The Patristic “Masora”

A Study of Patristic Collections in Syriac Handbooks from the Near East

By (author) J. Loopstra

Book cover: The Patristic “Masora”

Extent: 472 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies, Medieval Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium

Series volume number: 689, 265

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(October 2020)

ISBN: 9789042942332

Price: $163.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(October 2020)

ISBN: 9789042942349

Price: $203.75

Though fairly distinct among Syriac manuscripts, the nearly twenty exemplars of the so-called Syriac “Masora” remain relatively unknown and often misunderstood. These handbooks were developed to help the reader pronounce, interpret, and compare words from across a spectrum of different sources: including works of patristics, theology, liturgy, and the Bible. Because earlier studies of this genre have focused, almost exclusively, on the biblical portions of these manuscripts, little has been known about the collections of excerpts from 255 patristic-era writings included in many of these handbooks. This volume is the first-ever study and transcription of over ten thousand excerpted ‘vocalized words and readings’ (smohē w-qroyoto) from works attributed to Greek writers such as Ps.-Dionysius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Severus of Antioch. This material has the potential to inform not only Syriac studies and Patristics, but the broader study of literacy and modes of learning in the Medieval Middle East.

  • By (author) J. Loopstra

"Loopstra has directed his readers towards a measured, yet profound appreciation of the richness of scholarship depicted in these lists of words and readings." Kitchen, Robert A., Church History, May 23, 2022