The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qenneshrin
Rhetoric and Interpretation in Fifth Century Syriac Literature
by Robert Phenix
Robert Phenix investigates the collection of twelve Syriac poetic sermons recounting the story of Joseph in Genesis 37 and 39-50. The authorship of these poems has been disputed, but this is the first study to attempt to argue from all aspects of the evidence that Balai of Qenneshrin is the author. The study then examines all of the data that can be associated with Balai: the religious environment of Qenneshrin and nearby Aleppo, Balai’s connections with the monk-bishops of central Syria in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, particularly Acacius of Beroea/Aleppo and Rabbula of Edessa, the status of chorbishops, and the presence of Syriac speakers. Since it is argued in this study that Balai’s source for the Sermons on Joseph was a Jewish text, this section also carefully examines the evidence for the Jewish community in Qenneshrin. As part of the background of the author, links between characters and the physical setting of the Sermons on Joseph and Qenneshrin are investigated. The relationship of the Sermons on Joseph to other Syriac Joseph sources and Joseph material in the Pseudepigrapha and at Qumran is discussed, followed by the question of the origin of the story, which is located in a lost Greek Jewish composition. The last section of the work examines the author’s use of Hellenistic rhetoric and literary themes. The many speeches in the Sermons on Joseph reveal rhetorical arrangements that are strikingly close to the models of arrangement found in Late Antique handbooks, such as the Hermogenic Corpus . Several of these arguments are examined, as are the elaborate prefaces that introduce some of the individual Sermons on Joseph . The literary themes and motifs of the Sermons on Joseph are explored. It can be shown that some motifs known only in Syriac religious literature are employed in the Sermons on Joseph in non-religious literary contexts.
- By (author) Robert Phenix
Other Titles in this Series
Eschatologie im agyptischen Monchtum
Die Rolle christlicher eschatologischer Denkvarianten in der Geschichte des fruhen agyptischen Monchtums und seiner sozialen Funktion
Volume 59
Die Nag-Hammadi-Schriften in der Literatur- und Theologiegeschichte des fruhen Christentums
Volume 106
Die Vita Sinuthii
Form- und Uberlieferungsgeschichte der hagiographischen Texte uber Schenute den Archimandriten
Volume 45
Die Strafe des Exils in der Spatantike
Kirchen- und rechtsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Verbannung in der ersten Halfte des vierten Jahrhunderts nach Christus
Volume 138
Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus
Akten der 1. Tubinger Tagung zum Christlichen Orient (15.-16. Juni 2007)
Volume 62
Der Mensch als Gottes Bild im christlichen Agypten
Studien zu Gen 1,26 in zwei koptischen Quellen des 4.-5. Jahrhunderts
Volume 34
Scribal Traditions in Coptic Magical Texts
Edition and Materiality of the Berlin Magical Archive, the Unpublished Coptic Magical Texts of the Papyrussammlung of Heidelberg and the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg
Religion im romischen Thessaloniki
Sakraltopographie, Kult und Gesellschaft 168 v. Chr. - 324 n. Chr.
Volume 47
The Fate of the Dead in Early Third Century North African Christianity
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas and Tertullian
Volume 83
Die ‘Regula Pastoralis’ Gregors des Grossen
Studien zu Text, kirchenpolitischer Bedeutung und Rezeption in der Karolingerzeit
Volume 26
Augustins Trinitatslehre praktisch
Katechese, Liturgie, Predigt: Ritual und Unterweisung auf dem Weg zur Taufe
Volume 105
An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786: Text and Commentary
Volume 65
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Legal Visuality
Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
