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Legal Traditions in Asia pp 117–146Cite as

The Law of the Church of the East

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Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 80))

Abstract

This chapter is about a neglected field of research, the laws and intellectual life of the Christians of Iran also known as the Church of the East in four units. The first unit has a brief overview on the history of Christianity in Iran and Mesopotamia from the beginning up to the Caliphate. The second unit is about the intellectual life of the Christian community with its schools in Nisibis and Jundeshapur where the study of theology, medicine and law were properly organised and met the highest standards, particularly in medicine where progress was made in theory and practice. The third unit is about Christian legal sources and jurisprudence which developed, among others, its own genre of legal apologetics as a result of permanent debates with Persian Zoroastrians and Muslims. The last unit is about substantive law, mainly family law coupled with the law of inheritance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 4).

  2. 2.

    Moffet (1998: 45–70).

  3. 3.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 12–14).

  4. 4.

    Asmussen (1983: 929, 947).

  5. 5.

    Baum-Winckler 2003: 7-11; Hoffmann 1880; Braun 1915

  6. 6.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 14–21), Vine (1937: 47–49).

  7. 7.

    Spuler (1961a: 123).

  8. 8.

    Vanyó (1988: 681–697), Baum and Winkler (2003: 21–30), Vine (1937: 21–42), Spuler (1961a: 126–128), Asmussen (1983: 942–944). For the history of the Jacobite Church see Spuler (1961b).

  9. 9.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 28–42), Vine (1937: 70–72).

  10. 10.

    Cahen 1991: 227-–28; Kruse 1979: 82; Al-Misrī 1994: 607–609.

  11. 11.

    For this rather complex issue see the recent works of Stoyanov (2011) and Payne (2015: 177–189).

  12. 12.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 42–44).

  13. 13.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 46–57).

  14. 14.

    Vine (1937: 100–103), Baum and Winkler (2003: 59–62).

  15. 15.

    Spuler (1961a: 159–162), Baum and Winkler (2003: 69, 84–103), Vine (1937: 111).

  16. 16.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 26–28); for a detailed history of the school under Narseh and Henana see Vööbus (1965: 45–121, 234–276).

  17. 17.

    Based on the statutes of Narseh and Henana, in Vööbus (1962: 73–101).

  18. 18.

    Vööbus (1965: 109).

  19. 19.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 26–27, 44, 53).

  20. 20.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 45, 61–68).

  21. 21.

    The Iranian government re-established the university on its antique antecedents in 1955. The university is still in operation in Ahwaz, running an English-language international periodical in microbiology (Jundeshapur Journal of Microbiology).

  22. 22.

    Spuler (1961a: 147–148), Baum and Winkler (2003: 65–67).

  23. 23.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 69–70).

  24. 24.

    Selb (1993: 180–181).

  25. 25.

    Bruns and Sachau (1880: 317–333).

  26. 26.

    Selb (1981: 58–63) has all the 80 titles.

  27. 27.

    Sachau (1914: XXII–XXVII).

  28. 28.

    Sachau (1908: VI–XII).

  29. 29.

    Selb (1993: 182).

  30. 30.

    Sachau (1908: XVII–XX).

  31. 31.

    Introduction to Timotheos, in Sachau (1908: 55–56).

  32. 32.

    Sachau (1914: VIII–IX).

  33. 33.

    Sachau (1914: X–XII).

  34. 34.

    Sachau (1914: XII–XIII).

  35. 35.

    Introduction to Ishobokht, in Sachau (1914: 9–11).

  36. 36.

    Sachau (1914: XIV–XVI).

  37. 37.

    Sachau (1914: XVII–XXII).

  38. 38.

    Sachau (1908: XXI–XXII).

  39. 39.

    Selb (1993: 184), Selb (1981: 74–75).

  40. 40.

    Baum and Winkler (2003: 72–73).

  41. 41.

    Selb (1993: 185).

  42. 42.

    Mar Aba 2.§ in Sachau (1914: 267).

  43. 43.

    For more on this topic see Payne (2015: 93–117).

  44. 44.

    Ishobohkt, Book 2, Chapter 6.

  45. 45.

    Selb (1981: 153).

  46. 46.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 1: 1.

  47. 47.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 1: 7–8.

  48. 48.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 2: 3–9.

  49. 49.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 3: 3–5.

  50. 50.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 4: 1–11.

  51. 51.

    Ibn al-Taiyib Part II, Chapter 11: 7, 17, 20; Ishobokht: Book 6, 1: 7.§.

  52. 52.

    Isho bar Nun: 34–40.§.

  53. 53.

    Isho bar Nun: 64–66.§; 105.§.

  54. 54.

    Timotheos 77.§.

  55. 55.

    Ibn al-Taiyib: Part II, Book 7, 1–8.

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    Janos Jany

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Jany, J. (2020). The Law of the Church of the East. In: Legal Traditions in Asia. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 80. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43728-2_5

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