This book is the first account written in English on the history of the Church of the East by one of its own adherents. The basis of the book is a history that was written in Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic) by Shamasha George David Malech (1837-1909).

Syriac Christianity developed in the first centuries CE in the Middle East, where it continued to flourish throughout Late Antiquity and the Medieval period, while also spreading widely, as far as India and China. Today, Syriac Christians are found in the Middle East, in India, as well in diasporas scattered across the globe. Over this extended time period and across this vast geographic expanse, Syriac Christians have built impressive churches and monasteries, crafted fine pieces of art, and written and transmitted a sizable body of literature. Though often overlooked, neglected, and even persecuted, Syriac Christianity has been – and continues to be – an important part of the humanistic heritage of the last two millennia. The present volume brings together fourteen studies that offer fresh perspectives on Syriac Christianity, especially its literary texts and authors. The timeframes of the individual studies span from the second-century Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible up to the thirteenth century with the end of the Syriac Renaissance. Several studies analyze key authors from Late Antiquity, such as Aphrahat, Ephrem, Narsai, and Jacob of Serugh. Others investigate translations into Syriac, both from Hebrew and from Greek, while still others examine hagiography, especially its formation and transmission. Reflecting a growing trend in the field, the volume also devotes significant attention to the Medieval period, during which Syriac Christians lived under Islamic rule. The studies in the volume are united in their quest to explore the richness, diversity, and vibrance of Syriac Christianity.

This book tells a story of serendipity. Two Christian monks left China about 1274, headed to Jerusalem. Travelling on an itinerary similar to that Marco Polo had taken, they reached Iran, ruled by a Mongol dynasty, the Ilkhans. There, what they never had expected happened: one of them, Mark by name, was elected Patriarch of the Church of the East (with the name Yahballaha), while the other, Rabban Sauma, was sent as ambassador to the pope and the courts of France and England by the Mongol Ilkhan Arghun. From Rabban Sauma's report of his embassy, and the two monk's memories of their journey from China to Mesopotamia, an anonymous author compiled a biography of Sauma and Mark. He interspersed their report and memories with a narrative about "the occurrences of their time - what happened to them, through them or because of them, relating everything just as it happened". The result was a chronicle entitled "History of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma", a rich and lively testimony of a time of unprecedented interconnectedness in the history of Eurasia at the epoch of the Mongol Empire.

Most Americans have little understanding of the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East. They assume that the two are rooted fundamentally in regional history, not in the history of contact with the broader world. However, as Adam H. Becker shows in this book, Americans—through their missionaries—had a strong hand in the development of a national and modern religious identity among one of the Middle East's most intriguing (and little-known) groups: the modern Assyrians. Detailing the history of the Assyrian Christian minority and the powerful influence American missionaries had on them, he unveils the underlying connection between modern global contact and the retrieval of an ancient identity. American evangelicals arrived in Iran in the 1830s. Becker examines how these missionaries, working with the “Nestorian” Church of the East—an Aramaic-speaking Christian community in the borderlands between Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire—catalyzed, over the span of sixty years, a new national identity. Instructed at missionary schools in both Protestant piety and Western science, this indigenous group eventually used its newfound scriptural and archaeological knowledge to link itself to the history of the ancient Assyrians, which in time led to demands for national autonomy. Exploring the unintended results of this American attempt to reform the Orient, Becker paints a larger picture of religion, nationalism, and ethnic identity in the modern era.

Lucianity, the Perverse Religion of Christians is a book about the hidden history of the New Testament -- where it not only reveals the scripture’s mysterious origin … but also its very unique and clandestine creation. In this book, the reader will learn that Christianity, the religion that people sincerely believe and practice today, is not the religion of Christ. Instead, it is the religion of an overzealous disciple who was able to gain possession of every gospel and almost every epistle, in addition to most of the other manuscripts related to early church affairs, and then after the death of the apostolic authors, edit and rewrite them to reflect his peculiar religious beliefs and philosophy. For instance, he conflated Jesus with God, and called him Lord. That disciple is identified as Lucius, the Bishop of Cyrene, who unfortunately, never understood the spiritual nature of man, the spiritual resurrection of Christ, or the purpose for why God sent Christ on a mission to Earth. As a consequence of ignorance, and the lack of understanding by Lucius, man has unknowingly accepted the false and unorthodox beliefs of Lucianity which have been incorporated into the creeds, gospels, epistles, and a host of other bible-related documents. This newly discovered information was deciphered by a seasoned detective when he deconstructed the 2000 year old biblical scripture line by line, and verse by verse. All Christians, who number in the billions today, will be stunned and perplexed by his findings, especially all the ministers who promote the Bible as the true word of God. Some of it is, and some of it isn’t; nevertheless, this book identifies God’s true word in Isaiah and Daniel, and it even illustrates the exactness and preciseness of His word (plus other prophetic scripture), by the use of numerous exhibits — since the detective believes a picture is worth a 1000 words. Christ flipped over the tables of the money changers signifying the coming end to the desolation that existed in the Jewish Temple. In like manner, the detective has upset an applecart full of false beliefs which will hopefully awaken people to the realization of Lucianity (or modern day desolation), and usher in the resurrection of true Christianity. “Christians” will learn the unvarnished truth about their ascribed beliefs for probably the first time in 2000 years, and more particularly, how they have been bamboozled and conned by a very clever disciple. The Bible is the most sold, and most read, book in the entire world, and yet, not a single person in the world has recognized the fact that at least 75% of the scripture in the New Testament is really the prodigious work of a secretive, behind the scenes, apostolic era Bishop. In his writings, Lucius used ancient manuscripts and even a book by Flavius Josephus to write various gospel chapters -- not the spoken words of Jesus. While looking over the Detective’s shoulder, the reader will see and learn exactly how he identified all the fraud implanted into the pages of the Bible via easy-to-understand scriptural analysis and a variety of exhibits. As such, reading the New Testament is generally a waste of time, unless one has the persistence, capability, and patience to do a thorough, time-consuming, focused, multi-year, forensic exam like the one contained inside the pages of the book “Lucianity.” No similar criminal investigation of the Bible has ever been completed, and no similar book exists. If a person is searching for “just the facts” regarding their Christian faith, then the Detective assures all seekers of truth that they will know more about the Bible, God, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and Christ (i.e. the Anointed One of God) after reading Lucianity than they ever will by reading Biblical scripture. And more importantly, if they truly understand the message of Jesus Christ as revealed within the pages of this book, they should also learn something about themselves … no matter their status, rank, position, race, or sex, their incarnation is not an accident of nature, but a self-chosen, deliberate, purposeful spiritual event. Just like Christ, every man, woman, and child has come to Earth in order to fulfill a spiritual mission, not to fulfill a short-sighted worldly aspiration for material goods and wealth.