Johannes bar Penkaje

Johannes bar Penkaje was a 7th century monk of the East Syrian Church of the East .

Johannes came from Penek on the Tigris . He wrote, among other things, "a peculiar work in 15 books, between world history and theologically-oriented philosophy of history," ( Anton Baumstark junior ). This chronicle is called Ktābā d-rēš mellē ("Book of Main Points "), but only fragments of it have survived :

• Books I – IX unpublished
• Books X – XV: Alphonse Mingana : Sources syriaques . Vol. 2, Mosul 1908.

His writings provide an eyewitness account of the Arab conquests of his time. He interprets these as God's punishment for Christians who have deviated from the correct faith. The work was apparently written at the end of the 7th century (after Robert G. Hoyland approx. 687).

literature

• Peter Bruns: From Adam and Eve to Mohammed - observations on the Syrian chronicle of Johannes bar Penkaye. In: Oriens Christianus . 87 (2003), ISSN  0340-6407 , pp. 47-64.
• Robert G. Hoyland: Seeing Islam as Others Saw It. A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam . Darwin Press, Princeton 1997, pp. 194ff.
• Hubert Kaufhold: Notes on the text transmission of the chronicle of Johannes bar Penkaye. In: Oriens Christianus . 87 (2003), ISSN  0340-6407 , pp. 65-79.
• Karl Pinggéra : Nestorian World Chronicle: Johannes Bar Penkaye and Elias von Nisibis. In: Martin Wallraff (ed.): Julius Africanus and the Christian world chronicle. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-019105-9 , p. 263ff.
• Gerrit J. Reinink: East Syrian Historiography in Response to the Rise of Islam: The Case of John bar Penkaye's Ktâbâ d-rêš mellê. In: Jan Jacob van Ginkel (Ed.): Redefining christian identity: cultural interaction in the Middle East since the rise of Islam. Peeters, Leuven 2005, ISBN 90-429-1418-1 , pp. 77-90.
• Harald Suermann: The Arab Empire in the world history of Johannan bar Penkaje. In: Piotr O. Scholz, Reinhard Stempel (ed.): Nubia et oriens christianus: Festschrift for C. Detlef G. Müller on his 60th birthday. Dinter, Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-924794-08-1 , pp. 59-71.