Invitation to Syriac Christianity offers direct access to the literature of Syriac Christians. When people think of early Christianity, they most often think of Christianity as a European religion or-at the very least-a religion of the Mediterranean. Despite their centrality to the history of the faith in the East, Syriac Christians have generally been excluded from modern accounts of Christianity. Originating from Mesopotamia, Syriac Christians quickly spread out across Eurasia, from Turkey all the way to China, developing a distinctive and influential form of Christianity that connected empires. These early Christians wrote in the language of Syriac, the lingua franca of the late ancient Middle East, and a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Syriac Christians thus represent a form of indigenous Christianity extending back to the beginning. Collecting key foundational Syriac texts from the second to the fourteenth centuries, this anthology provides unique access to one of the most intriguing, but least known, branches of the Christian tradition.

Book Information
ISBN 9780520299191
Author Michael Philip Penn
Format Hardback
Page Count 450
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 178g