The Père Paul Symposium

The 2025 Père Paul Symposium

Speakers:
1. Alex Lopez: "The Poets also Construct Fables": Conceptions of Poetry in Ephrem

2. Elizabeth Anderson: Envisioning the Manichaean Elect Against the Backdrop of Early Syriac Asceticism

3. Leb Weitz: Christian Sharia: Ibn al-Tayyib on East Syrian Law

4. Andrew Litke: Redeeming a Flawed Hero in Narsai’s “On Samson”

Main Speaker:
5. Jack Tannous (Main Speaker) (5:00pm-6:15pm)
The Lost History of Syriac
Abstract: This lecture will survey the enormous destruction and loss that Syriac literature has experienced over the past 1800 years and argue that the history of Syriac literature can be seen as a proxy for the history of the archives and collectors that have preserved the portion of it that has survived. Understanding what has been lost from Syriac literature will not only help us understand better what remains but also give us a better grasp of the history of the communities that have transmitted the Syriac heritage to the present.

Announcement of the recipient the Père Paul Scholarship for Eastern Christian Studies (at 6:15pm)

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