An interesting look at an aspect of Middle Eastern history that is not discussed much - the history and state of Christianity in the Middle East. The book is loosely structured as a travelogue built around an account of a journey by two monks it the 6th century. Dalrymple sets out to follow their root and compare the churches, monasteries and Christian communities John Moschos and his companion visited 1400 years ago.
Dalrymple's travels and comments bring up a number of interesting points or threads.
1) You get a strong sense of Christianity as essentially a middle eastern religion with historically a very strong presence in the region. This is something ignored by European and American christian churches, as if they wanted to forget its essentially Arabic origins. This also explains the indifference of western churches to the plight of Christian communities in Israel and Egypt (amongst other countries) where governments are working to eliminate Christianity from the country and its history. You can include Turkey in this mix, but there the process of elimination is almost complete (and is strongly tied to ethnic issues also). This indifference also I think points to the narrowness of the various Christian sects and their lack of acceptance of other branches of the faith; perhaps also to the strong historical link between nation states and organized religion.
2) The strong link between Islam and Christianity - there are early orthodox sects that pray in the same way Muslims do, except they also cross themselves while genuflecting.
3) Links between early church liturgy and Arabic/middle eastern culture. The music of some of the Syrian orthodox sects sounds so much like Arabic vocal music - there's lots on Youtube.
4) The fact that Syria has historically been a haven for middle-eastern Christians pushed out of other countries. Unfortunately, due to their strong ties to the Assad family, with the Syrian revolution this may no longer be the case -we could be looking basically the end of Christian communities in the middle east. Especially when you add in the current situation with the Copts in Egypt.
5) Just the simple fact that large parts of the middle east were essentially Christian at one point in time.
6) His travels and encounters in Israel and Jerusalem dovetail perfectly with Ilan Pappé's account of Israel's policies and actions in relation to Palestinians regardless of whether Christian or Muslim. (You can also add Armenians to the list when considering Jerusalem.) Dalrymple in fact reaches many of the same conclusions about the nature of Zionism.
7) The Jews only controlled the area of Israel for about 600 years, which certainly doesn't grant much of a title to the land. (this fact to be verified)
8) Archaeologically, the Muslim take over of Byzantine middle eastern lands does not seem to have created much of an archaeological, cultural or economic break in the historical record. Any cultural and population shifts were very gradual - this was no barbarian horde wreaking havoc as they moved through.
9) The strong relation between Syrian monks/monasteries and the church in England - one of the first Archbishops in Canterbury was Syrian. There also seems to be a link between the illustrated manuscripts produced in Syrian monasteries and the early illumination work of Irish monks (now that's travelling...)
10) There are some interesting bits about Urfa and Diyarbakır which would be worth noting if travelling in that area again.
11) Lots of travel information for Syria, but I'm not sure at this point how much of it will remain after the current conflict is over.
Includes a decent bibliography
TO FIND:
John Moschos, The Spiritual Meadow
A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
The Slaughterhouse Province, Leslie A. Davis (turkey?)
The Cradle of Mankind: Life in Eastern Kurdistan, W. A. Wigram (1914)
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