David G.K. Taylor

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
Photograph of David Taylor