A Note to Readers
This page attempts to reproduce the priceless set of bibliographical handouts prepared by Dr. Sebastian Brock over many years of teaching Syriac in the Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford. Dr. Brock's students have, for years, saved their handouts and constantly referred back to them, at times trading each other for more recently produced editions. We ourselves have treasured our sets of Dr. Brock's handouts and most of what we know about Syriac studies originates from his classes, his articles, and his famously generous and helpful conversations and advice. The pages we have created here on the Dumbarton Oaks website represent our attempt to share with the rest of the world the knowledge Dr. Brock has shared with us. His bibliographies offer an introduction for students to the various components of Syriac studies. We are very grateful to Dr. Brock for allowing us to put his handouts online and for providing the most recently updated versions. They are organized alphabetically below, and the date of their latest revision is given in parentheses following the title of the pages. For the most part, we have not added to or modified the bibliographies: students will still want to consult the lists of recent books and articles, organized by topic, that Dr. Brock has published in Parole de l'Orient and Hugoye. One should also be aware of the Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity, maintained by the Center for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Cyril Moss' invaluable Catalogue of the Syriac Printed Books and Related Literature in the British Museum should also be regularly consulted, since it still contains information that can be found nowhere else. Another resource worth keeping close at hand is The Hidden Pearl, a three-volume work which is perhaps the single best introduction available on the Syriac tradition in general. Much of the content of The Hidden Pearl came out of Dr. Brock's teaching at Oxford. Volume One, on ancient Aramaic, is essentially the "Introduction to Aramaic Studies" lectures he would offer in Michaelmas Term (see handout below). Indeed, in a world before Powerpoint, Brock would bring a copy of the first volume to class and pass it around for students to view the numerous images it contains. The Hidden Pearl is certainly one of the first places we send students who are interested in Syriac.
NB: We are very grateful to Christopher Mooney of Georgetown and Yale Universities for his assistance in preparing these bibliographies for the Syriac Resources site during Summer 2013.
Abbreviations
ABD = Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York, 1992)
AF = Die aramaistische Forschung seit Th. Noldekes Veroffentlichungen (Rosenthal, under Aramaic Studies-->Aramaic Dialects)
AION = Annali dell'istituto universitario orientale di Napoli
AN = Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
ArBib = J. Fitzmyer and S. Kaufman, An Aramaic Bibliography (Baltimore, 1992)
ArOr = Archiv Orientalni
BA = Biblical Archaeologist (BAR = BA Reader)
BJRL = Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
BO = Bibliotheca Orientalis
BZAW = Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die altestamentliche Wissenschaft
CAH = Cambridge Ancient History
CBQ = Catholic Biblical Quarterly
DBS = Dictionnaire de la Bible: Supplement
HAS = Hebrew and Aramaic Studies (Kutscher, under Aramaic Studies-->Aramaic Dialects)
IDB(S) = Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Supplement)
JSP = Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigraphy
JSS = Journal of Semitic Studies
KAI = Donner and Rollig, Kanaanaische und aramaische Inschriften (Wiesbaden)
MUSJ = Mélanges de l'Université Saint Joseph
NT = Novum Testamentum
OLA = Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
OLP = Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica
RSO = Rivista degli studi orientali
SVT = Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
TRE = Theologische Realenzyklopädie
WA = A Wandering Aramean (Fitzmyer, under Aramaic Studies-->Aramaic Dialects)
WO = Welt des Orients
ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
One asterisk (*) denotes the presence of a helpful bibliography.
Two asterisks (**) denote a helpful initial orientation.
