Sigrid Peterson, Ph.D. » For Seminar: Brock on Syriac Manuscripts

For Seminar: Brock on Syriac Manuscripts

The following material is excerpted from:
Sebastian P. Brock, The Bible in the Syriac Tradition, (New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2006) 41-48, 135.
for the use of members of the seminar on text criticism of Robert A. Kraft. That is, the basis is fair use. This page will be up for only a limited time. Other access to parts of Brock’s book is provided by Google Books, and the book is available from Gorgias Press, or Amazon.com.

[extensive quotation now removed]

See this link, which contains the link to my cv.

"I do believe that religion is, among other things, an intellectual activity -- and to play upon Paul Ricoeur's well-known phrase, it is the perception of incongruity that gives rise to thought." -- Jonathan Z. Smith (Map, 1978: 293-4) Jonathan Z. Smith's well-known description of religion, and of the academic study of religion, combines the well-known phrase "perception of incongruity" as developed by the anthropologist of mind, Jerome Bruner, and the similarly well-known phrase from Paul Ricoeur, "the symbol gives rise to thought." Did Smith mean that the perception of incongruity necessarily led to the invention of religion, or to the examination of religion?