CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
April 19, 2009
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
PLEASE PRAY FOR:
God’s will for our congregation The spread of the good news
Various friends, relatives, and co-workers Our nation, military, and leaders
THE LOST HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY
“In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world” (Colossians 1:6).
We are familiar with Christianity in the West considering that we are heirs of some two thousand years of church history. Paul and his teams headed west into Greece and Italy and from there others took the good news of Jesus into northern Europe and Britain. The book of Acts tells some of this story beginning with mission trips in Asia Minor and Paul’s desire to go to Spain. John’s writings are addressed to churches in Asia Minor. The growth of Christianity, the Roman persecutions, and the development of a hierarchy in the West are all a part of our understanding. Even the Protestant Reformation and various restoration movements that we know of come in various western countries including England and America.
Not all the apostles went west. The history of Christianity in the East is almost unknown to us though there is material available. The closest we come to are found in what is called the Eastern and Russian Orthodox churches. Few of us have heard of the Syrian churches. Assyrian Christians have become a little familiar to us because of the war in Iraq. How far, if at all, did Christianity spread in the East? Philip Jenkins answers that question in his book which is also the title of this article (1). I would recommend reading this book to see another aspect to church history.
While we do not know which apostles went East, though traditional church history names some and where they went, they did indeed established churches in the East. Not only did they establish churches, they developed hierarchies, monasteries, and centers of learning in places like Syria, modern day Iraq and Iran, and the gospel spread into the Black Sea region, India, the Arabian Peninsula, and along the silk road to China. Jenkins states that three different efforts to establish Christianity in China occurred before the 1800s. All faded due to a nationalistic spirit, a return to old ways, and/or a fear of Western thought. There were missionaries in Japan as well; and again, an intense persecution forced it underground where it was discovered by missionaries after 1854 and U.S. gunboat diplomacy.
In Africa, churches in Egypt (the Coptics) and Ethiopia have survived into the 21st Century. I read one book on restoration movements in which missionaries from churches of Christ went to Ethiopia only to find similar churches that had been there for centuries. These churches have survived invasions from Muslims, even though the Coptic church is a minority in Egypt. In Ethiopia the churches moved into the mountains when the capitol of the country did the same. It appears that geography played a role in the survival or death of churches in various areas according to Jenkins. There were churches in North Africa in areas like Tunisia and Algeria. Interestingly according to Jenkins, those churches were more European, did not spread out into the countryside, and therefore did not have roots to survive. The Muslim tide destroyed them and little remains.
While we often think that these centers of Christianity died due to invasion, especially from Islam, this is only partly true. Other factors also played a role. Because of the hierarchy nature of these churches, when the centers were destroyed, the rural areas survived for sometime but eventually were either destroyed or converted. Some conversions were for matters of convince; to survive publicly but privately they maintained their beliefs. This worked both ways depending on who was in power at the time. Persecution was often fierce and violent. The Turks in particular were extreme. We are familiar with the destruction of the Armenians during and after World War I, with estimates of 1.5 million dying.
Another factor in the destruction of the church in the Middle East was that churches were often leveled or were turned into Mosques. One could find Christian architecture in a Muslim mosque and visa versa. Sadly, much of the writing that was stored in monasteries were often destroyed either in the original attacks or in the use of fires for cooking and keeping warm. Much history has been lost because of this. One only has to think of the Buddha statues that were destroyed by the Taliban a few years ago in Afghanistan.
Several other interesting facts came to light in Jenkins work. We find that the Mongols had Christians among the higher ranks due to the missionary efforts in and around their country. While this was the case, it did not appear to temper the violence of the Mongols though churches often survived their attacks. When they became Muslim however, that change. They saw these orthodox churches as threats because they were connected with the West.
In one fascinating section of the book, Jenkins mentions an author who thinks that Mohammed and his followers had mistranslated some Syrian texts, either from Gnostics or in commentary form, leading to the Koran. While the view is controversial, it is not the first time I have heard this. The Jews were also prominent in Muslim areas early on, though eventually they became enemies. He seems to think that Christianity had an influence on Islam, even though it might have been from corrupted texts.
While preparing this article, I came across a review of a book that deals with not just the parables of Jesus but how they were read by Syrian and Assyrian scholars (2). Ken Bailey spent sixty years in the Middle East. He knows the languages and the culture as well as the scholarship that comes from the first century to the tenth. As Burge states, “Bailey was able to bring into the discussion Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic sources (both Jewish and Christian) that few commentators could read” (3). Bailey is leading the way into a whole new area of study using Middle Eastern sources that read the Bible through their eyes rather than Western eyes. This will become an exciting area of study (4).
Philip Jenkins has done us a service in opening up this area of study though we might not agree with everything he comments on. Others, such as Burge and Bailey, are examining the religious texts and commentaries from the Middle East. I recommend Jenkins book as well as the material from Burge and Bailey.
George B. Mearns
(1) Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity, subtitled The Thousand Year Golden Age of the church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died, Harper One, 2008.
(2) The review is by Gary M. Burge, “The View from the Mastaba” at www.christianitytoday.com and the book reviewed is by Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Easter Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, IVP, 2008.
(3) ibid.
(4) N.T. Wright has read approvingly of Bailey’s work. Jim McGuiggan first introduced me to Bailey in a sermon from the Tulsa Workshop c. 2002.