Author: Heleen Murre-van den Berg

These days I was catching up on writing reviews. One book in particular stood out. If there was such a thing as the Middle Eastern minorities book of the year 2017, this would definitely be it. Heather Sharkey (University of Pennsylvania) succeeded in adding an indispensable volume to the many books that have been written… Continue reading #26 Heather Sharkey: A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East →

One of the most striking aspects of Georgia today is the omnipresence of the Georgian Orthodox Church and orthodox religious practice, a fully fledged revival characteristic of the post-Soviet period. New churches are being built in every place that is considered meaningful (mostly obviously so where religion and (identity)politics intersect) while old ones are being… Continue reading #25 Georgia’s lived (and often political) religion →

Not long ago I was the guest of Hagop and Nanor Akbasharian, a young Protestant pastor and his wife in the Lebanese town of Anjar. In addition to serving the local Armenian Evangelical community, they also are in charge of a day school with classes starting from kindergarten up to secondary school and a boarding… Continue reading #24 A Postscript from Anjar to Werfel’s Musa Dagh →

Introduction[i] In March 1930, the poet and novelist Franz Werfel made a long trip to the Middle East. It was the second visit time he and his wife Alma Mahler visited the region. This time the trip included stays at Alexandria, Cairo and Jerusalem. In Damascus they were invited to a tour  a carpet factory… Continue reading #23 Franz Werfel’s Musa Dagh (1933) and the Christians of the Middle East →

Recently I wrote a review of a recent study of Arab Christianity: Constantin A. Panchenko, Arab Orthodox Christians under the Ottomans: 1516-1831 (Jordanville NY: Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2016). The full review will be published later this year in our Journal of Eastern Christian Studies (2018, 1-4). For everyone who is interested in the history… Continue reading #22 Arab Orthodox Christians →

Earlier this year the English translation of Sinan Antoon’s Ya Maryam (‘Ave Maria’) was published. The brief novel first came out in Arabic in 2012, the year when it was also shortlisted for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Maia Tabet’s translation under the equally fitting title The Baghad Eucharist is a harrowing read… Continue reading #21 Sinan Antoon, The Baghdad Eucharist →

The presence of Christianity in Iran goes back to the early periods of Christian history, although scholars do not know when exactly it first arrived. What we do know, is that Christianity was present in northern Mesopotamia (today’s North-Iraq, which belonged to the Sassanid Empire) in the (late) second and early third century, and that… Continue reading #20 A brief history of Christianity in Iran →

Unknown to most visitors to Iran, unknown also to many Iranians, the country harbors a rich heritage of Christian sites. Except for a few notable exceptions, these churches and graveyards so far have attracted relatively little attention and most are not included in the standard tourist trajectories. Assyrian and Armenian churches throughout the country witness… Continue reading #19 Iran’s mostly forgotten Christian heritage →

One of the major challenges of Syriac and other Middle Eastern Christian communities is how to keep their younger members actively involved with the church. Secularizing tendencies, intermarriage with non-Syriacs and even political activism within the Syriac/Assyrian/Aramean community may keep young people away from commitment to the local and transnational church. At a more fundamental… Continue reading #18 Suryoyo Youth Global Gathering, July 2016 →

S.R. Goldstein-Sabbah, H.L. Murre-van den Berg, Modernity, Minority, and the Public Sphere: Jews and Christians in the Middle East (Leiden Studies in Islam and Society 4; Leiden: Brill, 2016) Book DOI: 10.1163/9789004323285 A brief notice to draw attention to the happy occasion of the publication of the first book coming out of our Arabic and… Continue reading #17 Modernity, Minority, and the Public Sphere: Jews and Christians in the Middle East →