Position:
Associate Professor of Aramaic and Syriac; Fellow of Wolfson College
Faculty / College Address:
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies / Wolfson College
Email:
david.taylor@ames.ox.ac.uk
Research Interests:
- Syriac literature, history, theology
- Syriac and Aramaic biblical versions
- Middle Aramaic texts (Palmyrene, Nabataean, Hatran)
- Bilingualism and language contact in Late Antique Near East
Current Projects:
- Editio princeps of the Syriac Psalm commentary of Daniel of Salah(AD 542)
- Annotated English translation (NEATSB) of the Peshitta Psalter
- Edition of the Psalm titles in the West Syrian tradition
- Catalogues of Syriac manuscript collections in India and the Near East
- Biblical citations in the Syriac corpus of Basil of Caesarea
Courses Taught:
- Introductory, intermediate, and advanced Syriac language and texts
- Early Syriac Christianity
- Targumic and other Jewish Aramaic texts
- Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts
- Old Aramaic inscriptions
Recent Publications:
- The Syriac Versions of the De Spiritu Sancto by Basil of Caesarea (2 vols.; Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 576, 577; Peeters, Leuven 1999.)
- Studies in the Early Text of the Gospels and Acts (Texts and Studies III.1; Birmingham UP 1999; US edition by Society of Biblical Literature, 1999).
- The Hidden Pearl: The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, co-edited with S.P. Brock (3 vols., Transworld Film Italia, Rome 2001.) (Also in German, Dutch, Swedish, translations; Arabic and Turkish translations in preparation).
- “An Annotated Index of Dated Palmyrene Aramaic Texts”, Journal of Semitic Studies 46 (2001) 203-19.
- “The Christology of the Syriac Psalm Commentary (AD 541/2) of Daniel of Salah and the Phantasiast Controversy”, in M.F. Wiles & E.J. Yarnold, ed., Studia Patristica XXXV (Leuven 2001) 508-15.
- “Bilingualism and Diglossia in Late Antique Syria and Mesopotamia”, in Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Word, ed. J.N. Adams, M. Janse, & S. Swain (OUP, 2002) 298-331.
Full Publications
Further Info:
- Series editor (with D.C. Parker) of Texts and Studies: Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature
- Series editor of Library of the Christian East