The majority of the twelve papers (four of which are in English) in this volume concern different aspects of Syriac studies, the exceptions being H. Gaube, on Umayyad ‘Desert castles’, A. M. Schwemer, on the earliest Christians in Syria (but touching right at the end on Edessa), and H. R. Seeliger, on connecting literary evidence for episcopal sees in the Syro-Palestinian area with archaeological finds, focusing on Bosra and Gerasa. The contributions on Syriac matters cover the origins of the titles of Catholicos and Patriarch of the Church of the East for the bishops of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (L. Abramowski), an overview of the Syriac sources for the history of Judaism and Christianity in pre-Islamic south Arabia, the term qyama (‘covenant’) in writings prior to Aphrahat in the fourth century (D. Bumazhnov), the theology of Babai the Great (T. Engelmann), the Syriac martyrdom of the Mimes (C. Horn), the Holy Spirit and divinisation in Isaac of Niniveh (N. Kavvadas), Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac ‘Masora’ (J. Loopstra), Narsai on Abraham (F. Thome), and the Hymn of the Pearl in the Acts of Thomas (J. Tubach). Of these, the long contribution by Louise Abramowski might be singled out, not only for its importance for the historical study of the development of the origin and use of the titles in the Church in the Persian Empire, but also for its significance for the self-understanding of the Church of the East today. Building on an important earlier study by J.-M. Fiey, she shows clearly, on the basis of the protocols of the early fifth-century synods, that there is no basis for the often-found view that the Church in Persia once had some sort of ties with the bishop of Antioch.