Old & New
A recent theological study, Brock & Parker's Saving Paradise, notes the emphasis on the recovery of paradise in the first millennium of Christian doctrine. St. Ephrem's Hymns here cited is a 4th C. development of the idea: Eden is lost through the Fall but restored as Paradise in the Resurrection. Further, it is an image of the redeemed individual, church, nation & cosmos: thus it is a model for harmonious & familial relations between the Divine, Humanity & Nature. Ephrem's hymns are a linked suite of poems, lyric & contemplative at once, expanding the theme in lucid & sensual language. The translation, by quite another Brock, is a little pedestrian, perhaps sacrificing freshness for clarity. The Hymns themselves are presently an unfamiliar form, & demand a good knowledge of Scripture & patient concentration if they are to yield their riches - but they are well worth the effort. It is centuries past time the church in the West recovered this doctrine, presently so pertinent.
