Dionysius bar Ṣalībī: Guardian of the Syriac Orthodox Tradition: (37 Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity)

Dionysius bar Salībī, a prominent 12th-century Syriac Orthodox bishop and scholar, played a key role in shaping Syriac Christian theology during a period of significant political upheaval in the eastern Mediterranean. His vast intellectual contributions spanned all major ecclesiastical disciplines of his time, including numerous theological works and scriptural commentaries. This volume brings together nine scholarly essays that explore his writings, theological insights, and his active role in both interreligious and intra-Christian debates. By examining his legacy, these studies highlight how Bar Ṣalībī both consolidated and reshaped Syriac traditions to address the challenges of his era. The volume offers a wide range of perspectives on his enduring influence, underlining the significance of his multi-faceted contributions to Syriac Christianity.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction 1 Between Collecting and Composing: Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Commentary on the Song of Songs  Marion Pragt 2 Double Citations of the Peshitta and the Syro-Hexapla in Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Spiritual Commentary on Isaiah 1–12  Zhan Chen 3 Appraising Bar Ṣalībī’s Knowledge of Islam: Insights from a Neglected Response to the Charge of Biblical Falsification  Bert Jacobs 4 Two Syriac Disputations against the Jews Attributed to Ephrem and John Chrysostom Rediscovered Sources of Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Treatise against the Jews  David G.K. Taylor 5 The Sign of the Cross as a Mark of Christian Faith: Rituals of Practical Orthodoxy in Dionysius bar Ṣalībī  Catalin-Stefan Popa 6 Dionysius on Dionysius: Bar Ṣalībī’s Commentary on Dionysius the Areopagite  Emiliano Fiori 7 Origenism and the Memory of Evagrius Ponticus during the Syriac Renaissance: Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Commentary on the Chapters on Knowledge  Adrian C. Pirtea 8 Animals in the Writings of Dionysius bar Ṣalībī: First Soundings  Jens O. Schmitt 9 The “Star of His Generation”: Dionysius bar Ṣalībī and the Later Tradition  Herman G.B. Teule Manuscript Index Index of Persons

About the Author :
Bert Jacobs, Ph.D. (2021), University of Leuven, is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. His publications focus on Christian-Muslim interactions in the early and medieval Islamic world. Herman Teule, Ph.D. (1991), University of Leuven, is Professor Emeritus of Eastern Christianity at Radboud University Nijmegen and University of Leuven, has published extensively on the Syriac Renaissance, Latinizing tendencies among Syriac Christians, and the modern situation of Middle Eastern Christians. Joseph Verheyden, Ph.D. (1987), University of Leuven, is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the same university and was until 2023 the Director of the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC).