PhilipForness

Philip Michael Forness received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher in late antique Christianity in the Near East at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. The two focal points of his research are the consequences of theological debates on ordinary people and cultural exchanges through the transmission of early Christian texts among Middle Eastern Christian communities. His research projects encompass several interrelated subjects and methodologies, including book culture and manuscript studies, the transmission of ideas across linguistic boundaries, and the relationship between doctrine and religious practices. He also holds a particular interest in the reception of the bible and recently published an article on the reading communities for the earliest complete Old Testament manuscript in Syriac. He is translating 1–4 Maccabees for the Antioch Bible.

GeorgeKiraz

George A. Kiraz is the founder and director of Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, the Editor-in-Chief of Gorgias Press, and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He earned an M.St. degree in Syriac Studies from the University of Oxford (1991) and an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (1992, 1996). He has published extensively in the fields of computational linguistics, Syriac studies, and the digital humanities. His latest books include The Syriac Orthodox in North America (1895–1995): A Short History (2019) and Syriac-English New Testament (2020).

George is an ordained Deacon of the rank of Ewangeloyo (Gospler) in the Syriac Orthodox Church where he also serves on several Patriarchal, Synodal, and local committees. He lives in Piscataway, NJ, with his wife Christine and their children, Tabetha Gabriella, Sebastian Kenoro, and Lucian Nurono.

JosephBali

Dayroyo Joseph Bali (Ph.D candidate, Philosophy, University of Athens) completed his academic studies in the field of philosophy and then joined St. Ephrem Seminary, Damascus, in 2007. A year later, he became a monk and in 2011 he was ordained as a priest. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy in the University of Athens working on the influence of Greek Philosophy on the works of Bar Hebraeus. He is fluent in Syriac, Arabic, French, English and Greek. His areas of competence include Medieval Philosophy, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Syriac History, Literature and Grammar. His future aspirations are to publish English translations of the works of the Syriac Church Fathers and scholars, especially Bar Hebraeus. Dayroyo Bali is preparing the initial draft of the Syriac text of many Old Testament books.