Ninth North American Syriac Symposium
Yale University • June 11–14, 2023
“Syriac at the Center” ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܒܡܨܥܬܐ
Welcome to Yale University! !ܒܫܝܢܐ ܘܒܫܠܡܐ ܒܒܝܬ ܨܘܒܐ ܕܝܝܠ
We are honored to host the Ninth North American Syriac Symposium (NASS), a quadrennial event bringing together Syriac scholars from North America and abroad.
Participants at NASS ’23 will deliver more than one hundred scholarly papers. This demonstrates exciting growth in participation and research in Syriac studies, an increasingly independent discipline.
The theme of this Symposium is “Syriac at the Center.” Syriac has often been treated as an auxiliary language in the modern humanities, an adjunct tool to scholarship on Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, early Islam, the histories of theology and of science, and other areas of inquiry. It is an “extra language” in humanistic curricula. In addition to many learned papers on many different aspects of Syriac studies, this conference features papers on topics that treat Syriac as central, not peripheral, to scholarly investigation. How do our research subjects look when we stand with Syriac and regard other traditions and areas as peripheral?
Gratitude ܬܘܕܝܬܐ
We host NASS ’23 with the collaboration of our Departments of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Religious Studies, the Yale Divinity School, and Archaia: Yale’s Program for the Study of Ancient and Premodern Cultures and Societies.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund, Kurt W. and Else Kirschstein Rosenthal Fund, and the V.C. Viscusi fund. We are grateful to the Yale University Art Gallery and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for allowing visits from NASS participants.
Countless individuals have contributed, and are contributing, to NASS ’23. Thanks to all!
Yale University’s COVID-19 policy
We are thankfully beyond the pandemic, but COVID-19 remains a threat. All visitors to Yale:
- are strongly encouraged to be up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccinations as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before coming to campus;
- are encouraged to test for COVID-19 before participating in a university event and/or accessing a university location;
- must refrain from coming to campus if they test positive for COVID-19 or experience symptoms suggestive of COVID-19;
- must follow all university health and safety guidelines and any additional health and safety measures required by their host while on campus or participating in a university event; and
- must mask, isolate, and test immediately if they develop any symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 while on campus.
For the latest updates to Yale’s COVID-19 policy, see: https://covid19.yale.edu/visitors-policy
Sunday, June 11, HQ (Humanities Quadrangle), 320 York St., New Haven
3:00–5:00pm Registration and Welcome Reception – HQ 131 (320 York St.)
Registration in HQ Loggia
Hors d’oeuvres in HQ 131
5:00–7:00pm Opening Plenary Session – HQ L02 (320 York St.)
Welcome/Opening Remarks
Kevin van Bladel, Yale University
Shawkat Toorawa, Chair of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Yale University
Greg Sterling, Dean of Yale Divinity School & The Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean and Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament
Plenary Lecture #1, Common Room
Presiding: Kevin van Bladel, Yale University
Hidemi Takahashi, University of Tokyo
“On the Peripheries of Syriac Studies: Syriac Christianity and Syriac Language in Contact with Others”
7:00 Participants seek dinner in nearby New Haven. Restaurant recommendations provided.
Monday, June 12, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven
8:30am Breakfast, coffee, tea: Old Common Room
Reception/Registration/Hub: Old Common Room
Book Exhibit: Lounge outside of Room 125
9:00–10:40am Session 1
SESSION 1-A Liturgy, located in RSV
Presiding: Carson Koepke, Yale University
9:00–9:25: Ephrem Ishac, Yale University, “Expensive Blessings in the Syriac Liturgical Tradition”
9:25–9:50: Jillian Marcantonio, Duke University, “Revisiting the Holy Spirit in Syriac Liturgical Poetry”
9:50–10:15: Charles Stewart, Benedictine College, “Symbolic Liturgy in Text and Stone: A Syriac Funerary Chapel Recently Excavated in Kazakhstan”
10:15–10:40: Jincy Othottil, Chaldean Syrian College, “Study on the Order of Baptism (ܛܟܣܐ ܕܥܡܕܐ) according to the Church of the East – Based on the Manuscript Tcr 27 pp. 688-701, 1598 AD Alkosh”
SESSION 1-B Under the Umayyads, located in Latourette
Presiding: Thomas Carlson, Oklahoma State University
9:00–9:25: Paul Ulishney, University of Oxford, “The Correspondence of Jacob of Edessa and Eustathius of Dara in MS British Library Add. 12,172”
9:25–9:50: Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, “Lessons for an Apocalypse: Reading the Chalcedonian Conflict under Umayyad Rule”
9:50–10:15: Yuening Rao, The Catholic University of America, “Epistolographic Observations on the Letters of Īshōʿyahb III of Adiabene”
SESSION 1-C Biblical Exegesis, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Maria Doerfler, Yale University
9:00–9:25: Marion Pragt, KU Leuven, “Annotated Afterlives: Prophets, Kings and Marginal Notes in a Syriac Exegetical Collection”
9:25–9:50: Kevin Ball, The Catholic University of America, “The All-Day Laborers in the Vineyard: Good Guys or Bad Guys?”
