An extract from Collectanea Christiana Orientalia (2005)

Athas challenges the past assumptions by Book of Daniel scholars, especially with regard to the symbolism in Chapter 9. This exegesis provides a theory for chronological interpretation that includes dates for calculating the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel's vision.

Three interpretative trends address the vision at the ratification of the Sinai covenant in Exod. 24:10. Traditions relate whether God or a throne was seen, as well as the consequences for this vision for the leaders and history of the Israelites.

This study investigates how the Rabbis handled the Book of Chronicles, highlighting issues including intermarriage. While genealogical lists contain intermarriage in Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah is generally opposed. Ezra did compose some of the lists and intermarriage was acceptable only under certain conditions.

This paper examines the “muscular Christianity” phenomenon in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ and Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 short play, “Today is Friday.”

Deissmann was a scholar well known for his work with the Greek of the New Testament. In this little volume he considers the Hellenization of Semitic monotheism. Primarily concerned with the changes after Alexander’s conquest, the book is a brief exploration of Greek religion in the aftermath of conquest. Semitic monotheism was, according to Deissmann, a new concept for the Greek world. Hellenistic outlooks had long been influenced by classical viewpoints. Into this cultural milieu the Judaic concept of monotheism made immediate inroads. This influence is explored primarily in linguistic form, including considerations of the Septuagint. Both Hellenists and Semitic scholars will find material of interest here. Observations made by Deissmann influenced later thought in this field. Stretching across disciplines, this study will interest cultural historians as well. Share the sense of discovery with this useful booklet.

Kate Elderkin presents an enjoyable overview not only of the nature of children's dolls in Antiquity, but the customs surrounding their use and subsequent dedication when the owner reached adulthood.

The fifth of Carl Blegen's reports on the excavation of Troy for the American Journal of Archeology concentrating on detailed study of artifacts and finds on the citadel.

Edward Hopkins here addresses and debunks the color theory, which assumes that ancient peoples were unable to perceive shades of green and blue because they lack vocabulary parallel to our own words for color.

William Dwight Whitney examines various translation of the Upanishads, the sacred Vedic literature of India.

Anton Baumstark discusses the various, complex problems inherent in any attempt to determine the influences from other translation traditions on the form of the Christian-Palestinian text of the Pentateuch.

Anton Baumstark compares the text of a Gospel citation found in a Coptic Manichaean Kephalaia with other versions of the text in order to demonstrate that it was influenced by the Diatessaron tradition.

The article refutes many of the arguments Stephen Henry Langdon made in his article on the text “The Sumerian Epic of Paradise, Flood, and Fall of Man”. The essay concludes with the entire text laid out and a commentary.

Burgess attempts to prove the originality of the nakshatra system to the Hindus. He proves the early existence of this system and disproves the origin of the lunar zodiac system to the Chinese and the Arabs.

The Sumerian hymn K. 257 is in the Emne-sal dialect, which is the non-Semitic designation for a variation of Sumerian. The focus of the hymn is the goddess Belit. However, no conclusion was reached about her origin.

In the present article, Isidor Scheftelowitz challenges the conclusions of Richard Reitzenstein that a Manichaean hymn fragment contained influences from the old Iranian religious system by offering a new translation and texts for comparison.

P. Maternus Wolff publishes here the text and German translation of twenty Eucharistic prayers from the Syraic tradition. Wolff also includes an apparatus containing critical notes and an introduction in which he discusses several unique features of these prayers.

Sebastian Euringer publishes here the Syriac text of Isho’dad of Merv’s commentary on the Song of Songs accompanied by an introduction, a German translation of the commentary, notes on the translation, and parallels from other commentaries.

Otto Spies publishes here a critical apparatus with variant readings to supplement Johannes Bachmann’s edition of the Ethiopic version of the work “concerning the eight [sinful] thoughts” by Evagrius of Pontus. Spies provides a German translation of the collated text.

Georg Graf publishes a German translation, accompanied by translation notes, of an Arabic poenitentiale text that is a collection of previous material. Graf also provides an introduction to the text in which he discusses source materials and their relationship.

The Syriac tradition played an important role in shaping pre- and early Islamic concepts of Christianity. In this article, Anton Baumstark argues that a few Arabic citations of the Bible reflect reliance on Old Syriac translations rather than the Peshitta.

This volume contains Chabot’s notice of a fragment published by Mingana from Barhadbeshabba dealing with Narsai and the School of Nisibis. Chabot offers a French translation of the text and a summary questioning its historical value.

This volume contains an Italian translation of Jacob of Sarug’s eulogy of Simon the Stylite.

In the present essay, Anton Baumstark surveys several Christmas texts from the Roman Antiphonarius Officii in an attempt to find evidence of Byzantine influence. Baumstark focuses the comparison on poetic texts in the Byzantine tradition.

In the present essay, Curt Peters compares citations from the Gospel of Matthew in the Syriac translation of Eusebius’s “Theophany” in order to determine the form of the citations within the Syriac translation tradition.