Sunday 3 May 2015

Maya Goldberg: New Syriac Edition and Translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Exegesis on Paul’s Minor Epistles

The ms. (olim) Diyarbakir 22, a rich Syriac hybrid of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, has remained, for the most part, an untapped primary source for the study of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s exegesis and theology.
My current project, also involving significant coopration from Dr Emiliano Fiori, is the preparation of the first edition, translation and analysis of the commentary on four of Paul’s Epistles extant in the ms.—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians—which to a large extent relies on Theodore’s exegesis, translated into the Syriac directly from the Greek.
The central element of the project is a detailed and critical comparison of the Theodorian segments in the ms. with the Latin translation of Theodore’s complete commentary on the Minor Epistles, as well as with the very few surviving original Greek fragments (both edited by Henry B. Swete). An additional advantage to the comparison with the Latin is the identification of Theodore-inspired segments representing the reworking and reception of his commentary by later East-Syrian exegetes, such as Isho‛ bar Nun and Theodore bar Koni, who were heavily influenced by the great Interpreter. The remainder of the commentary is extracted from Isho‛dad of Merv’s work on the Minor Epistles, and in the published volume will be juxtaposed with a first Syriac edition of his commentary as it appears in sections from the Gannat Busame.

No comments:

Post a Comment