Amid so much twenty-first-century talk of a "Christian-Muslim divide"--and the attendant controversy in some Western countries over policies toward minority Muslim communities--a historical fact has gone unnoticed: for more than four hundred years beginning in the mid-seventh century; some 50 percent of the world's Christians lived and worshipped under Muslim rule. Just who were the Christians in the Arabic-speaking milieu of Mohammed and the Qur'an? The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque is the first book-length discussion in English of the cultural and intellectual life of such Christians indigenous to the Islamic world. Sidney Griffith offers an engaging overview of their initial reactions to the religious challenges they faced; the development of a new mode of presenting Christian doctrine as liturgical texts in their own languages gave way to Arabic; the Christian role in the philosophical life of early Baghdad; and the maturing of distinctive Oriental Christian denominations in this context. Offering a fuller understanding of the rise of Islam in its early years from the perspective of contemporary non-Muslims; this book reminds us that there is much to learn from the works of people who seriously engaged Muslims in their own world so long ago.
#707986 in Books 2007-04-29Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.62 x .90 x 5.82l; .92 #File Name: 0691130833256 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The machinery of terrorBy R ParreiraAn impressive book. A real story of death; suffering and violence. What impresses me the most is how an ideology that was built on the foundations of solidarity; equality and justice gave rise to probably the most monstrous regime ever built in the history of mankind. This book allows the reader to see its mechanisms; it's intricacies. The repressive machine; built up with bureaucratic precision; with quotas; objectives and teams desperate to reach their targets rounding up people to be sent to death camps with no particular reason. Authorities desperate with the influx of prisoners that could not be accommodated or supported trying to get rid of them as soon as possible. And the prisoners themselves trying to make sense of what was going on and using all tier powers to survive. A complete political nightmare that is precisely described with clinical objectivity. Very sad.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. pretty good bookBy eugene f dunham IIIpretty good book. a lot of source notes to go back and fourth. not an easy read. shows you how messed up Stalin and the USSR were in the 1930s. they really did not care for their own people.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Judy WalkerVery interesting book in understanding Russian history
