The Apology of Aristides is the earliest Christian apologia to have survived in its entirety. It was written as a defense of the new Christian way of life against its many rivals and opponents, and details some of its leading ethical precepts. Long thought to have been lost, this early second-century work was rediscovered in a Syriac translation in a seventh-century manuscript preserved in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. This volume contains not only the standard edition of the Syriac text with critical notes, but also the first English translation and a study of surviving fragments in Greek, which were subsequently identified in the 'Life of Barlaam and Josaphat' (an early Christian reworking of the life of Buddha).

Only fragments survive of the writings of the Valentinian Gnostic teacher Heracleon (fl. 145-180 AD). The remnants can be found primarily in quotations in Origen's commentary on the Gospel of John. This study gives an edition of the surviving texts with extensive notes, biblical references, and indices. This volume is indispensable for the study of second century Gnosticism.

This book attempts to determine the Gospel text used by Ephraim, and the bearing his quotations have upon the date of the Peshitta. Ephraim is one of the figures from the Syriac-speaking Church whose name is well known in both East and West. His surviving works are by themselves as voluminous as all other remains of Syriac literature earlier than 400 AD. Ephraim’s death in roughly 373 AD means that his Gospel text predates the 5th century and attests a text older than many of the extant manuscripts.

The Book of the Laws of Countries (BLC) by Bardaisan of Edessa belongs to the most important writings of early Syriac literature. The text reflects the intellectual climate of northern Mesopotamia and in particular that of the city of Edessa, at the end of the second century and the first decades of the third century CE.