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Under this title, the tenth-century Syrian Orthodox scholar Yahya ibn 'Adi (893-974) wrote a tract on the social virtues and vices, in which he gives advice about the cultivation of the former and the extirpation of the latter. His work encourages the effort to promote moral perfection, especially among kings and other members of the social elite. While there are many echoes of Hellenistic moral philosophy in the presentation, the topical profile of the work and the language the author uses reveal his participation in the Baghdad circle of philosophers and intellectuals-both Christian and Muslim-who were responsible for much that has come to be regarded as typical of the classical culture of the Islamic world. Indeed, this text by a Christian has sometimes been attributed to one or another famous Muslim author. It stands now as an important Christian contribution, in Arabic, to a strand of moral philosophy that is an integral component of the intellectual tradition of the world of Islam.

St. Ephrem the Syrian: Select Poems
Vocalized Serto text with an English translation, by Sebastian Brock and George Kiraz

The fourth-century Syriac poet Ephrem has rightly been acclaimed, not only as one of the greatest poets of the early church, but also as someone with a theological vision whose freshness of approach can still be appreciated today. The aim of the present collection is to make available to a wider audience a representative selection of Ephrem's lyric poetry in a more accessible form than is at present available.

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Theodore Abu Qurrah

By John C. Lamoreaux

Theodore Abu Qurrah was a Christian Arab theologian who flourished in the early Islamic period. He seems to have been born in the city of Edessa, in the south of modern-day Turkey, and was for a time the Chalcedonian bishop of the nearby city of Harran. Abu Qurrah was the author of over a dozen substantial treatises in Arabic and some forty smaller works in Greek on various apologetical, anti-heretical, and theological topics. He died around the year 820 A.D.

This volume will be the first translation into English of a substantial portion of Abu Qurrah's writings. The works included have been chosen for their accessibility to non-specialists; their ability to illustrate the distinctive character of Abu Qurrah's theology; and their importance to the history of Christian theology and of Christian-Muslim theological dialogue. The volume introduction discusses the life of Abu Qurrah, the contours and context of his theological labors, and the textual tradition of his works.