9:50–10:15: Andrew Younan, John Paul the Great Catholic University – Seminary of Mar Abba the Great, “The Second Adam Defeating Sin: Narsai’s Memra 21, On Christ’s Temptation”
10:15–10:40: [withdrawn] Kristian Heal, Brigham Young University, “The Redemption of Potiphar’s Wife”
10:40–11:00am Coffee/Tea/Refreshments: Old Common Room
11:00am–12:00pm Plenary lecture #2, Common Room
Presiding: Maria Doerfler, Yale University
Cornelia Horn, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
“Mary and the Syriac Tradition: Shaping the Center and the Periphery of the World of Oriental Christians.”
12:00–1:30pm Lunch: Old Refectory
Optional Lunchtime Event: 12:30–1:15, George Kiraz presents “Launching Simtho Beta III: New Features and New Texts in the Simtho Thesaurus Corpus Portal,” located in RSV
12:00–1:30: Syriac manuscripts of the Yale Divinity School available for viewing in Divinity Library.
1:30-3:10pm Session 2
2-A Hagiography I, located in RSV
Presiding: David Baldi, Yale University
1:30–1:55: Ya’el Nu’emah Kremer, The University of Oxford, “Mother of All Mothers: The Syriac Late Antique Cult of Shmuni”
1:55–2:20: Joss Childs, University of Chicago, “Syriac Interventions in the ‘Martyrdom of Cyricus and Julitta’”
2:20–2:45: [withdrawn] Luis Josué Salés, Scripps College, “His Christian Name Was Pelagios: Transgender Self-Identification in the Syriac Life of Pelagia of Antioch”
2:45–3:10: [withdrawn] Emily Chesley, Princeton University, “Widows and Their Agency in Sixth-Century Syria”
2-B Manuscripts, located in Latourette
Presiding: Hannah Stork, Yale University
1:30–1:55: Johan Lundberg, University of Oxford, “What is the meaning of these dots? The distribution of accent dots in Syriac manuscripts and the descriptions of the Syriac grammarians”
1:55–2:20: Claudia Simonelli, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “From the Margins of the Page to the Core of the Discourse: Paracontents in some Multiple-Text Patristic Manuscripts”
2:20–2:45: Kjetil Friestad, University of Agder, “The Archival Turn in Syriac Studies”
2-C Theology, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Charles “Austin” Rivera, Wake Forest University
1:30–1:55: Timothy Thomas, St. John’s University, “The Theme of Incarnation in the Cathedral Homilies of St. Severus of Antioch”
1:55–2:20: David Kiger, Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, “John the Solitary’s Use of Ignatius of Antioch”
2:20–2:45: Bishara Ebeid, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “The Anti-Tritheist Florilegium in MSS BL Add 14532 and 14538 Revisited”
2-D Law, located in NO54
Presiding: Jack Tannous, Princeton University
1:30–1:55: Shraga Bick, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “‘Half-slaves, half-free’: Philoxenus of Mabbug and the problem of earthly Christians
1:55–2:20: Nima Jamali, University of Toronto, “Death and Debate: Communal Identity and the Development of Inheritance Law in the Fourth Book of Īšōʿbokt’s Corpus Juris”
2:20–2:45: James Toma, University of Toronto, “The Early Development of the Office of the East Syriac Judge (dayanā) and Civil-Legal Literature (680–823)”
2:45–3:10: Rafail Zoulis, Yale University, “Early Syriac legal culture in Roman Mesopotamia”
3:10–3:40pm Coffee/Tea/Refreshments: Old Common Room
3:40–5:20pm Session 3
3-A The Senses, located in RSV
Presiding: Ramona Teepe, Yale University
3:40–4:05: Philip Abbott, Stanford University, “Making Miaphysite Monastics: John of Ephesus and Sonic Asceticism”
4:05–4:30: Daniel McConaughy, California State University Northridge, “Odor at Pentecost and the Old Syriac Text of Acts”
