Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T02:27:58.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Narsai, Selections from the Metrical Homilies on the Nativity and on the Epiphany

from Part I - The Council of Chalcedon and Its Reception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2022

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

Summary

In what follows, the fifth-century Syriac writer Narsai considers several moments from biblical stories in order to understand their significance for how Christians should think about Christ. Each of the vignettes Narsai discusses – the creation of humanity, an angel’s visit to Mary to announce her pregnancy, Jesus’s circumcision, and his baptism by John – offers a way to consider the purpose and nature of Christ as the Word of God. Throughout Narsai affirms the immutability of the Word even in the incarnation and stresses that it was the human being who was the subject of these biblical events, not the immutable Word of God. Narsai holds that the immutable Word did not literally became flesh in the incarnation (since that would be impossible for the Word), but rather indwelt the human being for the purpose of revealing knowledge of God. Narsai’s ideas about these situations and others frequently reflect the teachings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, a writer and church leader who died in 428 and whom Narsai revered. That said, his ideas also go beyond Theodore’s teachings, and show us the development of Christian thought about Christ from one generation to another.

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
×