Jack Tannous: The Importance of Syriac. Simple Believers and the Making of the Medieval Middle East.
2021 ж. 26 Қыр.
6 329 Рет қаралды
In this video, I have the pleasure of interviewing Professor Jack Tannous of Princeton University. Professor Tannous is an Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies; Chair of the Committee for the Study of Late Antiquity; and Director of the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. He is a distinguished scholar who studies late antiquity, Syriac studies, Arab Christianity, and much more.
In this conversation, we discuss Professor Tannous's new book on simple believers in the medieval Middle East, the importance of Syriac in the study of Islam, and more.
Prof. Tannous's book can be purchased here: www.amazon.com/Making-Medieva...
I did a semester of Syriac under Jastrow in Heidelberg in 1990/91. I forgot all of it, which is unfortunate, because only now I understand its importance.
Thank you, professors Tannous and Reynolds, for an interesting conversation.
Trying to re-imagine the past in human-size ways is constantly fascinating. Well done all you Syriac egg-heads. We are watching with fascination. We have a couple of Facebook groups going where we are sharing this info, including 'Islamic Origins' which is for Muslims and non-Muslims discussing the genesis of Islam and currently has about 140 members.
Great discussion.
Very informative!
Fascinating. This is wonderful.... thank you so much
This is very very informative God bless both of the profs
Fantastoc discussion, and some greatly nuanced perspectives on the Late Antique religious environment. This seriess is invaluable, Prof. Reynolds.
Many thanks professors🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍💐💐💐💐
Thank you, professors Tannous and Reynolds, for an interesting conversation. Really we will be fair if something is opposed with something of the same level, the Qur'an is a text that appeared in the 7th century, if we want to judge this book it should be with books that appeared at the same time or earlier, we are very good at knowing language changes linearly with time. how can the present judge the old? , if we say that this word means something like this... how to be sure it is true instead of being a speculative argument.
Great conversation. I am primarily interested in studying the Quran from this channel but I agree that Syriac and early Christianity are both very interesting in their own right. I would love to know more about the Biblical manuscripts in Syriac produced during Islamic times.
Are you Muslim if I may ask?
Don't study Quran on the hands of Orientalists because they cannot be trusted. Study Quran on the hands of Muslim scholars, then you can determine later if you want watch or read the orientalists claims.
Nice lecture. One big point, at 14:30 he refers to the church and says, with air quotes, "so called Assyrian Church of the East." It is not "so called", that is it's official name, The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. It is the same church that sent all the missionaries to China and Japan. Jack is a student of Sebastian Brock, who is a hateful anti-Assyrian. Jack, you can do better than that. Sebastian Brock thinks he can tell people what their identity is or is not because he can read their language. There is no room for this kind of prejudice and hatred. Assyrians are the direct descendants of Assyrians of old, they are the founders of the Assyrian church of the East and they are the heirs of that church and its legacy. I am an Assyrian. We are here and we defend our name and our legacy.
The air quotes are around the word “Nestorian” not Assyrian. If you listen closely Professor Tannous is nuancing the common claim that the Church of the East are followers of Nestorius by reminding us that this is not a name by which the Church of the East refers to itself.
yes the bible was translated into arabic back then: "muslim:160a" Waraka Bin Nawfal was one of the people doing the translations.
From my perspectives, Reynold try so hard, as i recalled three time, asked to advance syrio aramaic quran connection, and this guys, John, simply did not want to entertainted Reynolds theories whom trying to make firm foot CL, MInggana theories. And when he did.. good job John! by restating the very basic linguistic diciplines that there are communities that can understand what the proohet saying, its actually verses in quran also.Reynolds basically speechless and changing the directions after that 😅
paucity of preserved written material is partially explained by the preponderance of reliance on oral transmission. illiterate people can memorize books from listening to others recite them, as portrayed in the movie fahrenheit 451.
Good to hear his honest opinion that Islam preserved the syriac christian traditions from bazantinian imperial assimilation.
I was expecting much more from this talk. It felt like I'm listening to two Syrian women in a Sunday morning rambling over a cup of coffee.
We dont need a whole book just a paper on the evidences, references and interpretation. Simple. Not narratives.
No references? Taking part in the life of church? So there are many sects?
I recommend to read this book that debunks the origin of the Christian Doctrine, how it was tampered by priests and today it is quite different from early Christians beliefs, the book is " Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity" by James D.G. Dunn. Also, If you know Arabic I would like to recommend دلائل النبوة للقاضي عبد الجبار الهمذاني Because in this book he explained how is the Christianity was Romanized, yes that is his words, and that Christianity failed to convert Romans into the true Christianity but instead the Christians changed their beliefs and dogma to be accepted by the Romans.
القران ملئ بالكلمات من اصول غير عربية من اليونانية واللاتنية و الحبشة و حتي من المغرب الاقصي, و علماء الاسلام يعلمون ذلك و تكلموا عنه في كتبهم فانا لا افهم ما هو الجديد الذي يتحدث عنه هولاء المستشرقون و غلمانهم الان, و ان كان ظني انهم يريدون اثبات بان القران انتحل من الانجيل و التوراة لانهم يفترضون بان محمد ليس بنبي و ان القرأن تم تأليفه و لم يوحي به الي النبي, و اضف علي ذلك فان طريقة العلوم الغربية في الانسانيات تختلف في المقاصد و الاليات عن علوم الاسلام و لا تصلح لدراسة الاسلام و هم يتعاملون مع القران الكريم كنص ادبي و يستخدمون نظريات الادب و الفرضيات الزائفة في بناء قصة او حبكة و يلبسونها ثوب البحث العلمي!! اقرؤوا في كتاب الاتقان في علوم القران للحافظ السيوطي و ستجدون هناك جزء فيه بعنوان "النوع السابع و الثلاثون فيما وقع فيه بغير لغة الحجاز" و ايضاً "النوع الثامن و الثلاثون فيما وقع فيه بغير لغة العرب", فعلماء المسلمين منذ البداية لم ينكروا احتواء القران علي كلمات غير قرشية او اعجمية او من لغات اخري و هذا من دلائل اعجاز القران و اثبات لتهافت اكاذيب المستشرقين بتلبيسهم بانهم اكتشفوا اشياء جديدة لم يعرفها علماء الاسلام و لم يناقشوها في كتبهم الضخمة سواء ما طبع منها او مازال مخطوطة, و اخيراً انصح بقراءة كتاب تاريخ ارض القران لسليمان الندوي قبل البدء في قراءة اي شئ لهولاء المستشرقون
Yes you are spreading conspiratorial lies that there was an Arabic bible at the time. I know how angry this makes you feel. Agree with you that preservation of a text is a Miracle. Thats why Quran is a miracle.