4:30–4:55: Jeff Wickes, University of Notre Dame, “Sensing and Knowing in Isaac of Antioch’s Memra on the Blessed Martyrs”
4:55–5:20: Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Marquette University, “Fasting for the Garden Feast”
3-B Hagiography II, located in Latourette
Presiding: Adam Becker, New York University
3:40–4:05: Omri Matarasso, Princeton University, “Beyond the Confessional Paradigm: Ecumenical Mysticism and the Construction of Late Antiquity in the Awgen Tradition”
4:05–4:30: David Baldi, Yale University, “Dayr Qunnā at the Center: The Mar ʿAbda Tradition of Monastic Origins in Beth Aramaye”
4:30–4:55: Abby Kulisz, McMaster University, “From Destruction to Renewal: Imagining Human-Ecological Relationships in the Syriac Life of John of Dailam”
4:55–5:20: Carson Koepke, Yale University, “The Textual Tradition of the Legend of St. Eustace Placidas / Ewsṭaṯios Palqidā in Syriac Christianity”
3-C Biblical Translation & Canonization, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Jae Han, Brown University
3:40–4:05: Tarmo Toom, University of Tartu, “Canon and Hermeneutics: Junillus, Inst. 1.1–10”
4:05–4:30: Zhan Chen, United International College of BNU & Hong Kong Baptist University (UIC), “The Peshitta of Isa 25:6–8: A Syriac Wordplay, or a Systematic Citation of 1 Cor 15?”
4:30–4:55: Matthew Monger, Norwegian School of Theology, “The Reception of the Names of the Daughters of Adam and Eve: From Syriac to the Ends of the Earth”
4:55–5:20: [Ali Langroudi’s paper moved to panel 4-D, online]
3-D Defining Orthodoxy in Polemic & Politics, located in NO54
Presiding: Johan Lundberg, University of Oxford
3:40–4:05: Bogdan Draghici, University of Oxford, “Reclaiming the Centre: Intra-Christian Polemics as an Instrument for Identity Building”
4:05–4:30: Charles Carman, The Catholic University of America, “The Discarded Symbol of Church and Kingdom: Reconsidering the historical ecclesiology of the Church of the East”
4:30–4:55: Ashoor Yousif, Tyndale University, “God and Country: Churchmen’s Religious Interactions and Political Involvements”
5:45–6:45pm Plenary Lecture #3, Common Room
Presiding: Jack Tannous, Princeton University
Muriel Debié, École pratique des hautes études
“Homer in Edessa. The Transfer of Classical Culture in Syriac”
7:15–8:45pm Buffet dinner: Old Refectory
Tuesday, June 13, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven
8:30am Breakfast: Old Common Room
9:00–10:00am Plenary lecture #4, Common Room
Presiding: Michael Penn, Stanford University
Jack Tannous, Princeton University
“From Syriac into Arabic: A Historical Sketch”
10:00–10:20am Coffee/Tea/Light refreshments: Old Common ROom
10:20am–12:00pm Session 4
4-A Symeon Stylites: New Research on Qal‘at Sim‘an, located in RSV
Presiding: Dina Boero, The College of New Jersey
10:20–10:45: Dina Boero, The College of New Jersey, and Julia Gearhart, Princeton University, “The Historiography of Qalʿat Simʿān and the Butler Collection”
10:45–11:10: Emma Loosley Leeming, University of Exeter, “Qalʿat Simʿān and the legacy of colonialism: Georges Tchalenko, the mandatory powers and the restoration of a Christian symbol”
11:10–11:35: Alain Desreumaux, CNRS Paris, “Syriac Inscriptions at Qalʿat Simʿān” [paper to be read by Dina Boero in his absence]
11:35–12:00: David Gyllenhaal, Institute for Advanced Study, “Symeon the Stylite and the Fifth-Century Culture of Rogation”
4-B Historiography of Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedonians, located in Latourette
Presiding: Rafail Zoulis, Yale University
10:20–10:45: Yulia Minets, University of Alabama, “Literary Production in Edessa in the Sixth Century: Recharting the Terrain”
