Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A brief survey of events and movements from the first century to the present day provides the background for understanding the complexity of questions relating to the presence of Christians in the Middle East at the present time. Some of these issues affect all Christians, while others are specific to particular countries in the region. Given the steep decline in the numbers of Christians for a variety of reasons over the centuries, is it possible to have any optimism about their future in the region?

Keywords

christianity Middle East politics religion

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

al-Anani

(2011) The New Islamist Scene in Egypt. Available at : http://Islamists2day-e.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-islamist-scene-in-egypt.html

Andrew

Jansen

(2005) Light Force: the only hope for the Middle East. Open Doors International.

Bell

(1928) The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Macmillan.

Benton Betts

(1978) Christians in the Arab East: A Political Study. Athens: Lycabettus Press.

Chapman

(1998a) Islam and the West: Conflict, co-existence or conversion? Carlisle: Paternoster.

Chapman

(1998b) Living Through the 900th Anniversary of the First Crusade: To Apologise or not to Apologise? Faith to Faith Newsletter 1, pp. 1–2.

Chapman

(2005) “Islamic Terrorism”: Is There A Christian Response? Cambridge: Grove Books.

Chapman

(2007a) Cross and Crescent: Responding to the Challenges of Islam. Nottingham: IVP.

Chapman

(2007b) Islam, Islamism and “Islamic Terrorism”. Cambridge Papers 16(2) Available at: www.jubilee-centre.org/cambridge_papers

10.

Chapman

(2009) An Evangelical Christian Reflection on the Key Text of A Common Word. Paper delivered at the Evangelical Christian – Muslim Dialogue meeting, Fuller Seminary, May. Available at: www.bridgesoffaith/archives

11.

Chapman

(2010) Islam in Christianity and Christianity in Islam: Bridges of Faith Between Islam and Christianity. Paper delivered at Toronto meeting, May.

12.

Chomsky

(2003) Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance. Hamish Hamilton.

13.

Esposito

(2002) Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. Oxford, New York: OUP.

14.

Fisk

(2005) The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. London: Fourth Estate.

15.

Gaudeul

J-M

(2000a) Encounters and Clashes: Islam and Christianity in History, 1: A Survey. Rome: Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamistica.

16.

Gaudeul

J-M

(2000b) Encounters and Clashes: Islam and Christianity in History, 2: Texts. Rome: Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamistica.

17.

Goddard

(2000) A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

18.

Guillaume

(1996) The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. Karachi: OUP.

19.

Hirst (2010) Beware of Small states: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East. London: Faber.

20.

Jenkins

(2008) The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Oxford: Lion.

21.

Jenkins

(2011) The Death Warrant of Ancient Christianity. Available at: www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2011/04/11/death_warrant_of_ancient_christianity_106234.html.

22.

Kennedy

(2007) The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

23.

Khalidi

(2009) Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East. Boston: Beacon.

24.

Khouri

(2011) The Arab Freedom Epic. The Daily Star (Beirut), 2 February.

25.

Kinzer

(2003) All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley.

26.

Kirkpatrick

(2011) After Long Exile, Sunni Cleric Takes Role in Egypt. New York Times, 18 February. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/world/middleeast/19egypt.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

27.

Kirk

(2011) Civilizations in Conflict? Islam, the West and the Christian Faith. Oxford: Regnum.

28.

Miller

(2009) Reappropriation: An Accommodationist Hermeneutic of Islamic Christianity. St Francis Magazine 5(3), 3–36.

29.

Miller

(2010) Woven in the Weakness of the Changing Body: the Genesis of World Islamic Christianity. Presented at the Coming to Faith in Christ 2 consultation, Buckinghamshire, England, February. Available at: www.scribd.com/doc/48641012/Duane-a-Miller-Genesis-of-World-Islamic-Christianity.

30.

Riddell

Cotterel

(2003) Islam in Conflict: Past, Present and Future. Nottingham: IVP.

31.

Rogan

(2009) The Arabs: A History. London: Allen Lane (Penguin).

32.

Sabra

(2006) Two Ways of Being A Christian in the Muslim Context of the Middle East. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 17(1), 43–53.

33.

Shlaim

(1995) War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History. Location: Penguin.

34.

Sizer

(2000) Dispensational Approaches to the Land. In: Johnston

Walker

(eds.) The Land of Promise: biblical, theological and contemporary perspectives. Notthingham: IVP, 142–17.

35.

Sizer

(2004) Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? Notthingham: IVP.

36.

Sizer

(2007) Zion’s Christian Soldiers: the Bible, Israel and the Church. Notthingham: IVP.

37.

Talbi

(1985) Christian-Muslim Encounter in the Middle East. In: Middle East Perspectives, Middle East Council of Churches, July–August.

Christians in the Middle East – Past,Present and Future

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References