Author: Gerard Russell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471114724
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 470
Book Description
Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms
Author: Gerard Russell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471114724
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 470
Book Description
Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471114724
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 470
Book Description
Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.
Living Religions of the Middle East
Author: Young Oon Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Islam
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Islam
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
World Religions: Living religions of the Middle East
Author: Young Oon Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religions
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religions
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East
Author: Heather J. Sharkey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052176937X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
This book traces the history of conflict and contact between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Middle East prior to 1914.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052176937X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
This book traces the history of conflict and contact between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Middle East prior to 1914.
Rulers, Religion, and Riches
Author: Jared Rubin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110703681X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
This book seeks to explain the political and religious factors leading to the economic reversal of fortunes between Europe and the Middle East.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110703681X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
This book seeks to explain the political and religious factors leading to the economic reversal of fortunes between Europe and the Middle East.
Cultural Crossroads in the Middle East
Author: Holger Molder
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789949035205
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
The region of the Middle East has been called the cradle of mankind. This volume studies historical, cultural, religious, social and political legacies, which play a central role in obstructing intercultural dialogue in the Middle East. The region became home to numerous cultures, religions and ethnicities with long experience of living together in a multicultural environment and has an immense impact on the entire human civilization as first human civilizations were born there. Today, more than 50% of world population follow Abrahamic religions (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Judaism), which have their roots in the Middle East. This book focuses on multiple topics related to the Middle East, including ancient history, the religion and mythology of the Ancient Near Eastern regions, Arabic, Persian and Islamic studies, Persian, Turkish and Arab literature, as well as modern Middle Eastern issues related to politics, security, society and the economy.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789949035205
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
The region of the Middle East has been called the cradle of mankind. This volume studies historical, cultural, religious, social and political legacies, which play a central role in obstructing intercultural dialogue in the Middle East. The region became home to numerous cultures, religions and ethnicities with long experience of living together in a multicultural environment and has an immense impact on the entire human civilization as first human civilizations were born there. Today, more than 50% of world population follow Abrahamic religions (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Judaism), which have their roots in the Middle East. This book focuses on multiple topics related to the Middle East, including ancient history, the religion and mythology of the Ancient Near Eastern regions, Arabic, Persian and Islamic studies, Persian, Turkish and Arab literature, as well as modern Middle Eastern issues related to politics, security, society and the economy.
The Making of the Medieval Middle East
Author: Jack Tannous
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691179093
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 664
Book Description
A bold new religious history of the late antique and medieval Middle East that places ordinary Christians at the center of the story In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. Jack Tannous argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called “the simple” in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East’s history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, Tannous provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. This provocative book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691179093
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 664
Book Description
A bold new religious history of the late antique and medieval Middle East that places ordinary Christians at the center of the story In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. Jack Tannous argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called “the simple” in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East’s history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, Tannous provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. This provocative book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.
Christian Martyrs Under Islam
Author: Christian C. Sahner
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120313X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Muslim officials between the seventh and ninth centuries CE. Found in places as diverse as Syria, Spain, Egypt, and Armenia, they include an alleged descendant of Muhammad who converted to Christianity, high-ranking Christian secretaries of the Muslim state who viciously insulted the Prophet, and the children of mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians. Sahner argues that Christians never experienced systematic persecution under the early caliphs, and indeed, they remained the largest portion of the population in the greater Middle East for centuries after the Arab conquest. Still, episodes of ferocious violence contributed to the spread of Islam within Christian societies, and memories of this bloodshed played a key role in shaping Christian identity in the new Islamic empire. Christian Martyrs under Islam examines how violence against Christians ended the age of porous religious boundaries and laid the foundations for more antagonistic Muslim-Christian relations in the centuries to come.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120313X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Muslim officials between the seventh and ninth centuries CE. Found in places as diverse as Syria, Spain, Egypt, and Armenia, they include an alleged descendant of Muhammad who converted to Christianity, high-ranking Christian secretaries of the Muslim state who viciously insulted the Prophet, and the children of mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians. Sahner argues that Christians never experienced systematic persecution under the early caliphs, and indeed, they remained the largest portion of the population in the greater Middle East for centuries after the Arab conquest. Still, episodes of ferocious violence contributed to the spread of Islam within Christian societies, and memories of this bloodshed played a key role in shaping Christian identity in the new Islamic empire. Christian Martyrs under Islam examines how violence against Christians ended the age of porous religious boundaries and laid the foundations for more antagonistic Muslim-Christian relations in the centuries to come.
Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Author: Valentino Gasparini
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110557940
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 647
Book Description
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by specialists from a variety of disciplinary contexts (Jewish Studies, Theology, Classics, Early Christian Studies) dealing with the history of religion of the Mediterranean, West-Asian, and European area from the (late) Hellenistic period to the (early) Middle Ages and shaped by their intensive exchange. From the point of view of their respective fields of research, the contributors engage with discourses on agency, embodiment, appropriation and experience. They present innovative research in four fields also of theoretical debate, which are “Experiencing the Religious”, “Switching the Code”, „A Thing Called Body“ and “Commemorating the Moment”.
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110557940
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 647
Book Description
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by specialists from a variety of disciplinary contexts (Jewish Studies, Theology, Classics, Early Christian Studies) dealing with the history of religion of the Mediterranean, West-Asian, and European area from the (late) Hellenistic period to the (early) Middle Ages and shaped by their intensive exchange. From the point of view of their respective fields of research, the contributors engage with discourses on agency, embodiment, appropriation and experience. They present innovative research in four fields also of theoretical debate, which are “Experiencing the Religious”, “Switching the Code”, „A Thing Called Body“ and “Commemorating the Moment”.
Living Religions of the World
Author: Carl Hermann Voss
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616140437
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Carl Hermann Voss has succeeded in presenting a very knowledgeable and comprehensive, and at the same time highly readable, account of the world's major religions: their historical development, key personages, and basic tenets. He writes with clarity, insight, and sympathetic understanding. I found this to be an engrossing and illuminating book--Dr. Avraham Harman, The Hebrew University of JerusalemLiving Religions of the World: Our Search for Meaning is both reliable and readable, an excellent combination commending it to students and educated laymen alike. The living faiths, offering real alternatives in a world grown small and compelling every thinking person to make a personal choice, are presented with sympathy and scholarship. There is a fine concluding summary of the major issues of conscience and decision in a generation which displays an upsurge of religious interest frequently along non-traditional paths.--Dr. Franklin H. Littell, Temple University, Philadelphia, PADr. Voss's important scholarly work has always been marked by extraordinary sensitivity combined with wide erudition. This marvelous book shows his many admirers anew how our common search for meaning finds distinct but complementary expression in the major religions of the world. A lifetime of scholarly reflection renders his book an enriching experience for us all.--Father David Tracy, University of Chicago
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616140437
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Carl Hermann Voss has succeeded in presenting a very knowledgeable and comprehensive, and at the same time highly readable, account of the world's major religions: their historical development, key personages, and basic tenets. He writes with clarity, insight, and sympathetic understanding. I found this to be an engrossing and illuminating book--Dr. Avraham Harman, The Hebrew University of JerusalemLiving Religions of the World: Our Search for Meaning is both reliable and readable, an excellent combination commending it to students and educated laymen alike. The living faiths, offering real alternatives in a world grown small and compelling every thinking person to make a personal choice, are presented with sympathy and scholarship. There is a fine concluding summary of the major issues of conscience and decision in a generation which displays an upsurge of religious interest frequently along non-traditional paths.--Dr. Franklin H. Littell, Temple University, Philadelphia, PADr. Voss's important scholarly work has always been marked by extraordinary sensitivity combined with wide erudition. This marvelous book shows his many admirers anew how our common search for meaning finds distinct but complementary expression in the major religions of the world. A lifetime of scholarly reflection renders his book an enriching experience for us all.--Father David Tracy, University of Chicago