10:45–11:10: Aleksei Muravyev, Universität Tübingen – HSE National Research University, “Severus of Antioch in exile and the origin of the ‘Julian Romance’”
11:10–11:35: Scott Johnson, University of Oklahoma, “John of Ephesus and the Justinianic Plague: A New Interpretation”
4-C Syriac in Islamic Contexts, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Ashher Masood, Yale University
10:20–10:45: Thomas Carlson, Oklahoma State University, “Decentering ‘Islamic Law’: Syriac Evidence for Fiqh’s Role in Late Medieval Middle Eastern Society”
10:45–11:10: Reyhan Durmaz, University of Pennsylvania, “Religion and religious pluralism in the early medieval Middle East through the lens of Syriac historiography”
11:10–11:35: Kerwin Holmes, Jr., University of Virginia, “Linear and Cyclical Time in Islamic and Christian Preaching: A Brief Comparative Investigation into the Aspects of Rhetoric and Temporal Reality in Islamic Khutba and Christian Homily”
11:35–12:00: Emanuele Zimbardi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “More Than an Orthodox Anthology and Apology. The Value of Antony of Tagrit’s Discourses on God’s Beneficent Providence in the History of Syriac Literature”
4-D Online presentations (miscellaneous topics), located in NO54
Presiding: Jimmy Daccache, Yale University
10:20–10:45: Ali B. Langroudi, University of Göttingen, “Early Persian Gospels as Witnesses to the Ur-Vetus Syra: Opportunities and Challenges”
[withdrawn] Valentina A. Grasso, The Catholic University of America, “Miaphysite Social Networks in Ten Syriac Letters from Sixth Century Afro-Eurasia”
10:45–11:10: Youdit Tariku Feyessa, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, “Syriac Asceticism and Public Life: Tracing the influence on Ethiopian Monasticism”
11:10–11:35: Firyaz Alp, Hacettepe University, “The Church Complex of Mor Philoxenos: Inscription, Architectural Plastic, and Material Technical Analysis”
12:00–1:30pm Lunch: Old Refectory
1:00–3:00pm Syriac Manuscript display at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (23-minute walk from the Yale Divinity School)
1:10–3:00pm Shuttle bus to YUAG and tour of Dura-Europos exhibit led by Dr. Felicity Harley. Reservation required. Masking required in YUAG.
1:30–2:45pm Session 5
5-A Arabic, Ethiopic, & Syriac, located in RSV
Presiding: Jon Beltz, Yale University
1:30–1:55: Ted Erho, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, “Aphrahat in Ethiopic”
1:55–2:20: Nicolas Atas, KU Leuven, “The Targeted Audience and The Aims of Elias of Nisibis’ ‘Book of the Interpreter’”
2:20–2:45: Chris Mezger, Yale University, “‘It Was They Who Dug the Rivers’: Aramaic and Aramaeans in Early Arabic Texts”
5-B Modern Syriac Churches in Western Contexts, located in Latourette
Presiding: Armando Elkhoury, Catholic University of America
1:30–1:55: Gonzalez Fernandez, Necmettin Erbakan University, “The Mystical Model in Maronite Midst. Assessing a Hypothesis”
1:55–2:20: Sara Daiane Jose, Faculdade Batista do Rio de Janeiro, “Some considerations about the Syriac Orthodox Missionary Church in Brazil”
5-C Art & Objects, East to West, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Thomas Schmidt, Fairfield University
1:30–1:55: Thomas Schmidt, Fairfield University, “Before Alopen: The 5th-Century Church of the East in China”
1:55–2:20: Tianyi Yuan, Harvard Divinity School, “Jingjiao Christians’ Syriac Selfhood in the Middle Kingdom: A Syriac Mar Re-presented as a Buddhist Samgha and a Luminous Literati, Who Helped to Restore the Chinese Imperial Order”
2:20–2:45: Barbara Crostini, Newman Institute – Uppsala University, “It all began at Dura: re-centering the periphery of the early Christian movement”
