Seth Stadel: The Biblical Sources of the Eschatology of Aphrahat

A comprehensive study of Syriac eschatology has yet be to be conducted, though initial studies have been carried out by such scholars as Oscar Braun, F. Gavin, Brian Daley, and David G. K. Taylor. While unedited and understudied Syriac texts, as well as the infancy state of Peshitta studies, certainly pose notable setbacks in their own rite, a study of early Syriac eschatology is possible for select well-known writers not only in scope, as Daley has shown, but also in the establishment of sources used, particularly biblical sources. This essay seeks to add to the discussion of Syriac eschatology by analyzing the biblical sources Aphrahat (d. 345) used to formulate his eschatology. First, I will identify the biblical sources used by Aphrahat to construct his eschatology, and then I will suggest some possible motivations for the use of the most important biblical texts chosen.