Communal Identity and Self-Portrayal in the Worlds of Eastern Christianity, 300-1500

ISBN-13: 9780754668916 / Angielski

Barbara Roggema;Professor Robert Hoyland;Dr. Arietta Papaconstantinou

Opis

The Christian communities of the Middle East distinguish themselves through their unique languages, their ethnic identities and their doctrinal stances. Whereas the history of doctrinal disputes has been a topic of old in Western scholarship, it is only in more recent times that scholars have begun to investigate how the Christian communities of the Nile-to-Oxus region perceived themselves and how they asserted their distinct identities vis-a-vis their neighbours and maintained a sense of communal integrity in response to cultural change and foreign domination. This volume brings together a number of key studies, many specially translated into English for this volume, which deal with this question of Eastern Christian self-definition. In the introduction Barbara Roggema reviews a number of themes which serve as tools to dissect aspects of Christian identity in the Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian and Georgian communities: labeling of the self and others, the invention of historical and Biblical roots, linguistic pride, the role of doctrine in community formation, and the assertion of superiority vis-a-vis other religions, especially Islam. Included in the volume is an extensive bibliography on the topic of Eastern Christian self-understanding.