5-D Devotion, located in NO54
Presiding: Maria Doerfler, Yale University
1:30–1:55: Ethan Laster, Saint Louis University, “Praying with the Cross in Late Antique East Syriac Monasticism”
1:55–2:20: Catalin-Stefan Popa, Romanian Academy, “The ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ in Syriac texts”
2:20–2:45: Andrew Hochstedler, University of Oxford, “The Late Antique Syriac Book of Mary. New Manuscript Evidence for the Syriac Cult of the Virgin”
2:45–3:15pm Coffee/Tea/Refreshments: Old Common Room
3:15 – 5:30pm Session 6
6-A Ethnicity & Ethnic Difference, located in RSV
Presiding: Chris Mezger, Yale University
3:15–3:40: James Wolfe, University of Michigan, “Polysemy or Alterity: The Semantics at the Core of Romanness”
3:40–4:05: Alexander Mirkovik, Union College, “The Nomos of the Messiah: Ethnicity in Early Syriac Literature (Mara, Bardaisan, and Mani)”
4:05–4:30: Kayla Dang, Saint Louis University, “More than Murmuring: Syriac Persian Martyr Acts as Zoroastrian Sources”
10-minute break
4:40–5:05: Natalie Reynoso, Fordham University, “Establishing Christian Difference in the Persian Martyr Acts of the Sasanian Empire”
5:05–5:30: [withdrawn] Mikail Berg, Brown University, “The Fate of a Hebrew Flute-girl: Conceptions of Ethnicity and Peoplehood in Bardaisan and the Acts of Thomas”
6-B Translation & Reception, located in Latourette
Presiding: Ya’el Nu’emah Kremer, University of Oxford
3:15–3:40: Josh Mugler, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, “A One-Person Translation Movement: The Works of Yawsep ʼAbrāhām.”
3:40–4:05: Daniele Iezzi, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele / University of Cambridge, “Aristotle in Syriac Christianity in the IVth century”
4:05–4:30: Nathan Tilley, Duke Divinity School, “Interpreting New Textual Evidence for the East Syrian Commentary on Mark the Monk’s On the Spiritual Law”
10-minute break
4:40–5:05: Alessandro De Blasi, KU Leuven, “Ianuarinus Candidatus of Amid: The First Syriac Translator of Gregory of Nazianzen’s Poetry”
6-C Barhebraeus, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Yuliya Minets, University of Alabama
3:15–3:40: Jens Schmitt, LMU Munich, “Barhebraeus on Reaching True Conclusions from False Premises”
3:40–4:05: Dominique Sirgy, Yale University, “A Clash of Doctrines: Opposing Views on the Spiritual Afterlife in Bar Hebraeus’ Theological and Philosophical Compendia”
4:05–4:30: [withdrawn] Robert Isaf, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, “Barhebraeus’ Verse within Its Own Canon”
(abbreviated panel)
6-D Jacob of Serug, located in NO54
Presiding: Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Marquette University
3:15–3:40: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University, “Jacob of Serug on the Good Wife”
3:40–4:05: John Reilly, University of Notre Dame, “Against Inquiry: Avoiding Christology in Jacob of Serugh and Pseudo-Dionysius”
4:05–4:30: Jacob Thekeparambil, Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, “Imageries of Baptism in the Mimre of Mor(y) Jacob of Serug”
10-minute break
4:40–5:05: Rodrigue Constantin, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, “Social and Individual Justice in Jacob of Serug’s Mimre on Fasting”
5:05–5:30: [withdrawn] Erin Walsh, University of Chicago, “The “Daughter of the People”: Female Figures and the Construction of the Religious ‘Other’”
6:00 – 7:00pm Plenary Lecture #5, Common Room
Presiding: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown
Ute Possekel, Harvard University
“Severus of Antioch and the Consolidation of Miaphysite Orthodoxy”
Dinner on your own. Enjoy New Haven!
