Faculty and Administration

Dr. John Haitham Issak graduated with his Ph.D. from McMaster Divinity College. His doctoral thesis entailed a study of Athanasius’ pneumatology in the letters to Serapion. His ongoing research projects are focused on Syriac and the Syriac church fathers, Ephrem, Aphrahaat and Jacob of Serugh. Most recently, he has translated several letters of Timothy I of Baghdad from Syriac into English. Dr. Issak has taught Patristics, the Syriac language, and Greek in the Syriac Orthodox Church seminaries in Nineveh (Mosul), Iraq, and Damascus. He has also served as a director in the Syriac Orthodox seminary in Mosul. He has presented papers at numerous conferences related to Syriac studies, especially on Ephrem. He regularly participates in the Pappas Patristic Institute Program at the Holy Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Dr. Issak has published several articles, and his first book on Athanasius’ pneumatology is titled The Spirit of Truth: Johannine Pneumatology in the Letters of Athanasius to Serapion