JOHN MARKS, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University, has passed away:

John Marks, 39-year member of the faculty, dies at 85
Posted April 23, 2009; 05:30 p.m.

by Staff

John Marks, professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University, died at his home in Princeton on Wednesday, April 15, at age 85. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

A specialist in Near Eastern cultural and political history, Marks was a member of the faculty from 1954 until his retirement in 1993.

[...]

Professor Marks summarized his interests on his own Princeton web page:

Near Eastern Studies at Princeton focuses on the Islamic Near East, and pre-Islamic studies are ancillary to the Department's primary intent. My teaching includes introductory surveys of pre-Islamic Near Eastern history, from the stone age to Alexander, and from Alexander to Muhammad, in addition to a basic Syriac language course and selected readings in Syriac literature. I am interested in the Christian doctrinal controversies of the fifth century as they reflect conflicting, traditional Near Eastern and Roman-Byzantine perceptions of human nature and destiny in the world. Syriac writings reveal both western and Near Eastern approaches to the problem. The popular conclusion that "East is East and West is West" seems to me already evident in those vigorous, destructive fifth century debates. Much of my work is with Seminary students and graduate students in religion from Princeton and elsewhere. My most recent Ph.D. supervision involved the translation of the Mystic Treatises of Isaac of Nineveh (7th century) by a graduate student from Temple University.

Requiescat in pace.