Middle Eastern Christians

En este ensayo se aborda un aspecto específico de los cristianismos de Medio Oriente, a saber, sus cristologías. Me interesa particularmente destacar la importancia del vocabulario filosófico utilizado para definir la naturaleza de Cristo, puesto que fue una de las cuestiones que suscitó buena parte de las polémicas más tempranas en la historia intelectual del cristianismo de Medio Oriente. Aunque estos desencuentros reflejan también la rivalidad entre los patriarcados de Antioquía, Alejandría
y Constantinopla, más que reconstruir la historia política de una lucha
por la primacía en el patriarcado, mi objetivo es esclarecer sus respectivas posturas en torno a la naturaleza de Cristo, con la intención de reafirmar que las sutilezas terminológicas que en un momento dividieron a los primeros cristianos son, como en algunos casos lo ha mostrado la historia, superables, aunque eso no suponga la disolución de ciertas diferencias.

Most reports about the state of Christians in Syria and Iraq centre on their persecution and dwindling numbers. In the rare cases that Christians are granted political agency, they are –simplistically– placed in the pro-Assad camp. Even then, they are relegated to a passive role, abstaining from violence. However, in reality, the Christian communities in Syria and Iraq have assumed a military role, for the first time in the region after decades. In this context, militias fighting on opposite camps, geographical pressures and concerns, competing identities and alliances and even foreign fighters form a complex mosaic of Christian forces that have moved beyond the neutrality threshold.

At the intersection of political science, history and social anthropology, this dissertation asks for the givens and conditions of inter-communal cooperation in the ethnically-plural setting of Lebanon. It explores the social base of the party alliance between the mainly Maronite Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Shi`i Muslim Hizbullah (“Party of God”), which began in 2006, upon their leaders signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). It analyzes the formation of this alliance against the historical background of Maronite-Shi`i relations in the area of modern Lebanon since the late 7th century, portrays its development and effects and reconstructs the social microstructure and the motives of supporters. The core period of investigation extends from May 2005 until May 2018, covering the time of the FPM-Hizbullah alliance (including the preceding phase of consultations) up until the 2018 Lebanese general elections (including their immediate aftermath). As of the 1960s, Shi`i actors gradually created a new Lebanese national narrative that countered the prevailing Maronite centered nationalist discourse. After the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90), this included especially Hizbullah. With the Syrian army present in huge parts of the country, the power relations had, for the first time in modern Lebanon, shifted in favor of the Shi`i community. Now, their counter-hegemonic activism received both Syrian and official Lebanese support. The formerly privileged Maronite community now comprised most opposition and thus experienced the exact opposite scenario. Since the Syrian withdrawal in 2005, however, the self-styled secular Christians of the FPM – notorious for their staunch opposition to Syrian tutelage – and the “pro-Syrian” armed Islamists of Hizbullah formed a previously unthinkable alliance that groups together huge sections of the Lebanese Shi`a and Maronites alongside other Christians. It withstood the storms of the 2006 July War (Israel vs. Hizbullah/ Lebanon) and the spillover effects of the civil war in neighboring Syria (2011–) in which Hizbullah is openly involved since 2013. This requires us to rethink notions, depicting inter-community relations in the region as a pervasive zero-sum game of sectarian make-up. This dissertation argues that the alliance that came about in the wake of the MoU is neither a mere opportunist elite project, as the grassroots have an important share in it, nor can it be explained exclusively in terms of a “minority alliance,” as multiple shared interests, common values and needs of the participating constituencies play an important role. The outcomes it yielded on the inter-communal and inter-personal levels moreover challenge persistent assumptions about the conflict-prone coexistence of religious communities in Lebanon and in the wider Middle East. In fact, the simultaneous belonging of the FPM´s and Hizbullah´s core constituencies to different religions and diverging socio-cultural milieus did neither pose principal obstacles to the parties´ close political cooperation nor to their bases´ progressive social integration. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the findings disclose a sphere of the social in Lebanon which neither sectarianism nor clientelism have ever successfully penetrated. The theoretical framework applied captures this sphere within the “field of inter-community relations,” under recourse to the field theory of Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002).

