Download or read book Christianity in Iraq written by Suha Rassam and published by Gracewing Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity was firmly established in Iraq from the earliest times, and the Churches of Iraq were to play a major role in the development of Christian theology and spirituality for many centuries. By the seventh century evangelization from Iraq had brought Christianity to China, Central Asia and India. Yet few people in the West are aware of Christianity's vibrant past in this region, or of the fact that Christianity has continued to be a significant cultural and religious presence in Iraq right up to the present day. The story of the Churches of Iraq, their interaction with each other and their varied fortunes under successive Parthian, Sassanid, Arab, Mongol and Ottoman rule, is told here with consummate skill. Suha Rassam guides the reader seemingly effortlessly through complex issues of doctrinal dispute and ecclesiastical politics. She helps us explore the ancient heritage of these Churches, and the major contribution they have made to the intellectual development of the region and the wider world. Suha Rassam's book comes to fill a large vacuum in the knowledge of those in the West, many of whom are still not aware of the fact that from ancient times Christianity was firmly rooted in Iraq and the rest of the territory now seen as the 'Arab Middle East'. Archbishop Mikhael Al Jamil, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch to the Holy See and Vicar Apostolic for Europe Dr Suha Rassam has written a work of remarkable scholarship. But is is also a vivid portrayal of an extraordinary story of conflict, persecution and, for fifty years in the twentieth century, of hope, harmony and prosperity for the Christian community in Iraq. It would be a tragedy if that Christian community were now extinguished. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster Gives to the general interested public a comprehensive and informed insight into two thousand years of Christianity in Iraq. Dr Erica Hunter, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University
Download or read book Christianity in Fifteenth Century Iraq written by Thomas A. Carlson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals a religiously diverse pre-industrial society in the Middle East, broadening studies of global Christianity and challenging Islamic history's exceptionalism.
Download or read book Christianity and American State Violence in Iraq written by Christopher A. Morrissey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-09 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world continues to be threatened by non-state, religiously-rationalized violence. While some fail to the see the connections between the United States’ intervention in the Middle East and this ongoing threat, the non-state perpetrators of terror consistently identify American meddling as one of their principle motivating grievances. What are the social and cultural roots of different religious positions on the war in Iraq? Christianity and American State Violence in Iraq returns to a critical moment in U.S. foreign policy, during which American Christians publicly debated war in Iraq. It examines the religious precepts that were used to argue both for and against the United States’ military engagement in Iraq. To capture this behavior, Christopher A. Morrissey delves into the distinct social and cultural origins of both war-supporting and war-challenging positions. His analysis represents an improved understanding of the public role of religion in important foreign policy debates and helps us better understand how religious culture can legitimate or challenge state violence. An original and timely resource on the social sources of religion’s ambivalence towards violence and peace in the US and abroad.
Download or read book CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ THIRD EDI written by Rassam Suha and published by . This book was released on 2016-10-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third edition of this essential guide to the story of the Christians of Iraq from the time of the Apostles to the present day. The Churches of Iraq were to play a major role in the development of Christian theology and spirituality for many centuries, and evangelized China, Central Asia and India. Today a vibrant community faces extinction.
Download or read book Doves in Crimson Fields written by Robert Ewan and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity has been firmly established in Iraq for nearly two thousand years, but from the fourth century to the present day Christians in Iraq have faced periods of terrible persecution. This book brings together their stories, from the witness of martyrs sixteen hundred years ago, across the centuries, to our own time. In the twenty-first century Iraqi Christians have been confronted by relentless terrorist attack, by genocide and exile from their homeland. Alongside accounts of martyrdom and massacre under the Persian and Ottoman Empires and, in the twentieth century, the newly independent Kingdom of Iraq, Robert Ewan records the heart-rending stories of just some of the myriad of contemporary martyrs: Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni and of the massacre at Sayidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad.
Download or read book Abducted in Iraq written by Saad Sirop Hanna and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2017-09-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we respond in the face of evil, especially to those who inflict grave evil upon us? Abducted in Iraq is Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna’s firsthand account of his abduction in 2006 by a militant group associated with al-Qaeda. As a young parish priest and visiting lecturer on philosophy at Babel College near Baghdad, Fr. Hanna was kidnapped after celebrating Mass on August 15 and released on September 11. Hanna’s plight attracted international attention after Pope Benedict XVI requested prayers for the safe return of the young priest. The book charts Hanna’s twenty-eight days in captivity as he struggles through threats, torture, and the unknown to piece together what little information he has in a bid for survival. Throughout this time, he questions what a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq means for the future, as well as the events that lead the country on that path. Through extreme hardship, the young priest gains a greater knowledge both of his faith and of remaining true to himself. This riveting narrative reflects the experience of persecuted Christians all over the world today, especially the plight of Iraqi Christians who continue to live and hold their faith against tremendous odds, and it sheds light on the complex political and spiritual situation that Catholics face in predominantly non-Christian nations. More than just a personal story, Abducted in Iraq is also Hanna’s portrayal of what has happened to the ancient churches of one of the oldest Christian communities and how the West’s reaction and inaction have affected Iraqi Christians. More than just a story of one man, it is also the story of a suffering and persecuted people. As such, this book will be of great interest to those wanting to learn more about the violence in the Middle East and the threats facing Christians there, as well all those seeking to strengthen their own faith.
