Isho'dad of Merw. Commentary on the Gospel of John

Isho'dad of Merw, Bishop of the East Syrian Church in Hedatta, wrote his

commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testament around 850 A.D.

His work constitutes one of the most important and extensive exegetical

collections within the East Syrian Church. From 1911 to 1916 Margaret D.

Gibson published a text edition and an English translation of the New

Testament Part. Developments in the area of manuscript tradition, the

discovery of new sources and the many deficiencies in Gibson’s work,

made a new text edition and translation necessary. The starting point

has been taken in Isho'dad’s commentary on the Gospel of St. John. This

gave the opportunity to trace in Isho'dad’s commentary the influences of

the work of Theodore of Mopsuestia, whose commentary on the Gospel of

St. John has survived in the Syriac language. Volume 671 (Textus)

offers a Syriac text edition based on 15 manuscripts. In the

Introduction these manuscripts and their mutual relationship are

described. Volume 672 (Versio) contains a description of

Isho'dad’s life, a study of the sources used by him, and a translation.

The volumes include a survey of Gibson’s errata, an orthographical index

and an index of biblical citations and Greek terms quoted.