The Doctrine of Addai and the Letters of Jesus and Abgar
Ebook
The Doctrine of Addai tells the story of how Christianity came to the Syrian city of Edessa. It incorporates and adapts a correspondence between Jesus and the Syrian king Abgar, who wrote to Jesus requesting healing from a long-term illness. In his response, Jesus promises to send him an apostle, Addai (sometimes called Thaddaeus), who will heal Abgar's disease and establish Christianity in his kingdom. The exchange between Jesus and Abgar and Edessa's subsequent evangelization by Addai functions as a founding myth for Christianity in the region, which likely did become Christian under a later King Abgar in the early third century. But the activities and interactions of Addai in Edessa reflect a later time: the fifth century, when Christians in the East were embroiled in a conflict over reforms enacted by the Bishop Rabbula. These complexities of Syrian Christian history are all made clear in the introduction and rich commentary that accompanies this updated English translation of the Doctrine of Addai and related texts--including early witnesses to the Abgar/Jesus Correspondence in papyri and inscriptions, and selections from the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea, the Acts of Thaddaeus, and the Acts of Mar Mari.
“By making these once-influential texts readily available, the series on early Christian apocrypha performs an invaluable service to scholars but also to any thoughtful reader interested in the breadth and diversity of the Christian tradition. The latest volume on the Doctrine of Addai is an excellent contribution, with a lucid translation grounded in thorough scholarly research. Long may this fine series continue.”
—Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
“Through idiomatic translations of multiple Syriac, Greek, and Latin sources and a concise, yet comprehensive account of the development and transmission of the Abgar legend, Jacob Lollar has provided an invaluable tool for understanding how the Christians of Edessa fused civic history with sacred history to put Roman Mesopotamia at the very forefront of the apostolic tradition.”
—Kyle Smith, associate professor of historical studies and the study of religion, University of Toronto
“This excellent book is much more than a fresh translation of a foundational piece of Syriac literature—the earliest narrative on the arrival of Christianity to Edessa. The volume also comprises a sophisticated commentary, as well as the first systematic study of several inscriptions and papyri that attest the Doctrine, and of its textual afterlife over centuries. Jacob Lollar’s work reshapes our understanding of the history of the Doctrine, its far-reaching impact on early Christians, and the role it played in later Syriac literature.”
—Alberto Rigolio, associate professor of classics, Durham University
“Probably composed in the early fifth century, the Doctrina Addai contains the earliest Syriac text of the famous written exchange between Jesus and the Edessene king Abgar V, along with a highly detailed account of the apostle Addai’s subsequent mission to the kingdom. Let me applaud Jacob Lollar for his outstanding new English translation of this fascinating document.”
—William Adler, distinguished university professor of religious studies, North Carolina State University
“Jacob Lollar, one of the most competent experts in Syriac studies of his generation, not only offers us a careful translation and a very helpful introduction into the so-called Doctrine of Addai, but his volume also opens a door into the wider world of Syriac apocrypha. I am sure this book will make a fascinating text available to many fascinated readers.”
—Tobias Nicklas, chair for exegesis and hermeneutics of the New Testament, University of Regensburg
- Title: The Doctrine of Addai and the Letters of Jesus and Abgar
- Author: Jacob A. Lollar
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666752083, 9781666752069, 1666752061, 9781666752076, 166675207X, 1666752088
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666752083
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-12-05T22:11:01Z
Jacob A. Lollar is an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the University of Regensburg. He is the author of The History of John the Son of Zebedee (2020), and his research focuses on apocryphal and pseudepigraphal traditions in Syriac, including his Humboldt project on the Syriac traditions of Saint Thekla.