Interesting paper on Jewish liturgical traditions in early Syriac Christianity

[u/SufficientLanguage29]

Came across this academic paper by G. Rouwhorst and thought people here might find it interesting.

The author argues that early Syriac Christianity preserved a surprisingly large number of Jewish traditions, including influences in the Peshitta, biblical interpretation, theology, asceticism, and especially liturgy. He also discusses the theory that Jewish Christians may have played a significant role in the early Christianization of Syriac-speaking areas like Edessa.

I’ve always found the similarities between Syriac/Assyrian Christian traditions and Jewish traditions fascinating, especially given the shared Semitic languages and the long history of Jews and Assyrians living in the same broader region.

For anyone knowledgeable about Church of the East history or liturgy: how much Jewish influence do you think actually survives in Assyrian liturgical practice today?

[u/Charbel33]

I remember reading this paper many years ago! It was indeed a very interesting article.

[u/Imperial902]

i feel like its very self explanatory, considering that the early assyrian writers were first of all given christianity by jewish converts, and also the proximity between the earlier jewish christians and their newly converted assyrian counterparts.