Religious origins of nations? : the Christian communities of the Middle East / / edited by Bas ter Haar Romeny.

• TeilnehmendeR: Haar Romeny, R. B. ter.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Brill ebook titles
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (384 p.)
• Notes: Proceedings of a symposium held at the castle Oud Poelgeest near Leiden, Netherlands, 2007.

Though nations are nowadays seen as the product of modernity, comparable processes of community building were taking place even earlier. Thus the history of the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syrian Christians shows that close-knit ethnic groups already existed in Late Antiquity and early medieval times. These communities have endured to the present day. However, there is much debate as to how they came into existence and defined themselves. The role of religion is central to this debate. A major interdisciplinary research project conducted at Leiden University investigated the identity formation of the Syriac Orthodox. It is argued that they started as a religious association. This volume presents the results of the Leiden team together with reactions from a number of other specialists. The cases of the East Syrians, Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians, and Byzantine Orthodox are discussed in five additional contributions. Contributors include: Naures Atto, Annemarie Weyl Carr, Muriel Debié, Jan van Ginkel, Wim Hofstee, Mat Immerzeel, Steven Kaplan, Theo van Lint, Glenn Peers, Richard Price, Gerrit Reinink, Bas ter Haar Romeny, Uriel Simonsohn, Bas Snelders, David Taylor, Herman Teule, Jacques van der Vliet, and Dorothea Weltecke.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / B. Ter Haar Romeny -- The Formation Of A Communal Identity Among West Syrian Christians: Results And Conclusions Of The Leiden Project / Bas ter Haar Romeny , Naures Atto , Jan J. Van Ginkel , Mat Immerzeel and Bas Snelders -- Family Matters: Community, Ethnicity, And Multiculturalism / Willem Hofstee -- The Psalm Commentary Of Daniel Of Salah And The Formation Of Sixth-Century Syrian Orthodox Identity / David G.K. Taylor -- Syriac Historiography And Identity Formation / Muriel Debié -- Michael The Syrian And Syriac Orthodox Identity / Dorothea Weltecke -- Iconography And Identity: Syrian Elements In The Art Of Crusader Cyprus / Annemarie Weyl Carr -- Art And Identity In An Amulet Roll From Fourteenth-Century Trebizond / Glenn Peers -- Reflections On Identity. The Suryoye Of The Twelfth And Thirteenth Centuries: Bar Salibi, Bar Shakko, And Barhebraeus / Herman Teule -- Seeking Justice Among The ‘Outsiders’: Christian Recourse To Non-Ecclesiastical Judicial Systems Under Early Islam / Uriel Simonsohn -- Tradition And The Formation Of The ‘Nestorian’ Identity In Sixth- To Seventh-Century Iraq / Gerrit J. Reinink -- The Formation Of Armenian Identity In The First Millenium / Theo Maarten Van Lint -- The Copts: ‘Modern Sons Of The Pharaohs’? / Jacques Van Der Vliet -- Dominance And Diversity: Kingship, Ethnicity, And Christianity In Orthodox Ethiopia / Steven Kaplan -- The Development Of A Chalcedonian Identity In Byzantium (451–553) / Richard Price -- Epilogue: Religious Origins Of Nations? / Bas ter Haar Romeny -- General Index / B. Ter Haar Romeny -- Index Of Modern Authors / B. Ter Haar Romeny.