The study of early Syriac Christianity has for decades been steadily expanding, yet its scope still lags way behind that of research relating to Greek and Latin Christianity. One of the intriguing and understudied topics here is the nature of Syriac Christianity's autonomous identity in late antiquity. This question is intrinsically connected to its genesis from an indigenous Christian Aramaic background as well as its interaction with the neighboring Jewish milieu. This volume unearthes some of the idiosyncracies -- mainly pertaining to trinitarian theology, christology and hermeneutics -- to be found in early Syriac literature before the onslaught of Greek hegemony. The idiosyncrasies analyzed here offer new insights into the nature of that peculiar brand of early Christianity, confirming a model of an indigenous early Syriac tradition gradually entering into a dynamic interaction with Greek influence.

Serge Ruzer, Ph.D. (1996) from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis (Brill, 2007), and co-editor of The Sermon on the Mount and Its Jewish Setting (Gabalda, 2005).
Aryeh Kofsky, Ph.D. (1991) from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is Professor of Comparative Religion in the Department of Land of Israel Studies, the University of Haifa. He is the author of Eusebius of Caesarea Against Paganism (Brill, 2000), and co-author of The Monastic School of Gaza (Brill, 2006).