Drawing on little-used sources in Syriac, once the lingua franca of the Middle East, Philip Wood examines how, at the close of the Roman Empire, Christianity carried with it new foundation myths for the peoples of the Near East that transformed their self-identity and their relationships with their rulers. This cultural independence was followed by a more radical political philosophy that dared to criticize the emperor and laid the seeds for the blending of religious and ethnic identity that we see in the Middle East today.
Reviews
Philip Woods's book is a remarkable debut... a well-structured and convincingly argued work * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Things are often more complicated than they may seem, and this is certainly also true for the phenomenon Wood has been studying in such a brilliant way. * Joseph Verheyden, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199588497
Author Philip Wood
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 542g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 149mm * 21mm