The Library of Paradise: A History of Contemplative Reading in the Monasteries of the Church of the East
The Library of Paradise: A History of Contemplative Reading in the Monasteries of the Church of the East
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Abstract
This book tells the story of contemplative reading, a spiritual discipline practiced in the Syriac Christian monasteries of the Church of the East in sixth- and seventh-century Mesopotamia. These ascetics practiced a form of contemplation which moved from reading, to meditation, to prayer, to the ecstasy of divine vision. The book proceeds in two parts. The first part crafts a methodology. The second, longer part is an historical narrative of the development, definition, and diffusion of contemplative reading. The book adapts methodological insights from prior scholarship on the history of reading, including studies on early medieval lectio divina. Another methodological chapter undertakes a cautionary case study of the British Library manuscript collection and identifies how future scholarship can overcome cultural and racial prejudices which have sometimes obscured the history of Syriac monastic readers from view. The second half of the book employs this methodology to narrate the evolution of East Syrian contemplative reading over three historical phases: the establishment of the practice, the articulation of its theology, and the maturation and spread of the tradition. Individual chapters focus on the role of ascetic reading in the monastic reform of Abraham of Kashkar, the commentaries on Evagrius of Pontus written by Babai the Great, and the monastic handbooks of ʿEnanishoʿ of Adiabene and Dadishoʿ of Qatar. A concluding chapter points the way forward for further scholarship by noting the long legacy of East Syrian contemplative reading through its reception into Sogdian, Arabic, and Ethiopic monastic libraries.
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Front Matter
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Part I Methodology
David A. Michelson-
1
Introduction: Framing Questions for the Study of Contemplative Reading in the Church of the East
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2
Manuscripts without Readers? Perspectival Obstacles to the Study of Syriac Ascetic Reading
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3
Was There a Syriac Lectio Divina? Models and Definitions for the Study of Contemplative Reading in the Church of the East in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries
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1
Introduction: Framing Questions for the Study of Contemplative Reading in the Church of the East
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Part II Narrative
David A. Michelson-
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Contemplative Reading on the Banks of the Euphrates: The Establishment of a Tradition from Ephrem the Syrian to Abraham of Kashkar
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5
“Cloak, Tunic, Book, Cell”: Reading Evagrius in Syriac with Babai the Great
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6
“Dense with Every Kind of Fruit”: ʿEnanishoʿ of Adiabene, Dadishoʿ of Qatar, and the Harvest of East Syrian Contemplative Reading
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7
Conclusions: Trajectories and Legacies of East Syrian Contemplative Reading
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4
Contemplative Reading on the Banks of the Euphrates: The Establishment of a Tradition from Ephrem the Syrian to Abraham of Kashkar
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End Matter
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