Oxford University

A lecture by Dr. Valentina Duca (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Monday, January 29th

7:30 PM

Blackfriars (OX1 3LY)

This lecture is free and open to the public. If you can't make it to the lecture, make sure to listen to the recording after it is published on the Thomistic Institute podcast.

Abstract:

Isaac of Nineveh (7 th c.) is the major exponent of East-Syriac mysticism, which developed in the

Church of the East in the 7 th and 8 th centuries. Some of his writings were translated into Greek, and

then from Greek into other languages of the Christian world, including Latin and Slavonic. In this

way, Isaac became a central reference for the Orthodox tradition. This talk explores Isaac’s

anthropology, a central element of his thought. Isaac has, in fact, a highly original view on the

human condition, which with great modernity places at the center creatural finitude and the

consequences of human exposure to suffering and death. Following a brief introduction to Syriac

Christianity and East-Syriac mysticism, this talk will focus on three elements of Isaac’s

anthropology: the human condition of limitation and vulnerability, the ontological state that he calls

“weakness” (mḥiluta), and the journey of the relationship with these that he outlines. This will

enable us to examine Isaac’s understanding of faith, which must necessarily confront (even

extreme) limitations and suffering. I will conclude with a note on Isaac’s best-known affirmations

on universal mercy, which include love for evil people, wild animals and demons, showing how this

position is rooted in his anthropological perspective, which may still be meaningful in a

contemporary context.

About the speaker:

Valentina Duca is a postdoctoral researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After obtaining

degrees in Theology and the History of Religions, she specialized in Eastern Christianity at Oxford

University, especially Syriac (MPhil; DPhil). She spent two years at the Catholic University of

Leuven, exploring the influence of the thought of Paul and Mark the Monk on Isaac of Nineveh.

Her current project involves the production of a critical edition of hitherto unedited writings of

Isaac and an analysis of the concept of experience in East-Syriac mysticism. She recently published

a monograph titled “Exploring Finitude”: Weakness and Integrity in Isaac of Nineveh (2023) with

Peeters, Leuven (OLA).