​A remarkable tour of Syriac Christianity over its first 1500 years. This anthology provides a sumptuous array of treasures introduced with elegant clarity and explicated with incisive grasp. At a time when we seek to understand Christian history in global terms, this collection is a game changer.--Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Willard Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of Religion and History, Brown University Invitation to Syriac Christianity is a remarkable resource not only for Syriac scholars and students but also for the public and members of modern Syriac churches, who will thus have easier access to their heritage and traditions. As the first complete anthology of Syriac literature in English translation, it offers unique access to the spiritual realm of the Syriac tradition.--Mor Polycarpus, Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in The Netherlands This book succeeds magnificently in introducing the rarely studied world of a major Christian community. Well-chosen and carefully presented extracts capture the thrill of a brilliant culture placed at the crossroads of Asia. Resonant religious imagery and daring mystical speculations, impassioned theological debate, the heroism of male and female martyrs and ascetics, open dialogue with religious rivals, disabused accounts of the clash of empires: this book has it all. It decisively alters the balance of scholarship in exciting new directions and adds an entire new dimension to the history of religion in late antique and medieval times.--Peter Brown, Professor Emeritus of History, Princeton University