Death and the afterlife in Syriac Christianity: creating social identity and emotional communities
In late antiquity as in the present age, death left its mark on the lives of families, communities, and societies. Syriac funerary hymns provide important insights into the social, emotional, funerary ritual histories of early Christian communities. Maria Doerfler here explores this body of largely...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
Cambridge, United Kingdom New York, NY, USA
Cambridge University Press
2026
|
| In: | Year: 2026 |
| Further subjects: | B
Funeral hymns
B Future Life Christianity History of doctrines Early church, ca. 30-600 B Hymns, Syriac History and criticism B Death Religious aspects Christianity History of doctrines Early church, ca. 30-600 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Erscheint auch als: 9781009573788 |
| Summary: | In late antiquity as in the present age, death left its mark on the lives of families, communities, and societies. Syriac funerary hymns provide important insights into the social, emotional, funerary ritual histories of early Christian communities. Maria Doerfler here explores this body of largely ignored literature that has been attributed to Ephrem the Syrian. Different parts of the collection focus on individuals from a variety of social and ecclesiastical backgrounds: women and children, clergy and ascetics, as well as those who fell victim to natural disasters. The hymns provide insights not only into Syriac Christian ideas about death and the afterlife, but also into their existence, beliefs, and practices more broadly. Through engagement with different theoretical lenses, Doerfler uses instances of personal and communal crisis to elucidate historical and philosophical patterns among late antique Christians, addressing, inter alia, their responses to pandemics, understanding of wealth, and forging communal bonds that transcended death. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Dec 2025) |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (x, 269 pages), digital, PDF file(s). |
| ISBN: | 9781009573771 9781009573788 9781009573801 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/9781009573771 |
