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The Scattered Pearls: The History of Syriac Literature and Sciences By Ignatius Aphram I. Barsoum, tr. Matti Moosa Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2003
Although more than fifty years have elapsed since The Scattered Pearls: The History of Syriac Literature and Sciences was originally published in Syria in 1943, it remains the most inclusive and exhaustive study of Syriac literature. This classic work by Ignatius Aphram I. Barsoum (1887-1957), Syrian Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, has long been mandatory reading of Syriac literature, and numerous Middle Eastern and Western scholars strongly believe that no subsequent book has superceded its range of subjects. A Syriac translation of this book by Bishop Philoxenus Dolabani was published in Syria in 1967. Patriarch Barsoum is the author of several books, some in Syriac and others in Arabic. Between 1928-29, he was a lecturer at Providence University and the Oriental Institute of Chicago University.
Patriarch Barsoum, a renowned scholar in the field of Syriac Christianity and literature, demonstrates his historical and interpretive abilities in providing lucid, coherent, and well-exemplified materials that will assist the reader in exploring the wide and diverse field of Syriac literature and sciences. The author outlines the historical development of Syriac literature in its successive stages and succinctly examines its diverse discourses, as well as its interaction with classical Greek and Arabic cultures.
Barsoum's book is organized in two parts and an epilogue. Part one - entitled "On Syriac Literature and Sciences" - consists of thirty-one chapters, dealing with an extraordinary range of issues, such as Syriac language, poetry, rhetoric, theology, church rites, and a host of other matters. Part two - "Biographies of Syrian Scholars and Writers"...