Western sources have long referred to Theodora as an infamous and salacious courtesan who became Justinian’s empress. Syriac sources portray her as a woman of sublime character and decorum, the daughter of a Syriac priest. This historical play outlines her character according to the Syriac tradition. In writing the play, Bishop Gregorius Boulos Behnam portrayed Theodora as a virtuous lady who won the heart of Justinian, who made her his Augusta and co-regent of his empire. Behnam reveals her extraordinary devotion to her faith and piety as she strives to protect the Fathers of the Syriac Church who stood against the declarations of the Council of Chalcedon and were persecuted for it. Now available for the first time in English, this edition translated by Matti Moosa stands counter to the view of Theodora as portrayed by Procopius in his version of the story, as it is popularly known in Western Christendom.

The Unveiled Ladies of Istanbul (Stamboul) is a picturesque description of women's life in post-World War I Turkey during a period of social and political turmoil. Here Demetra Vaka (1877-1946), an expatriate of Ottoman Turkey, established American journalist and acquaintance of Prince Sabaheddin, returns to her native Istanbul after a 20-year absence. Describing women's lives in post-World War I Turkey, she reports on the successful project of female emancipation pursued by Mustafa Kemal as part of the nationalist agenda. Noting how much this project had benefited upper- and middle-class Turkish women, Vaka nonetheless regrets that the gradual emergence of the monocultural, modern Republic was bringing an end to the multiethnic character of the Ottoman State.

This book was by far the earliest book-length study of any aspect of modern Arabic literature to be published outside the Arab world.

Morony compares conditions in late Sasanian and early Islamic Iraq in the seventh century AD and depicts both the emergence of a local form of Islamic society, and the interaction of Muslim conquerors from Arabia with the native population.

A collection of folktales from Iraq, dating from the 1930s, found in the archives of the famous English Lady E. S. Drower (1879–1972), who was novelist, folklorist, specialist on the Mandaeans, and writer of travel accounts. New tales edited by Jorunn Buckley form a second volume of Drower’s Folktales. The stories—carrying recognizable Near Eastern folk-tale features—feature monsters and heroes, maidens and fairies and they give a vivid picture of a now extinct oral folktale tradition. This Gorgias Press edition includes previously unpublished tales in addition to those of the 1931 edition.

Through literary, historical, archaeological, and engendered readings, this collection of essays presents a multidisciplinary analysis of rabbinic texts. Such a conversation between diverse scholars illuminates the hermeneutical issues generated by the contemporary study of the Talmud and Midrash.

The aim of this book is to show readers how they can approach passages and teachings in Scripture in a practical way that will bring the passages to life, and help them make their daily lives better examples of Christian discipleship. It also offers concrete suggestions for how people can understand the Bible as an integrated whole. This book supports attempts by laypeople to read the Bible intelligently and religiously at the same time.

This project was inspired by years of nurture and ministry in the church upon which the study focuses. With roots going back to the historic African American Church, it offers a window into early growth, the development of crucial theological positions, institutional development within the American Church of the twentieth century, and emerging patterns for worldwide Christianity in the twenty-first century. The struggle within this project is against a background of misunderstanding. Given the pejorative biases in earlier studies against African American Christianity in general, and Holiness-Pentecostalism in particular, a contest is under way for placement within the appropriate taxonomy.

A comparative chronology of the Patriarchs of the Church of the East based on twenty-two sources, five of which are previously unpublished. Benjamin reveals a great number of differences between the sources. Benjamin also highlights inconsistencies, omissions, errors and dates of succession of some patriarchs that appear to have been based on assumption.

This book attempts to determine the Gospel text used by Ephraim, and the bearing his quotations have upon the date of the Peshitta. Ephraim is one of the figures from the Syriac-speaking Church whose name is well known in both East and West. His surviving works are by themselves as voluminous as all other remains of Syriac literature earlier than 400 AD. Ephraim’s death in roughly 373 AD means that his Gospel text predates the 5th century and attests a text older than many of the extant manuscripts.