Image for banner reproduced by permission from the President and Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge. [Psalm 23 in Syriac. Psalmi Davidis, edited by Thomas van Erpe (Leiden 1625)]

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Justin Sinaites at Abilene Christian University

Archimandrite Justin Sinaites, the librarian at the ancient Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai returned to Texas to speak at the inaugural event Center for the Study of Ancient Religious Texts (CSART). Read more at the CSART website...

More photos of Fr. Justin and the event can be viewed on Facebook

Monday, November 14, 2016

Outsiders or Insiders? The Changing Fortunes of Syrian Christians


Dr. Christian Sahner is a historian of the Middle East and a Research Fellow at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. His work deals with the transition from late antiquity to the early Islamic period, relations between Muslims and non-Muslims (especially Christians and Zoroastrians), and the history of Syria. Born in New York City, he received an AB in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University, an M.Phil in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph.D. in History also from Princeton. He is the author of Among the Ruins: Syria Past and Present (Oxford/Hurst, 2014), a blend of history and memoir from his time in the Levant. He is currently at work on a second book which explores the little known Christian martyrs of the early Islamic period. It examines episodes of conversion, apostasy, and blasphemy as a way of understanding how an Islamic society first arose amidst the predominantly Christian population of the Middle East and Spain in the early centuries after the Arab conquests.