St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns On Paradise Summary and Reviews

St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns On Paradise
by St. Ephrem

St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns On Paradise
Our Price: $18.00
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $14.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: St. Ephrem
Brand: SVS Press
Translator: Sebastian Brock
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-03-01
ISBN: 0881410764
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr

Book Reviews of St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns On Paradise

Book Review: A fair exchange?
Summary: 5 Stars

"The garden of life" has been opened for us with the "keys" that He gave us. So opens Hymn VII of these collected hymns by St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373, age unknown but speculation identifies his birth between AD 300 and 310). Hymn VII resembles all 15 Hymns of Paradise collected. Translated by Sebastian Brock of Oxford University (year of publication: 1998), Hymn VII resembles the other hymns in emphasis of Nature metaphors drawn from part of the creation and sequel texts of Genesis in chapters 2 and 3.

There is seldom a moral goad to sinners in these Hymns as one discovers in Dante, another Christian allegorist centuries later. Rather, if a goad exists at all in Hymns of Paradise, it is desire and delight to shed the cloak of slavery and return to freedom. Disobedience has led to slavery; obedience returns one to freedom.

Thereby, obedient "people behold themselves in glory and wonder at themselves...; " Blessed is He who, with His keys, has opened up the Garden of Life" (Hymn VII, v. 12 and Response).

Shedding a moral cloak may be impossible for some Greek/Slavonic or Latin-Christian descendants to digest. However, for this Syriac saint of the fourth Christian century, every aspect of his life interpreted the "Nature" that inspired his hymns from the Genesis texts. To say, therefore, that Ephrem breathed and ate Genesis would reflect his experience of air and sustenance.

Hebraic meter is obtuse in translation. Certainly any translation of the Psalms faces a similar struggle. Brock rose to the challenge far better than most anyone might expect. Brock's translation is excellent in my opinion. But translation alone was not the only gift of this publication. In addition, Brock added a treasure trove to discover in his Introduction of 69 pages length (total pages of text: 227 plus bibliography and references; translated Hymns consist of 111 pages).

These Hymns of Paradise ought to be read aloud, memorized, set in memorable tunes or chants, and digested slowly in obedience to the vision of paradise. Brock's translation is approachable alone in reading, but even better appreciated in harmony with other created beings. For "blessed is He who came and invited both worlds to His Paradise" (Response of Book XV).

Finally, my last allusion may strike you as stretching on my part. I ask you to compare the Response of Book XV to John Donne's metaphoric link of the "first" Adam in Genesis to the "second" Adam, who is Christ: "Look, Lord, and see both Adams met in me..." ("Hymn to God my God in my Sickness"). Your effort in comparison may yield rewards by keeping the vision of Eden before you. It does so for me.

Church Institutions & Organizations Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Church Institutions & Organizations Books
Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society) ImageTake the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)
by John Donald Gustav-Wrathall
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1998-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops: $23.00
Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis ImageCatholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis
by Melanie Morey, John Piderit S.J.
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.79
Price in other shops: $29.95
Italian Benedictine Scholars and the Reformation: The Congregation of Santa Giustina of Padua (Oxford Historical Monographs) ImageItalian Benedictine Scholars and the Reformation: The Congregation of Santa Giustina of Padua (Oxford Historical Monographs)
by Barry Collett
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1986-02-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $140.00
Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism (South Asia Research) ImageManaging Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism (South Asia Research)
by Jonathan A. Silk
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $43.96
Price in other shops: $65.00
Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict ImageWorship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict
by Joseph Herl
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $48.00
Price in other shops: $109.99
The Oxford History of Christian Worship ImageThe Oxford History of Christian Worship
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-12-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.50
Price in other shops: $59.95
The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism ImageThe Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism
by Douglas Burton-Christie
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1993-02-04; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $55.00
Inside Catholicism (Signs of the sacred) ImageInside Catholicism (Signs of the sacred)
by The Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien
Harper; Published: 1995-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops: $20.00
1979 Book of Common Prayer, Economy Edition (Green) Image1979 Book of Common Prayer, Economy Edition (Green)
by Oxford University Press (COR)
Oxford University Press; Published: 2008-02-15; Imitation Leather; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops: $19.99
The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism ImageThe Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism
by David Gibson
HarperOne; Published: 2003-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.94
Price in other shops: $23.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
On the Unity of Christ ImageOn the Unity of Christ
by Saint Cyril of Alexandria
St Vladimirs Seminary Pr; Published: 1997-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.63
Price in other shops: $16.00
From Shadows to Reality: Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers ImageFrom Shadows to Reality: Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers
by Jean Danielou
CreateSpace; Published: 2011-04-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.97
Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar ImageRobinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar
by J. F. Coakley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $64.27
Price in other shops: $75.00
On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quartodecimans (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" ... Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series) ImageOn Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quartodecimans (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" ... Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series)
by Melito of Sardis, Alistair Stewart-Sykes
St Vladimirs Seminary Pr; Published: 2001-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.73
Price in other shops: $15.00
Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of Moses (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics) ImageGregory of Nyssa: The Life of Moses (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics)
by HarperCollins Spiritual Classics
HarperOne; Published: 2006-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.41
Price in other shops: $11.99
On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected Writings from St. Maximus the Confessor (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" ... Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series) ImageOn the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected Writings from St. Maximus the Confessor (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" ... Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series)
by Paul M. Blowers, Robert Louis Wilken
St Vladimirs Seminary Pr; Published: 2003-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.76
Price in other shops: $16.00
Ephrem the Syrian: Select Poems (Brigham Young University - Eastern Christian Texts) ImageEphrem the Syrian: Select Poems (Brigham Young University - Eastern Christian Texts)
Brigham Young University; Published: 2007-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.04
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Cistercian Studies) ImageThe Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Cistercian Studies)
Cistercian Publications; Published: 2006-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.53
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem (Cistercian Studies) ImageThe Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem (Cistercian Studies)
by Sebastian Brock
Cistercian Publications c/o Liturgical Press; Published: 1992-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.51
Price in other shops: $29.95
Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns (Classics of Western Spirituality) ImageEphrem the Syrian: Hymns (Classics of Western Spirituality)
by Ephrem the Syrian
Paulist Press; Published: 1989-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.70
Price in other shops: $32.95