Download or read book The Vicar of Baghdad written by Canon Andrew White and published by Monarch Books. This book was released on 2011-05-04 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I live with a price on my head ...The kind of people that I spend my time engaging with are not usually very nice. On the whole nice people do not cause wars ." Andrew White is one of a tiny handful of people trusted by virtually every side in the complex Middle East. Political and military solutions are constantly put forward, and constantly fail. Andrew offers a different approach, speaking as a man of faith to men of faith. Compassionate and shrewd, gifted in human relationships, he has been deeply involved in the rebuilding of Iraq. His first-hand connections and profound insights make this a fascinating document.
Download or read book The Christian Heritage of Iraq written by Erica C. D. Hunter and published by Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iraq has been a centre of Syriac Christianity for almost two thousand years. This volume of collected papers from the Christianity in Iraq I-V Seminar Days (2004-2008) explores the Christian heritage of Iraq, highlighting the churches' innate ability to transcend barriers of language, culture, ethnicity and religion.
Download or read book Christianity in Fifteenth Century Iraq written by Thomas A. Carlson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians in fifteenth-century Iraq and al-Jazīra were socially and culturally home in the Middle East, practicing their distinctive religion despite political instability. This insightful book challenges the normative Eurocentrism of scholarship on Christianity and the Islamic exceptionalism of much Middle Eastern history to reveal the often unexpected ways in which inter-religious interactions were peaceful or violent in this region. The multifaceted communal self-concept of the 'Church of the East' (so-called 'Nestorians') reveals cultural integration, with certain distinctive features. The process of patriarchal succession clearly borrowed ideas from surrounding Christian and Muslim groups, while public rituals and communal history reveal specifically Christian responses to concerns shared with Muslim neighbors. Drawing on sources from various languages, including Arabic, Armenian, Persian, and Syriac, this book opens new possibilities for understanding the rich, diverse, and fascinating society and culture that existed in Iraq during this time.
Download or read book The Chronicle of Seert written by Philip Wood and published by Oxford University Press (UK). This book was released on 2013-08-29 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the cultural and political history of the Church of the East, the main Christian church in Iraq and Iran. Philip Wood uses medieval Arabic sources to examine history-writing by Christians in the fifth to ninth centuries AD.
Download or read book The Vanishing written by Janine di Giovanni and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vanishing reveals the plight and possible extinction of Christian communities across Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine after 2,000 years in their historical homeland. Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity - along the North African Coast, on the Euphrates and across the Middle East and Arabia - are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. Christians are already vanishing. We are past the tipping point, now tilted toward the end of Christianity in its historical homeland. Christians have fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, where the great Doctors and hierarchs of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. From Syria to Egypt, the cities of northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities, the birthplaces of prophets and saints, are losing any living connection to the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, Janine di Giovanni has combined astonishing journalistic work to discover the last traces of small, hardy communities that have become wisely fearful of outsiders and where ancient rituals are quietly preserved amid 360 degree threats. Di Giovanni's riveting personal stories and her conception of faith and hope are intertwined throughout the chapters. The book is a unique act of pre-archeology: the last chance to visit the living religion before all that will be left are the stones of the past.
Download or read book Religion and Nationalism in Iraq written by David Little and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a comparative consideration of attempts to manage and resolve nationalist conflicts in Bosnia, Sri Lanka, and Sudan--with two prominent thinkers examining each case--and examines how lessons from those situations might inform similar efforts in Iraq.
Download or read book The Church in Iraq written by Fernando Filoni and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The persecution of the church in Iraq is one of the great tragedies of the twenty-first century. In this short, yet sweeping account, Cardinal Filoni, the former Papal Nuncio to Iraq, shows us the people and the faith in the land of Abraham and Babylon, a region that has been home to Persians, Parthians, Byzantines, Mongols, Ottomans, and more. This is the compelling and rich history of the Christian communities in a land that was once the frontier between Rome and Persia, for centuries the crossroads of East and West for armies of invaders and merchants, and the cradle of all human civilization. Its unique cultural legacy has, in the past few years, been all but obliterated. The Church in Iraq is both a diligent record and loving testimonial to a community that is struggling desperately to exist. Filoni guides the reader through almost two thousand years of history, telling the story of a people who trace their faith back to the Apostle Thomas. The diversity of peoples and churches is brought deftly into focus through the lens of their interactions with the papacy, but The Church in Iraq does not shy away from discussing the local political, ethnic, and theological tensions that have resulted in centuries of communion and schism. Never losing his focus on the people to whom this book is so clearly dedicated, Cardinal Filoni has produced a personal and engaging history of the relationship between Rome and the Eastern Churches. This book has much to teach its reader about the church in the near East. Perhaps its most brutal lesson is the ease with which such a depth of history and culture can be wiped away in a few short decades.
