Death and the Afterlife in Syriac Christianity - Creating Social Identity and Emotional Communities

In this book, Maria Doerfler explores a body of literature that has been previously largely ignored: a collection of funerary hymns for Christians, attributed to Ephrem the Syrian. These hymns provide insights not only into Syriac Christian ideas about death and the afterlife, but also into their existence, beliefs, and practices more broadly.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Translating Eve: women and performance in the Necrosima; 3. 'Short days they lived on earth . . .': the death of children in the Necrosima; 4. Men and means: wealth and poverty in the Necrosima; 5. Reading the book of the dead: bishops in the Necrosima; 6. Reaching across the threshold: covenanters in the Necrosima; 7. The Churches are empty, the priests are silent: rewriting ritual in pandemic times; 8. Conclusion: beyond the threshold.

About the author

Maria E. Doerfler is Associate Professor of Late Antiquity in Yale's Department of Religious Studies. Her prior monograph, Jephthah's Daughter, Sarah's Son: The Death of Children in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 2021) won the American Academy of Religion's Best First Book prize in the History of Religions category. Her work focuses on practices of interpretation in times of personal or communal crisis.

Product details

• Authors: Maria E. (Yale University Doerfler, Doerfler Maria E.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2025
• EAN: 9781009573788
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0957378-8
• No. of pages: 385
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; RELIGION / Christian Church / History, Religion: general, Christian Churches & denominations, Christian Churches, denominations, groups