HARRAK: Conference - The Origins of Syriac Christianity

HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

The Origins of Syriac Christianity
November 24, 2001

Amir HARRAK

The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies
Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
4 Bancroft Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C1

[1] The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies at the University of Toronto is organizing a one-day Symposium on the Origins of Syriac Christianity. The Symposium aims at exploring the history of Syriac Christianity during the first four centuries of the current era. Syriac Christianity is deeply rooted in the same soil in which the Bible sprung, expressing itself in a biblical language, Aramaic. Also Syriac Christians before AD 400 were free of Western cultural influences and, therefore, they can be considered as the true representatives of Semitic Christianity, with a way of thinking typically Semitic.

[2] Program.

8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:10	Opening of the Symposium by Prof. J. Reilly, Chair, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto
9:10-9:50	Prof. A. Harrak, Toronto, Trade Routes and the Christianization of the Near East.
10:00-10:40	Prof. P.-H. Poirier, Quebec City, Faith and Persuasion: On Bardaisan of Edessa’s Epistemology.
10:50-11:10	Break
11:10-11:50	Dr. R. A. kitchen, Regina, Saskatchewan, Becoming Perfect: The Maturing of Asceticism in the Syriac Book of the Steps.
12:00-12:40	Prof. S. Griffith, Washington DC, Christianity in Edessa and the Syriac-speaking World: A Review of Past Scholarship and a Proposal for the Future.
12:50-2:00	Lunch
2:00-2:40	M. Cassis, Toronto, The Archaeology of Christian Kokhe: A Comparative Study.
2:50-3:30	Mar B. Soro, Rome, Adiabene in the Heartland of Assyria as the Cradle of East Syriac Christianity.
3:30-3:50	Break
3:50-4:30	Questions from the audience to the group of speakers, and concluding remarks by Prof. Harrak.

[3] For more information, contact the Society at the address above, or tel. 416/978-3184, fax 416/978-3305, e-mail: csss@chass.utoronto.ca. Membership in the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies includes free admission to lectures, the annual symposium, and Member’s receptions, as well as subscriptions to the C.S.S.S. Bulletin. The Bulletin includes the transcripts of the annual public lectures and papers given at the symposium. You may join the Society by paying the annual regular membership fee, as follows (outside Canada payment is made in US dollars): Annual regular membership ($35), Sponsorship (from $450), life membership ($500), corporate membership ($250 per year).

Please make cheques payable to: Canadian Society for Syriac Studies and mail them to the address given above.