On 8 December at 7.30 pm Dr Sebastian Brock will speak on the significance of a sixth-century lectern from Syria as part of the series of lectures entitled A History of Christianity in 15 Objects.
A History of Christianity in 15 Objects is a series of lectures held at the parish church in Deddington, near Oxford, run in association with the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, which explores how a small sect in Roman-occupied Judaea went on to become one of the greatest forces of religious, social and cultural change the world has ever known.
Over the course of twelve months, fifteen leading thinkers will each present an object that illuminates our understanding of Christianity’s extraordinary history, from its beginnings in Jerusalem to the present.
Dr Brock is one of the foremost and most influential academics in the field of Syriac language today. He is a former Reader in Syriac Studies at the University of Oxford's Oriental Institute and currently a Professorial Fellow at Wolfson College and a Fellow of the British Academy.
Dr Brock completed his BA degree at the University of Cambridge, and a DPhil at Oxford. He is the recipient of a number of honorary doctorates and has been awarded the Medal of Saint Ephrem the Syrian by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, and the Leverhulme prize and medal of the British Academy. He is a widely published author on Syriac topics. His best selling books are The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications) and The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications).