The Formation of a Communal Identity among West Syrian Christians: Results and Conclusions of the Leiden Project

Among those who opposed the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the West Syrian (or Syriac Orthodox) Christians were probably least likely to form a national or ethnic community. Yet a group emerged with its own distinctive literature and art, its own network, and historical consciousness. In an intricate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Church history and religious culture 2009-01, Vol.89 (1), p.1-52
Main Authors: van Ginkel, Jan, Atto, Naures, Snelders, Bas, Immerzeel, Mat, Romeny, Bas ter Haar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ART AND IDENTITY
BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
Christian art
Christian history
CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS
Christianity
Communities
Cultural identity
DIASPORA
Ethnic identity
ETHNICITY
FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF
HISTORIOGRAPHY
Iconography
IDENTITY
Muslims
Orthodox Church
Presentation of the results of the Leiden project
RELIGION AND IDENTITY
Religious identity
SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
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Summary:Among those who opposed the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the West Syrian (or Syriac Orthodox) Christians were probably least likely to form a national or ethnic community. Yet a group emerged with its own distinctive literature and art, its own network, and historical consciousness. In an intricate process of adoption and rejection, the West Syrians selected elements from the cultures to which they were heirs, and from those with which they came into contact, thus defining a position of their own. In order to study this phenomenon, scholars from various disciplines, and affiliated to two different faculties, were brought together in a programme financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO. This essay introduces their research project and methodology, and presents their results and conclusions.
ISSN:1871-241X
1871-2428
1871-241X
DOI:10.1163/187124109X407989