Defining Christ
The Church of the East and Nascent Islam
By (author) M. Metselaar
Defining Christ describes the theological developments of the Church of the East in the Persian Empire in the seventh century, when Arab groupings were seizing power. This Church defined and emphasized the difference between the divine and human nature of Christ in such a way that it had already come in strong conflict with other Christian denominations. Now, it also had to deal with new rulers who recognized Christ as a unique human being, but rejected the belief in his divinity. The book investigates to what extent the leaders of this Church adapted their statements concerning Christ to the rapidly changing circumstances and views. Most attention is thereby given to the 106 letters of Isho’yahb III, written between about 625 and 659. These letters shed an interesting light on this period and for a better understanding they are set in the context of wider theological and political developments.
Defining Christ describes the theological developments of the Church of the East in the Persian Empire in the seventh century, when Arab groupings were seizing power. This Church defined and emphasized the difference between the divine and human nature of Christ in such a way that it had already come in strong conflict with other Christian denominations. Now, it also had to deal with new rulers who recognized Christ as a unique human being, but rejected the belief in his divinity. The book investigates to what extent the leaders of this Church adapted their statements concerning Christ to the rapidly changing circumstances and views. Most attention is thereby given to the 106 letters of Isho’yahb III, written between about 625 and 659. These letters shed an interesting light on this period and for a better understanding they are set in the context of wider theological and political developments.
- By (author) M. Metselaar
". . . an extensive, detailed exposition of the development of the Christological doctrine of the Church of the East in late antiquity. . . . Defining Christ is an admirably thorough examination of East Syrian theology over the course of a critical century. The degree of detail it offers across a range of East Syrian theologians will make it useful even as a reference work, and it should be of great interest to advanced graduate students and scholars of theology and Christian late antiquity." Weitz, Lev, Church History, July 1, 2021 "Defining Christ offers a comprehensive survey of the first seven centuries of Christology of the catholicoi of the Church of the East and contains one of the best collections of Persian Christian terminology as it appears in the East Syriac literature." Bantu, Vince L., International Journal of Systemic Theology, April 2021
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Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Late Antiquity
Encounters in the Abrahamic Religions, 6th-8th Centuries
Volume 17
L’ecriture de l’histoire en syriaque
Transmissions interculturelles et constructions identitaires entre hellenisme et islam. Avec des repertoires des textes historiographiques en annexe
Volume 12
Empire, Church and Society in the Late Roman Near East
Greeks, Jews, Syrians and Saracens (Collected Studies, 2004-14)
Volume 10
En Route to the Confessions
The Roots and Development of Augustine's Philosophical Anthropology
Volume 6
New Approaches to Sidonius Apollinaris
With Indices on Helga Köhler, C. Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius: BriefeBuch I
Volume 7
The Ladder of Prayer and the Ship of Stirrings
The Praying Self in Late Antique East Syrian Christianity
Volume 22
Writing to Survive. A Commentary on Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters Book 7. Volume 2
The Ascetic Letters 12-18
Volume 14
Writing to Survive. A Commentary on Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters Book 7. Volume 1
The Episcopal Letters 1-11
Volume 2
New Themes, New Styles in the Eastern Mediterranean
Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Encounters, 5th-8th Centuries
Volume 16
Inside and Out
Interactions between Rome and the Peoples on the Arabian and Egyptian Frontiers in Late Antiquity
Volume 8
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