Book Series Apocryphes, vol. 17

The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Stephen J. Shoemaker

  • Pages: xii + 356 p.
  • Size:120 x 190 mm
  • Illustrations:1 b/w
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2023

  • € 60,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60616-3
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  • € 60,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60617-0
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New, never before translated Dormition narratives about the end of the Virgin Mary’s life.

BIO

Stephen J. Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies and Ira E. Gaston Fellow in Christian Studies at the University of Oregon. He is a Historian of Religion in the Late Ancient Near East.

Summary

This volume includes eight new translations of early Christian narratives about the end of the Virgin Mary’s life, that is, her Dormition and Assumption. Translated from Greek, Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, each of these texts is either translated into a modern language for the first time, or appears in a version that has not previously been published. The texts represent a broad range of the highly diverse early Christian memories of Mary's departure from this world. Likewise, the texts themselves often disclose a range of theological diversity within the early Christian tradition even beyond what scholars have thus far recognized.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
1. The Book of Mary’s Repose
2. The Six Books Apocryphon
3. The Greek Revision of the Book of Mary’s Repose
4. The Latin Revision of the Book of Mary’s Repose
5. The Latin Transitus Mariae
6. An Early Dormition Fragment in Old Georgian
7. A Liturgical Apocryphon from Jeremiah for the Dormition of the Virgin
8. The Homily on the Dormition Attributed to Basil of Caesarea
Bibliography