This book is a part of series of Causes of Celebrations written by Moshe Bar Kepha (813-903). These Causes are unique in that they demonstrate a new genre of the Syriac literature initiated by the East Syriac authors at the beginning of the sixth century. Moreover, these Causes reveal the appreciation and dependency of Moshe Bar Kepha on the East Syriac sources despite the ecclesiastical doctrinal separation between the East Syriac and West Syriac churches.
As a master of harmony of the Syriac literature, Moshe Bar Kepha adopts the early writing of the Cause of Nativity of the East Syriac author, Thomas of Edessa (d. 543), providing a masterpiece of hermeneutic theology and Christology for both East and West Syriac traditions. Moreover, he raised his exegetical studies to new heights of ecumenism, apology, and contextualization.
Table of Contents (v)
Acknowledgments (vii)
Abbreviations and Sigla (ix)
Introduction (1)
Editing the Text & Translation (3)
Moshe Bar Kepha (4)
The Style of the Cause (6)
The Sources of Moshe Bar Kepha’s Cause (7)
Moshe Bar Kepha as a Link to Earlier Literature (8)
Biblical Quotations (10)
Moshe Bar Kepha’s Cause and Thomas of Edessa’s Cause (11)
Ecumenism in Moshe Bar Kepha’s Cause (13)
Apology for Christianity (14)
Moshe Bar Kepha’s Cause in comparison with Thomas of Edessa’s Cause (17)
Conclusion (34)
Text and Translation (37)
Bibliography (79)
Index (89)
