French Literature Reviews - 2026
The Book of the Laws of Countries: A Syriac Treatise on the Fate of the « School » of Bardaisan
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
The Book of the Laws of Countries: A Syriac Treatise on the Fate of the « School » of Bardaisan
Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2020.
Introduction and notes by Paul-Hubert Poirier and Éric Crégheur; translated by Paul-Hubert Poirier and Éric Crégheur.
224 p.
EAN 9782251450667
27.00 EUR
Publisher's Overview:
A « dialogue on fate » attributed to Bardaisan (154–222), the « Aramaic philosopher », has been known since Eusebius of Caesarea noted its existence at the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century. The work only became accessible in 1855 thanks to William Cureton's edition of a Syriac text entitled The Book of the Laws of Countries, a dialogue in which the principal interlocutor is Bardaisan and which contains a close, if not literal, parallel to the passages cited by Eusebius. Since that time, The Book of the Laws of Countries—hailed as a masterpiece and considered « the oldest Syriac text after the Bible » (Duval)—has continually sparked the interest of specialists in Syriac studies and early Christian literature. In this dialogue, Bardaisan masterfully addresses one of the central themes of theological and philosophical reflection across all ages: the relationship between divine providence and omnipotence, human freedom, and the constraints of nature and fate. The polemic that Bardaisan wages against determinism and astral fatalism relies largely on an exposition of the mores, customs, and laws of the « barbarians ». The Book of the Laws of Countries offers the most developed version of this ethnographic argument, which sought to draw upon the regional diversity of « laws » to refute astrologers. Even if one hesitates to view The Book of the Laws of Countries as an authentic echo of Bardaisan's own thought, it remains one of the oldest monuments of Syriac literature and among the very earliest dialogues in Christian literature.
Paul-Hubert Poirier, Professor at Université Laval (Quebec), is a member of the Institut de France and the Royal Society of Canada. His research focuses on Gnostic, Manichaean, and apocryphal literature, particularly traditions concerning the apostle Thomas.
Éric Crégheur is a professor at Université Laval. His research focuses on the history and literature of early Christianity, Coptic and Syriac languages and literature, as well as Gnostic-leaning Egyptian Christianity. His publications include a new edition of the Books of Jeu from the Bruce Codex (Peeters, 2019).
The Book of the Laws of Countries occupies a significant place in the history of Syriac literature. As one of the earliest dialogues in the Christian tradition, it reflects the intellectual climate of the ancient Near East, where philosophical inquiry often intersected with theological debates. The text is historically associated with the school of Bardaisan (154–222), a figure whose work has been studied since antiquity for its engagement with the tension between divine providence and human agency. Its preservation allows scholars to examine the development of early Syriac prose and its engagement with contemporary philosophical currents.
The dialogue addresses the problem of determinism and astral fatalism by utilizing an ethnographic method that catalogs the diverse customs and laws of various cultures. By highlighting the regional variability of human behavior, the text challenges the notion that celestial bodies dictate human actions. This approach to refuting fatalism through the observation of societal norms was a common rhetorical strategy in late antique polemics. Readers interested in the history of early Christian philosophical arguments or the evolution of Syriac literary traditions may find this edition of the dialogue relevant to their research into these ancient intellectual frameworks.