Download or read book The Disappearing People written by Stephen M. Rasche and published by Bombardier Books. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For 1,400 years, the Christians of the Mideast lived under a system of sustained persecution as a distinct lower class of citizens under their Muslim rulers. Despite this systemic oppression, Christianity maintained a tenuous—even sometimes prosperous—foothold in the land of its birthplace up until the past several decades. Yet today, Christianity stands on the brink of extinction in much of the Mideast. How did this happen? What role did Western foreign policy and international aid policy play? What of the role of Islam and the Christians themselves? How should history judge what happened to Christians of the Mideast and what lessons can be learned? This book examines these questions based on the firsthand accounts of those who are living it.
Download or read book A Christian Pilgrim in Medieval Iraq written by Rita George-Tvrtkovic and published by Brepols Pub. This book was released on 2012 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the events of a decade long encounter between an Italian Dominican, Riccoldo da Montecroce (c. 1243-1320), and the Muslims of Baghdad, as recounted by the friar himself. While many of Riccoldo's views of the Muslims are consonant with those of his medieval confreres, the author examines the much more ambivalent sections of his writings, such as his praise-filled descriptions of Muslim praxis, his obvious love of Qur'anic Arabic, his frequent references to personal encounters with Muslims, and his candid descriptions of the wonder and doubt which these confrontations often elicited. The author argues that the tensions and inconsistencies inherent in Riccoldo's account of Islam should not be viewed as defects. Rather, she contends, their presence illustrates the complex nature of interreligious encounter itself. In addition to a critical discussion, this volume provides--for the first time--English translations of two remarkable Riccoldian texts: The Book of Pilgrimage (Liber peregrinationis) and Letters to the Church Triumphant (Epistolae ad ecclesiam triumphantem).
Download or read book They Say We Are Infidels written by Mindy Belz and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2017-04-18 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now with a new chapter! “Everywhere militants were blowing up Christians, their churches, their shops. They threatened them with kidnapping. They promised to take their children. The message to these ‘infidels’: You have no place in Iraq. Pay a penalty to stay, leave, or be killed.” Sweeping from Syria into Iraq, Islamic State fighters (ISIS) have been brutalizing and annihilating Christians. How? Why? Where did the terrorists come from, and what can be done to stop them? For more than a decade, journalist Mindy Belz has reported on the ground from the Middle East, giving her unparalleled access to the story no one wants to believe. In They Say We Are Infidels, she brings the stark reality of this escalating genocide to light, tracking the stories of real-life Christians who refuse to abandon their faith—even in the face of losing everything, including their lives. As Reading Lolita in Tehran did for Iran and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families did for Rwanda, They Say We Are Infidels shines light into the Middle East through the stories of everyday heroes and heroines who will not be silenced. A must-read for anyone seeking a firmer grasp on the complex dynamics at play in war-torn Iraq and Syria, They Say We Are Infidels is the eye-opening and revelatory testimony of a journalist who heads into a war zone—and is forever changed by the people she encounters there.
Download or read book Forsaken written by Daniel Williams and published by OR Books. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Daniel Williams has given us a vivid portrait of what he rightly calls 'not only a human tragedy but a historic cataclysm.' His compelling blend of historical perspective and on-the-ground reporting in Christian communities across the Middle East gives authority to his practical proposals. This book should be required reading for policymakers in Western capitals.” —Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor, The Washington Post “Veteran Mideast correspondent Dan Williams provides a gripping account of the ongoing persecution and destruction of the Middle East’s ancient Christian communities, while Western leaders continue to look the other way. Forsaken is required reading for anyone who cares about the survival of Christianity in the region of its birth or the fate of Christians forced to flee.” —Trudy Rubin, Worldview columnist, The Philadelphia Inquirer Across the Middle East, Christian communities today find themselves the victims of widening repression: massacres, expulsions, and brutally enforced restrictions on the right to worship have all become commonplace. Such persecution has now reached the point where, in the region that was once its birthplace, Christianity’s very existence is under threat. Radical armed groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) justify their offensive against the “infidels” with reference to new interpretations of jihad, the Islamic tradition of holy war, that have burgeoned in the region since the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq at the beginning of the century. The impact on Christian communities is visible for all to see. In Iraq, the Christian population has withered from well over one million to just 300,000. In Syria, where the word “Christian” was first coined more than two millennia ago, at least half a million Christians, one third of the total, have fled their homes. In Egypt, where the Coptic Church, with its seven million adherents, is as old as the Church of Rome, Christians are emigrating in waves after being squeezed between those who blame them for the 2013 ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood government and a new military dictatorship that is heedless of their civil rights. In this compact, fast-paced survey, Dan Williams pulls together extensive, first-hand reportage, salient historical antecedents, and intelligent political analysis to trace the contours of an unfolding tragedy. The situation of the Christian communities, he notes, has always been a barometer of turbulence in the Middle East. On this reading, storms clouds are today gathering fast.
