John of Dalyatha (690-780 CE) was a monk from a monastery near the Turkey-Iraq border. After living in the monastery for only seven years, he received permission to live a solitary life in the over 9,000 ft high mountains of Dalyatha where he spent most of his life. When he became too old to live on his own, he came down from the mountains, formed a community around himself and wrote these works. In them, John outlines the life itinerary of those who are baptized, the "Way of Wonder" - leading to the vision of God.

This seminal work continues to shape the thought of specialists studying the Late Antique crossroads at which Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Islamic histories met, by offering the field a new approach to the vexing question of how to write the early history of Islam. The new edition of the study produces the original text with the addition of a substantial forward in which Hoyland discusses how the field has developed over the two decades that proceeded the book’s first publication. Hoyland also shares some personal reflections on how his thinking has since developed and the potential impact of this on the findings of the original study. The book also includes new appendices that detail the later publications of the author.

A grammar of Classical Syriac. An introductory course of eight lessons presents the Syriac phonology and script, followed by the basic course of 40 lessons. The book is designed to cover one academic year.

This book is a classic in the history of the Oriental Churches, which are sometimes portrayed as heretical in general church history books, if mentioned at all. Written by a Copt, it portrays the history of the faith of these non-Chalcedonian Churches with first-hand knowledge of their traditions. The author covers Alexandrine Christianity (the Copts and the Ethiopians), the Church of Antioch (Syriac Orthodox), the “Nestorian” Church of the East, the Armenian Church, the St. Thomas Christians of South India, the Maronite Church, as well as the Vanished Churches of Carthage, Pentapolis, and Nubia.