CHRISTIAN ORIENT: PAST AND PRESENT

The course provides the students with the elements of a little-known language of the Middle East, which, however, has a long historical tradition and is still lively although scattered in a diaspora all over Europe and North America. The acquisition of basic linguistic elements will be accompanied by an introduction to the history and to the cultural variety of the Syriac world.
At the same time, the study of the Syriac world will introduce the students to the sources and the traditions of a fully Asian Christianity, thereby opening up a different perspective on the history of Christianity. The exposition to the complexity of the interactions that bound Syriac Christians with the many religions (especialy Islam) they encountered along their millennial history, will prompt a critical and nuanced attitude towards the idea itself of what Christianity is.

After the course, the students will have a basic knowledge of the morphology of the Syriac language. They will be able to recognize the specific features of the major traditions of Syriac Christianity; to outline its historical and geographical development; to read and interpret some of its crucial texts; to appraise its interactions with other religious traditions and to appreciate its historical and cultural relevance as a vital component of the complex religious world of the Middle East.

No preliminary knowledge is needed; however, basic familiarity with the Bible is strongly recommended.

In the first part, the course will provide an introduction to the basics of Syriac morphology. The second part will consist in an overview of the Syriac world, which mostly expressed itself in a rich Christian culture. Any overview of ancient Christanity can hardly be deemed complete without an accurate consideration of Syriac Christianity, which thrived during the 1st millennium CE and beyond under Roman, Persian, and Abbasid rule. The Syriac language, a variety of Aramaic, spread out from its homeland, Mesopotamia, all over Central Asia up to China, where Syriac Christians settled many centuries before Jesuit missionaries. It is through the intermediary of Syriac translations that many ancient Greek philosophical texts passed to Arabic, thus fostering the great season of Medieval Arabic philosophy. Indeed, Baghdad was the stage of lively exchanges between Christian thinkers of Syriac formation and Muslim intellectuals. Whereas their crucial role of cultural mediation is often acknowledged, Syriac-speaking Christians also produced a relatively neglected religious literature of high artistic value and developed an original thought on the Bible and on ascetic-mystical life. In the last lessons we shall especially focus on the latter features.

For students attending "Oriente Cristiano ieri e oggi" it is compulsory to read:

Aldo Ferrari (a c. di), Popoli e Chiese dell'Oriente cristiano, Edizioni Lavoro, Roma, 2008, p. 3-60; 99-218.
Sebastian Brock, La spiritualità nella tradizione siriaca, Roma, Lipa, 2006, p. 9-87; 119-137.

For students of "Lingua e letteratura siriaca" -

Suggested grammar:
John Healey, First Studies in Syriac, Birmingham, University of Birmingham, 1980 [photocopies or PDF available].

Compulsory reading:
Sebastian Brock, La spiritualità nella tradizione siriaca, Roma, Lipa, 2006.
Sabino Chialà, La perla dai molti riflessi. La lettura della Scrittura nei Padri Siriaci, Bose, Edizioni Qiqajon, 2015, p. 1-138; 175-194.

For those who can read French, the following introduction is highly recommended:
Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Muriel Debié, Le monde syriaque. Sur les routes d'un christianisme ignoré, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2017.
In English:
Ian Gilman, Hans-Joachim Klimkeit (eds.), Christians in Asia Before 1500, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1999, p. 21-74; 109-152; 205-282.

The students' learning and understanding will be assessed through an oral exam.

We shall alternate lecture-style instruction and seminars entailing the discussion of texts, audio-visual materials, and online resources.

Italian

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