“Here is a really excellent and most welcome volume: it aims to provide ‘a series of windows’ into the literatures of the various languages of the Christian Middle East. For each language, well-chosen excerpts, ranging from four to nine in number, are introduced and translated, accompanied by helpful bibliographical guidance in each case for readers who wish to explore further. The book provides both the general reader and scholars in related areas with a wonderful gateway into little-known areas of early Christian literature.”
— Sebastian Brock
University of Oxford

“Scholars and students have rarely had easy access to primary sources across the array of continents, languages, and cultures where ancient Christians forged their places. This volume responds to that need. Concise and efficient, it offers a rich assortment of texts from an often-unfamiliar variety of language traditions. Demonstrating fundamental commonalities as well as distinctive traits for each, this volume is a marvelously rich entry into global Christianity over its first millennium and more, far to the east of Europe’s shores.”
— Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Brown University

“Providing short introductions to the various Eastern churches alongside fresh translations of some of their most important texts, this ‘dream team’ of contributors has created the first truly accessible entryway into the diverse traditions associated with Eastern Christianity. Thanks to their efforts, there is no longer any excuse for the history of Christianity to be taught as the history simply of Western Christianity. For anyone interested in understanding Christianity as a global religion—whether professor, graduate student, seminarian, undergraduate, or practitioner—Eastern Christianity is nothing short of required reading.”
— Michael Philip Penn
Stanford University

First Things
“Eastern Christianity shines light on the riches of the Middle Eastern churches and their respective literary canons. These ancient branches of Christianity still survive today, hanging on in their homelands, but some of them are at serious risk of disappearing. When we hear of the dangers facing Christianity in the Middle East, it is many of the peoples and traditions of this book that are existentially threatened. One hopes that a better understanding of the history of Middle Eastern Christians, which this book provides, will prompt action to help save them in the present.”

Review of Biblical Literature
“An exciting and accessible entry point for English-speakers to learn more about the geographical scope and cultural diversity of early Christianity.”

Reviews in Religion & Theology
“Those interested in gaining a working knowledge of Syriac or Arabic or Georgian Christianity . . . can safely and efficiently begin with this volume. Simultaneously, specialists in the various fields will find these translations useful tools for ad hoc research questions. The modest price and attractive cover are an added bonus to an already valuable volume that is more or less a must-read for any student or scholar of the history of Christianity.”

J. Edward Walters is a cataloger of Syriac manuscripts for Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Collegeville, Minnesota. His research focuses on Christianity in late antiquity, especially among Syriac speakers. Walters is particularly interested in the early period of Syriac literature, and much of his research thus far has focused on the fourth-century author Aphrahat, the Persian Sage. More broadly, Walters has written and published on a number of topics pertaining to Syriac Christianity, including several translations of Syriac texts. Walters is also the general editor of the Digital Syriac Corpus, an online repository of digitized Syriac texts.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part One: Syriac
          1. The Doctrina Addai
          2. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns against Heresies 3 and 53
          3. Martyrdom of Mīles, Abursam, and Sinay
          4. Jacob of Serugh, The Fourth Homily on Cain and Abel
          5. Narsai, On the Canaanite Woman
          6. Simeon of Beth Arsham, Letter on the Ḥimyarite Martyrs
          7. The Syriac Life of Mary of Egypt
          8. Timothy I, Letter 47
          9. Theodore bar Koni, Scholion, Mēmrā 10
Part Two: Armenian
          1. Koriwn, The Life of Mashtotsʿ
          2. Eznik of Koghb, Refutation of the Sects (or, On God)
          3. The Teaching of Saint Grigor
          4. Anania of Narek, On This Transitory World
          5. Grigor of Narek, Book of Lamentation, Discourse 1, Discourse 88
          6. Nersēs Shnorhali, Hymn for the Sunrise Hour, Instructional Preface to a Prayer of Nersēs, Prayer of Nersēs
Part Three: Georgian
          1. Martyrdom of St. Shushanik
          2. John Sabanisże, Martyrdom of Habo, the Perfumer from Baghdad
          3. George the Athonite, The Lives of John the Iberian, Euthymios the Athonite, and George the Minor, The Life of George the Athonite
          4. Mark the Deacon, The Life of Porphyry of Gaza
Part Four: Arabic
          1. Homilies on the Gospel Readings for Holy Week
          2. Theodore Abū Qurrah, That God Is Not Weak
          3. The Disputation of Abraham of Tiberias
          4. Ḥunayn Ibn Isḥāq, How to Discern the True Religion
          5. Miracles of Saint George
          6. Commentary on the Pentateuch
Part Five: Coptic
          1. Life of Pachomius
          2. Shenoute of Atripe, I Have Been Reading the Holy Gospels
          3. Pseudo-Dioscorus of Alexandria, Encomium on Macarius of Tkōou
          4. The Anaphora of Saint Thomas the Apostle
          5. Christophoria, Letter to the Comes Mena
          6. John of Paralos, Homily on the Archangel Michael and the Blasphemous Books of the Heretics
          7. Pseudo-Cyril of Alexandria, Encomium Interpreting Part of the Apocalypse of John the Apostle of Christ Jesus
Part Six: Ethiopic
          1. Select Inscriptions of ˁEzana
          2. Homily on Frumentius
          3. Synaxarion on Yared
          4. Glory of the Kings (Kǝbrä Nägäśt)
          5. Miracles of Mary
          6. Zär’a Yaʿəqob, Book of the Trinity
          7. Prayer Amulet: MS Duke Ethiopic 15