Originating from Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Assyrians/Syriacs started to migrate to Scandinavia in the late 1960s and are presently the largest Middle Eastern Christian ethnic community in Sweden. Despite generally close relations between parents and children, there are significant differences between generations with regards to education, language competences, religious practices, traditions, but also opinions on gender equality as well as attitudes towards other communities. The aim of this paper is to analyse some of these differences. The paper is based on findings from fieldwork (40 semi-structured interviews) conducted in Stockholm and Södertälje, Sweden, during 2014. The paper is part of the “Defining and Identifying Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe” project.

This article focuses on the relationship between religion (Christianity or Islam) and the level of adaptation by immigrants from Arabic countries (mainly from Egypt and Syria) in Poland. The main problems for religious immigrants from the Arabic region are identified in interviews. For Muslims, the most frustrating issue has been the association of Islam with terrorism. For Christians it is the painful lack of solidarity between Polish and Middle Eastern Christians as well as the low level of religious zeal among Poles. When religion is applied as the main criterion, it comes to light that the Arabic immigrants who felt best in Poland were, in fact, those not so attached to their faith.

In Syria, interfaith dialogue constitutes a public practice that speaks to ethical, social and political imaginaries. As an official practice, it helps to provide the regime with religious legitimacy, though unofficially it often functions as a euphemism for missionary efforts. On a more abstract level, a careful analysis of Syrian interfaith dialogue reveals that different ethical traditions inform the participants' vision of "good." The Muslim sheikhs in this case-study follow an Aristotelian model of ethics that presupposes pious individuals for the creation and preservation of a moral society. Accordingly, they aim at fostering inter-communal harmony by teaching people how to perform virtues, rather than teaching them about other religions. Conversely, the Christian priests share a model that combines post-Enlightenment rationalism with "Christian love," and thus they strive to advance tolerance by encouraging unconditional affection, intellectual and experiential awareness of others. Together, these discrepancies facilitate miscommunication among the participants of dialogue.

Les chrétiens ont historiquement été des vecteurs de modernité au Moyen-Orient et des dynamiques qui en découlent en termes de liens avec « l’Occident », d’apports culturels novateurs, de circulation des idées et de mobilité transnationale. Partant, on aurait pu s’attendre à ce que la mondialisation et ses corollaires leur soient favorables. C’est pourtant un sentiment de malaise, voire d’abandon, qui prévaut au sein de leurs communautés, qui se réduisent comme peau de chagrin dans leurs terres ancestrales, de plus en plus de leurs membres se résolvant à l’exil pour fuir conflits, autoritarismes, montée des islamismes, occupations, persécutions ou marasme économique. Dès lors, il s’agira d’appréhender les incidences de certains liens affinitaires noués entre chrétiens orientaux, puissances étrangères et réseaux religieux transnationaux, mais aussi les implications des systèmes d’alliances qui se font à leur détriment dans l’espace mondial et de la déterritorialisation des idées et des sentiments, sur lesquels ils n’ont pas toujours de prise immédiate.

This article refers to St. Catherine’s Monastery, an important repository of ancient Biblical manuscripts, mostly in New Testament Greek, and some in Aramaic and Arabic. The following account relates the story of the discovery of an Arabic-language manuscript dating from the 9th century A.D. By that time, the Christians of the Levant must have stopped using Aramaic, having adopted Arabic as the language of communication. Written Arabic used to be known as Classical Arabic; nowadays the accepted nomenclature is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

This article presents a case study of a Swedish-based NGO, Assyrians Without Borders (AWB), whose priority objective is to help Middle Eastern Christians, mainly Assyrians/Syriacs, in need in their homeland. The paper argues that Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden have developed three forms of citizenship – religious, political and democratic. All three forms are transnational and have the potential to challenge the idea of national citizenship as being the dominant model of citizenship. Participating in AWB is understood as practising democratic citizenship, a concept seen as the Swedish ideal of model citizenship. The paper claims that AWB empowers its members and helps them to construct a mutually reinforcing dual Assyrian-Swedish identity.

