissertation, Saint Louis University, 2017).EphremGospelsIV CEIV-VII CENew TestamentPassionanti-Judaismcrucifixionexegesishermeneuticssoteriology