The dazzling array of languages and religions in the Middle East, from Late Antiquity to the present, has long made the region a source of fascination. But the specific features of pluralism in the Middle East have also made writing its history a difficult enterprise, as scholarly specialisation has often meant that this or that religious group becomes invisible. The challenges of the Middle East's particular pluralism, however, also represent an opportunity for creative reflection and innovation in historical research. This volume takes as its starting-point the fact that, for much of the past 1,500 years, the population of the Middle East has been significantly Christian. It offers a series of case studies by leading scholars that offer different answers to the question of what histories of the region might look like if this demographic situation were taken seriously. Critiquing dominant narratives that conflate the history of the Middle East and the history of Islam, they show how integrating Christian actors, experiences and sources can enrich our understanding of the region.
Edited by:
John-Paul Ghobrial (Professor of Modern and Global History University of Oxford),
Michael A Reynolds (Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director of Princeton’s Program in Russian,
East European and Eurasian Studies,
Princeton University),
Christian C Sahner (Associate Professor of Islamic History,
University of Oxford),
Jack Tannous (Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies,
Princeton University)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399524834
ISBN 10: 1399524836
Series: Edinburgh Studies in Middle Eastern Christianity
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 31 May 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Preface 1. Between Strangers and Friends: Studying the History of the Christian Communities of the Middle East Jack Tannous 2. The Straight Paths of Christian Law: Reframing the Intellectual History of the Early Caliphate Lev Weitz 3. A Christian Magnate in Islamic History: Isḥāq ibn Nuṣayr al-ʿIbādī, Arabic Stylist and Patron of the Abbasid Age Luke Yarbrough and Iyas Nasser 4. The Queen of Akhlāṭ: Arab, Armenian, and Kurdish Coproduction of Stories about the Islamic Conquests Alison Vacca 5. Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians in Intersection: Monastic Multiculturalism and Migration, Discourses of Race, and the Problem of Premodern “Africa” and the “Middle East” Stephen J. Davis 6. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Middle Eastern Christians and the So-Called “Counter Crusade” in Edessa, 1144 CE Thomas A. Carlson 7. Between Byzantium and the Mamluks: Orthodox Christians in Egypt and Syria during the 14th Century Johannes Pahlitzsch 8. Why did the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Behave Like a Muslim Noble? The İstanbul Rum Patriği as Âyân Tom Papademetriou 9. Christian Mountains in the Ottoman Empire Molly Greene 10. New Literacy and Global Culture among the Christians of Syria (17th-18th Centuries) Bernard Heyberger 11. Protestant Bibles, Middle Eastern Print Cultures, and the Making of World Christianity Heather J. Sharkey
John-Paul Ghobrial is Professor of Modern and Global History at the University of Oxford and the Lucas Fellow and Tutor in History at Balliol College. He was the Principal Investigator for two ERC-funded projects that explored religious identity in the Ottoman Empire: Stories of Survival: Recovering the Connected Histories of Eastern Christianity in the Early Modern World (2015-2020) and Moving Stories: Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East (2021-2026), both based at Oxford. Michael A. Reynolds is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Co-Director of the Program in History and the Practice of Diplomacy at Princeton University. He is the author of Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires, 1908-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and a biography of Enver Pasha forthcoming with Princeton University Press. Christian C. Sahner is Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Oxford and Margoliouth Fellow in Arabic at New College. His books include Christian Martyrs under Islam (Princeton University Press, 2018) and The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam (Liverpool University Press, 2023). Jack Tannous is Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. He is interested in the history of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic speaking Christians in the Middle East. He is the author of The Making of the Medieval Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2018).
Reviews for Christians in Middle Eastern History: Strangers No More
The many historical roles played by Middle Eastern Christians are significant in themselves, but they also illuminate key themes in the wider history of the region. This volume contains papers that focus sharply on both these aspects. -- Michael Cook, Princeton University
