The Old Syriac Gospels, Studies and Translations is a comparative translation into English of the two earliest versions of the Syriac (or Aramaic) Gospels (codex Sinaiticus and codex Curetonianus), with some interesting differences between the Aramaic and traditional Greek texts. This work is useful for theologians, interested laymen and students of Syriac. The edition gives the full text of the Sinaiticus and Curetonianus manuscripts in Syriac (based on transcriptions by George A. Kiraz), with an English translation by E. Jan Wilson.

Considerable mystery still surrounds the origin of the four Gospels, with much arguing about the language of the original texts. Did the first disciples write in Greek, as has been long assumed in the West? Or did they in fact write to their fellow believers in the language which they all spoke natively, viz. Aramaic? That question is only one of the topics treated in this work, which offers to scholars and laymen alike the opportunity to examine the earliest known Aramaic versions of the four Gospels.

Dr. Wilson has written books and articles on various aspects of the Ancient Near East, including articles on Babylonian religious practices, articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a translation of some of the world's oldest literature - the Sumerian cylinders of Gudea from southern Mesopotamia. The current work is the result of a long and intense interest in the origins of Christianity and of the Christian scriptures.