“Blessed Is He Who Has Brought Adam from Sheol”: Christ’s Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian

“Blessed Is He Who Has Brought Adam from Sheol”: Christ’s Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the SyrianGorgias Dissetations 13, Early Christian Studies 2Syriaca.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/RUCPWC48/tei

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Thomas NicholsonBuchan“Blessed Is He Who Has Brought Adam from Sheol”: Christ’s Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrianhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/RUCPWC48https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/RUCPWC48https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/RUCPWC48Piscataway, New JerseyGorgias Press2004Gorgias Dissetations 13, Early Christian Studies 2This work is an examination of the theological use of the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead in the works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373 C.E.). In the ancient Christian church, it was believed, taught, and confessed that in the interval between his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Christ descended to the abode of the dead. Christ's descent to the underworld was nowhere earlier, more elaborately, or more influentially expressed than within cultural milieu of Syriac Christianity, where the underworld was designated not as Hades or Inferos, but as Sheol, and it was nowhere within this milieu more frequently, effectively, and influentially implemented than in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian. Organically integrated with and providing an integrating function within his theological reflection as a whole, Ephrem's conception of Christ's descent to Sheol provides us with an important and distinctive vision of the significance of this salvific event. Ephrem's use Semitic and non-Western poetic forms and structures as a mode of theological discourse, coupled with his preference for imagery and symbolism rather than definition, resulted in a variety of vivid depictions of Christ's descent to Sheol. Especially informed by Ephrem's view of the redemptive and revelatory significance of Christ's incarnation, these "verbal icons" imaginatively collapsed distinctions between temporality and eternity and creatively drew together cosmological, incarnational, soteriological, ecclesiological, sacramental, and eschatological themes in the context of Christian worship. Table of Contents Introduction Cosmology and Christ's Descent to Sheol in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Christ's Incarnation and the Descent to Sheol in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Christ's Descent to Sheol and Soteriology in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Christ's Descent to Sheol, Ecclesiology and Sacraments in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Christ's Descent to Sheol and Eschatology in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Conclusion: Christ's Descent to Sheol in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian Appendix: Christ's Descent to Sheol in Selections from Syriac Christian Literature Prior to Saint Ephrem Buchan, Thomas Nicholson. “Blessed Is He Who Has Brought Adam from Sheol”: Christ’s Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. Gorgias Dissetations 13, Early Christian Studies 2. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2004. Thomas Nicholson Buchan, “Blessed Is He Who Has Brought Adam from Sheol: Christ’s Descent to the Dead in the Theology of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Gorgias Dissetations 13, Early Christian Studies 2 (Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2004).AdamChristologyDescensus ad inferosEphremHellIV CEIV-VII CEResurrectioncosmologydeathecclesiologyeschatologysoteriologysymbolswomb