The long career of Jacob of Serugh provides insights into Scripture and tradition expected by homilies as well as information about his audience. In this publication, Harvey discusses Jacob of Serugh’s concern for congregations to balance lifestyle and devotional obligations.

Fourth-century Aphrahat is characterized as misogynist, especially when he compares women to Satan. This may be an unintended result of contemporary Christian literature. The the eschatological context of Aphrahat’s asceticism, salvific role of Mary, victimization in Aphrahat’s work, and positive statements about women negotiate this view.

Kuriakose Valavanolickal presents here in two volumes the first English translation of the twenty-three Demonstrations by Aphrahat, the fourth century Persian Sage, who is one of the earliest authors of the Syriac tradition.

Was there an active Jewish-Christian polemic in fourth-century Persia? Aphrahat’s Demonstrations, a fourth-century adversus Judaeos text, clearly indicates that fourth-century Persian Christians were interested in the debate. Is there evidence of this polemic in the rabbinic literature? Despite the lack of a comparable Jewish or rabbinic adversus Christianos literature, there is evidence, both from Aphrahat and the Rabbis that this polemic was not one sided.

Bar Salibi’s commentary on the Eucharist is an invaluable witness to the history of the Syriac version of the anaphora of St James. Fr. B. Varghese provides here an English translation of the text.

The Harp is the scholarly journal of Syriac, Oriental, and Ecumenical studies published by the St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI) in Kottayam, India.

A detailed description of the manuscript of Greek apologetics compiled by the 10th century bishop and scholar, Arethas of Caesarea (in Cappadocia).

This book is about the ultimate question or Big Mystery: where did human beings come from. One of the author’s favourite quotes is from the American-based philosopher of evolution, Michael Ruse, who’s said that: ‘Unfortunately, there is simply nothing in the literature by philosophers on human origins.’ In a facinating, accessible and thorough study, renowned priest Brendan Purcell explores this complex area and tries to make up for that lack?

John Quinn met his wife Olive in Blanchardstown sanatorium. The shy, young teacher and the confident beauty fell in love – letters flew between them and diary entries recorded heady times. In June 2001, they went for a trip to Rosslare to celebrate Olive’s recovery from a recent illness. Olive went for a swim in the sea as John watched fondly from the shore – it was the last time he would see her alive. Since her death, John has tried to make sense of his devastating loss by weaving together a selection of letters, some written during their courtship, some written by John after Olive’s death, diary entries, anecdotes and poems to illuminate his account of their life together. This book includes John’s first book about Olive, Sea of Love, Sea of Loss, and John’s recollections about and letters to Olive in the ten years since her death.

If you are planning a marriage ceremony this book will be your guide. The Celebration of Marriage will steer you through the stages of the ceremony and give you alternatives for each stage. For example, it offers four different forms of marriage vows, four variations of the Blessing of Rings, three Eucharistic prayers and Communion Rites to choose from, as well as a variety of Concluding Rites.

This collection of Irish Times articles and Drivetime radio slots by clinical psychologist Marie Murray faces up to the tough economic times in which we live with understanding, humour, clinical compassion, common-sense and a wealth of imaginative ideas on how to make life rich in recessionary times. With a cheerful note, practical advice, sound psychological sense and a reassuring voice, When Times are Tough offers little notes of positivity for everyday life.

Since 2005, Dutch artist Ida van der Lee's Allerzielen Alom (or All Souls' All Around) project, as well as its various offshoots, have flowered throughout the Netherlands. In doing so they have brought a diverse public of various ages and religious as well as non-religious backgrounds together at the end of October or the beginning of November at hospitably decorated cemeteries and crematoria. Here, after dusk, these visitors were given various chances to commemorate their dearly departed using everyday objects to perform small ritual acts. Afterwards, strong feelings of togetherness were expressed, both with the other visitors as well as the deceased. Judging by the standards of the secularisation hypothesis, the success of this project would seem highly unlikely. The expressed feelings of being together with the dead in such public spaces by congregations ranging into the thousands goes against its claims regarding the growing individualisation, privatisation and disenchantment of our Western world. What then, is behind the success of this phenomenon? This book takes a grassroots approach to answering that and related questions. By combining concepts from the field of rituals studies with those from the field of material culture studies, it will focus on the roll of simple objects in the development as well as the success of Allerzielen Alom and its various offshoots. To achieve this, five different Allerzielen Alom or related celebrations were visited and their organisers interviewed. On the basis of that material, an interesting image is formed of the fundamental importance of material culture in the development of a new emerging ritual tradition.

This large volume contains a work on the Patriarchs of the Church of the East, taken from the Liber turris. The Arabic text is given together with a Latin translation and several helpful indices.

A.J. Wensinck (1882–1939) here offers an English translation of Isaac of Nineveh’s (late 7th cent. ) mystical work, with a total of 82 chapters on various spiritual themes. An introduction and indices accompany the translation.

Volume 1 of Thomas J. Levy’s collection of the works of Ephrem the Syrian, including the Syriac text and Latin translation.

Jacob of Sarug (451–521) was a prolific writer of the Syriac Church and was known as “the flute of the Holy Spirit and the harp of the believing church”. Sebastian Brock gives the Syriac edition of six homilies written by Jacob: on the birth of our Lord; on the baptism of our Lord; on the Great Lent; on Palm Sunday; on Good Friday; on Easter Sunday. The text is based on an ancient manuscripts preserved in London and dated 609.