Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:55:57.857Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Aphrahat, Demonstration 17: On the Son

from Part II - Developing Christological Traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2022

Mark DelCogliano
Affiliation:
University of St Thomas, Minnesota
Get access

Summary

One of the two most important fourth-century Syriac writers,1 Aphrahat is known only through the Demonstrations attributed to him, twenty-two short pieces that address various topics. Nothing about his biography is known.2 The style of the Demonstrations is instructive but often also polemical; Aphrahat poses a problem or describes someone else’s erroneous understanding of a theological point, and then offers a response supported by abundant biblical citation. In many of the Demonstrations, Aphrahat takes issue with positions he attributes to Jews, and this Demonstration is no different. Though it is not explicitly titled Against the Jews, as other pieces attributed to him are, this Demonstration is written as advice to an imagined Christian friend who seeks to answer several objections supposedly raised by Jews about how Christians speak of Jesus. Whether those objections were voiced in reality or were imagined by Aphrahat, the fact that he frames his work as a response to Jewish claims about scripture suggests that he sees as much intellectual and cultural continuity between Christianity and Judaism as he sees difference.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×