Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis, which was submitted to the University of Oxford in 2022.
I am grateful to a number of scholars who contributed in varying forms to the development of this study. In particular, I thank Sebastian Brock, Alison Salvesen, Jack Tannous, Phil Booth, Ben Williams, Lucas Van Rompay, Thomas Carlson, Jonathan Loopstra, Valentina Duca, Christian Sahner, Julian Faultless, Salam Rassi, Michael Macdonald, Christopher Melchert, Mario Kozah, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina, Harry Reddish, Ben Faycal, and Brad Marsh.
I also appreciate the assistance offered by the staff of St Cross College, the staff (particularly Lidio Ferrando) of the Nizami Ganjavi Library (previously the Oriental Institute Library) at the University of Oxford, the staff at the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham, the staff (particularly Maryline Simler) at the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU) in Strasbourg, France, and the staff of the British Library.
I extend a special thanks to the editorial board (particularly Ken Parry, the Chief Editor) of the “Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity” series for accepting and publishing this volume.
On a personal note, I am grateful to my family and friends for their love and support. In particular, I would like to thank my wife, Pamela, for her patience and encouragement.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to Byard Bennett, who introduced me to Syriac studies, answered various philosophical questions related to the Greek Fathers, and suggested corrections to select Greek translations in this study. I am equally indebted to David G. K. Taylor, who supervised me through both the MSt in Syriac Studies and DPhil in Oriental Studies degrees at the University of Oxford, suggested varying corrections to my Syriac translations, and answered many Syriac-related questions, often at unscheduled times. I would also like to thank Sergey Minov, who encouraged me to study Aḥob of Qatar’s exegetical works, made several resources available to me, and offered critical feedback on select parts of this study. Each of them inspired and challenged me, often with a good dose of humor. I dedicate this book to each of them.