Thomas of Edessa flourished as a teacher at the School of Nisibis, an important Christian intellectual centre in sixth-century Persia. His only surviving writings are two lectures (in Syriac, 'Explanations') on the feasts of the Nativity and Epiphany. These discources were later incorporated into a collection of Explanations of the feasts covering the whole ecclesiastical year. ... These discourses, with the editors' introduction and notes, elucidate Thomas's place in the theological development of the Church of the East. He is the earliest author after Narsai to draw extensively upon the work of Thedore of Mopsuestia, but earlier Syriac traditions are also reflected in his work,, and his christology is not yet the doctrine characteristic of Babai and later East Syriac authors. -- Book jacket.