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.