Since the Arab uprisings began in 2010, some communities have experienced increased levels of violence or insecurity on the basis of their ethnic, religious, or linguistic identity. This article examines how such communities have mobilized and developed their media strategies in order to protect themselves and adapt to their changing circumstances. Through investigating the cases of Coptic Christians in Egypt and Ezidis in Iraq, this article demonstrates that both of these communities have begun to connect their community interests with international political concerns and narratives through engaging with global media. Recent scholarship on indigenous media shows globalizing trends in media production and consumption have led indigenous media to increasingly tap into both national and global media to support their advocacy. In my case studies, the move to engage global media has particularly flourished since 2014 but the emphasis is on direct engagement with international political discourses through global media. Most notable is the mobilization of a campaign to recognize violence against Christians and Ezidis in the Middle East as genocide. The aims in engaging the international level differ between the Coptic and Ezidi cases. For Copts, there is a balance between raising the profile of violence against Copts in global media while employing narratives that support Egyptian state policies and strengthen pre-existing Coptic discourses of national belonging. Ezidi diaspora activists seek international protection and potentially an autonomous area in Iraq. This article argues that the differences in the terms and aims of global media engagement stem partly from the way the community perceives its status within the home nation, particularly with regards the notion of being a minority, as well as experiences of national belonging.

Online: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=1028

This article presents a case study of a Swedish-based NGO, Assyrians Without Borders (AWB), whose priority objective is to help Middle Eastern Christians, mainly Assyrians/Syriacs, in need in their homeland. The paper argues that Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden have developed three forms of citizenship-religious, political and democratic. All three forms are transnational and have the potential to challenge the idea of national citizenship as being the dominant model of citizenship. Participating in AWB is understood as practising democratic citizenship, a concept seen as the Swedish ideal of model citizenship. The paper claims that AWB empowers its members and helps them to construct a mutually reinforcing dual Assyrian-Swedish identity.

Literature on the modern history of Coptic Christians often suggests that
Christians have undertaken a process of retreat or withdrawal from public
life in Egypt. It points to the reduction of political space and media in the
1950s/1960s under president Gamal Abdul Nasser and the subsequent
Islamisation of public spaces since the 1970s under president Anwar
al-Sadat. This article examines some of the practices of retreat employed
by Christians in Egypt and the impact this has on collective identity and
perceptions of belonging to the nation in order to determine if spatial
practices of retreat are isolating or, in fact, empowering vis-a-vis inclusion
in the public space and articulations of Egyptian Christian identities. It
concludes that spatial retreat should not be understood as a withdrawal
from the imaginary of Egypt or from Egyptian territory. In fact, spatial
retreats often proclaim and affirm a Christian presence. These spaces
support lived experiences of Egyptian Christian identity. By doing so, they
contribute to empowering engagement with Egyptian national identity
and heritage

Once there, we soon saw that our days in Latakia would be limited. The mission school where Bassam was asked to teach, would soon be nationalized. Syria was about to close its doors to any kind of mission work. The country was in ferment and there were constant “coups” which usually closed the schools. As we walked to school, where I
tried my hand at teaching as well, the sight of soldiers at the street corners early in the morning would be a signal that we would soon be sent home again. No school that day.

The course will introduce its students to the ways in which Jews and Christians interacted in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia, and the Indian Ocean in the period between 600-1800 CE. This is the topic of a research project aiming at establishing a new area of study – relations between Jews and Eastern Christian communities from the rise of Islam to the end of the eighteenth century. The study of inter-religious dynamics is anchored in the framework of pre-modern cultural history concerning a vast geographical area that encompasses seemingly disparate lands from Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, through West Asia and the Caucasus, to South India, all connected through trade and travel. The course has two aims: 1) to introduce the interested researchers/students into the required skills and methods (linguistic, philological, archaeological, ethnographic, and historiographic) that are needed for the exploration of this new field; 2) to disseminate the results of the JewsEast research project It is open to researchers, doctoral and MA-level students of religion, history and culture who would benefit from a deeper understanding and the reconceptualization of inter-religious relations, especially between Jews and Christians, in these zones and from presenting their own research for feedback within such a context. Participating students will be invited to deconstruct various stereotypes, including the " civilizational model " and that of a " clash of civilizations ". Instead, it proposes to see the history of Jewish-Christian relations in " entangled " cross-cultural, trans-regional contexts and to avoid ethnocentric or nationalist biases. It will teach how complex identities and interreligious communities were formed just prior to the rise of Islam through the eighteenth century and, toward the end of the course, briefly consider how these perspectives should affect our examination of these issues in the present.