Wednesday, June 14, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven
8:30am Breakfast: Old Common Room
9:00–10:40am Session 7
7-A Computational Methods in Syriac Studies, located in RSV
Presiding: Dina Boero, The College of New Jersey
9:00–9:25: Michael Penn, Stanford University, “A Social Network Analysis of Thomas of Marga’s Book of Governors”
9:25–9:50: Matthew Nazari, Harvard University – University of Cambridge, “Automatic Interlinear Glossing for Neo-Aramaic: Preserving Syriac Linguistic Heritage with Computational Approaches”
9:50–10:15: Noam Maeir, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “Excerpting Practices in Syriac Literary Culture of Late Antiquity: A Computational Analysis of the British Library’s Digitized Catalog of Syriac Manuscripts”
10:15–10:40: William Potter, UCLA, “Modeling the Complexities of Syriac Manuscripts in the Sinai Manuscripts Digital Library”
7-B Forgotten Authors and Texts, located in Latourette
Presiding: Jon Beltz, Yale University
9:00–9:25: Guido Venturini, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “Selecting and Arranging the Patristic Sources in a Late 6th-Century Florilegium against Julian of Halicarnassus”
9:25–9:50: Patrick Conlin, Marquette University, “The King with the Golden Touch: Four Letters of Dawid bar Pawlos on the Rich”
9:50–10:15: Emiliano Fiori, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “Discovering a ‘new’ Syriac author: Sergius of Ḥuzrī (late 6th century)”
10:15–10:40: James Walters, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, “Theodore of Iconium in Syriac Translation: Two Recently Discovered Witnesses to the Epistula de Ciryco et Iulitta”
7-C Ephrem, located in James Pennington Room
Presiding: Kayla Dang, Saint Louis University
9:00–9:25: Jesse Arlen, Fordham University, “The Compositional Structure of the Collection of Ephrem the Syrian’s Fifty-One Hymns (madrāše, kts‘urdk‘) Preserved in Armenian”
9:25–9:50: Joseph Richard, The Catholic University of America, “Meltho, Logos, and Poetry as Deification: St. Ephrem the Syrian’s Philosophy of Language in the First Discourse to Hypatius”
9:50–10:15: Blake Hartung, Arizona State University, “City Laments in Syriac: Ephrem’s Madrāšê on Nisibis 1-12”
10:15–10:40: Charles “Austin” Rivera, Wake Forest Divinity School, “Ephrem the Eusebian: Syriac at the Center of the Trinitarian Controversies”
10:40–11:00am Coffee/Tea/Refreshments: Old Common Room
11:00am–12:00pm Plenary lecture #6, Common Room
Presiding: Kevin van Bladel, Yale University
Aaron M. Butts, University of Hamburg
“Beyond Influence: The Connected Histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity”
12:00 – 12:30pm Closing session/Business Meeting
Snacks to go in the Old Common Room
1:00–3:00pm Conference Colophon: Syriac Manuscript display at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (23-minute walk from the Yale Divinity School)
Local Steering Committee:
John Collins | Yale Divinity School; Jimmy Daccache | Religious Studies; Maria Doerfler | Religious Studies; Christine Hayes | Religious Studies; Noel Lenski | Classics; Kevin van Bladel | Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations; Travis Zadeh | Religious Studies; Jaqueline Vayntrub | Yale Divinity School
National Advisory Committee:
Since its inception in 1991, the North American Syriac Symposium has had an informal advisory committee to ensure continuity of scholarly agenda between each of the symposium meetings and to provide support and advice for the organization of the next meeting. The committee has been loosely comprised of those who have organized the prior Syriac Symposia, although some previous members have chosen to revolve off due to retirement or other obligations. Each instance of the North American Syriac Symposium, however, has been wholly in the hands of the local organizing committee. At present the National Advisory Committee consists of:
Joseph P. Amar
Aaron Michael Butts
Amir Harrak
Susan Ashbrook Harvey
George Anton Kiraz
Robin Darling Young
Meetings of the North American Syriac Symposium:
1991 at Brown University
1995 at The Catholic University of America
1999 at The University of Notre Dame
2003 at Princeton Theological Seminary
2007 at Toronto University
2011 at Duke University
2015 at The Catholic University of America
2019 at Brown University
2023 at Yale University