LUKÁŠ DE LA VEGA NOSEK
HUSITSKÁ TEOLOGICKÁ FAKULTA UNIVERZITY KARLOVY
HUSSITE THEOLOGICAL FACULTY OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY
ETHICS, SPIRITUALITY, DIALOGUE, POIMENICS. AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTRODUCTION TO THE
TRACTATE DAFʿ AL-HAMM FROM THE PEN OF ELIAS OF NISIBIS (975-1046)
Abstract: This study is concerned with a content analysis of the Introduction to the voluminous
wisdom literature of Dafʿ al-hamm by the Nestorian metropolitan Elijah of Nisibis (975-1046). The
study first introduces the life and work of the author under study, thanks to contemporary secondary
literature. Next, it will present the entire treatise in its historical, substantive, and formal context. It
then proceeds to a detailed analysis of the 88 sentences of the introduction, which present not only
the meaning of the entire text but also the internal architecture of this interesting work. The study
demonstrates that the Introduction constitutes the architecture of the entire work and explains the
four key elements of Elijah‘s thought that he wove not only into the Introduction but into the entire
treatise: ethics, spirituality, dialogue, and poimenics. Finally, the study reflects on the contemporary
absence of historical analyses of poimenics among Arab Christians in the Middle Ages.
Keywords: Elijah of Nisibis (975-1046); history of theology; sapiential literature; ethics; spirituality;
dialogue; poimenics; Arab Christianity
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. 94, 2023, No. 3 – 4, Number of Article 3, p. stránka 246 – 266.
DOI: 10.14712/12117617.94.3-4.3