Saturday 9 July 2011

Flavia Ruani - Between Myth and Exegesis: Ephrem the Syrian on the Manichaean 'Book of Giants'


This paper intends to examine the reaction of Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306-373) to the Manichaean interpretation of Gn 6:1-4, regarding the Giants tradition. We will analyze numbers 7 and 19 among his Hymns against the Heresies in order to both identify the polemical techniques used by the Syrian writer in refuting the arguments of his adversaries, and understand how he perceived and what he knew about this controversial narrative material within the Manichaean mythology. Parallels will be drawn from direct Manichaean sources preserved in Coptic and other languages, in order to disclose to what extent Ephrem the Syrian is a witness of the Manichaean ‘Book of Giants’.

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