Although originally translated from the Hebrew, the Syriac Peshiṭta of Job is often markedly different from the Masoretic Text. As a result, this curious Syriac version has attracted the attention of a number of respected scholars such as Michael Weitzman, Heidi Szpek, and Gösta Rignell, all of whom were interested in using the Peshiṭta to illustrate how early Syriac translators attempted to grapple with a very challenging Hebrew text. Yet, since most of these studies on the Peshiṭta of Job have focused solely on
translation technique, few have examined how this translation was interpreted by native Syriac-speaking communities.
In this talk, we will examine how intentional and unintentional changes – even in punctuation – between the Syriac Peshiṭta and other ancient language versions influenced native Syriac readings of the text. In particular, we will see how hundreds of divergent readings in the Peshiṭta permitted Syriac-speaking commentators to read distinctively Christian interpretations quite naturally into the Book of Job. The speaker will bring in insights from work on his new English translation of the Peshiṭta of Job, completed for the Antioch Bible series with Gorgias Press.
Jonathan Loopstra (jloopstra@capital.edu) is Associate Professor History at Capital University. He received his PhD in History / Early Christian Studies at The Catholic University of America in 2009.
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