Christianity is the Not The White Man’s Religion Pt 4: Syriac Christianity

If you look at the usual maps of Christian expansion most maps focus on Europe. From Antioch Paul and Barnabas (later Silas) go off into Asia Minor and Greece and preach Jesus and churches are formed. Because Paul is such a super figure for the Christian faith we usually focus on the Mediterranean and skip years of Christian history up until around the Crusades and the Protestant Reformation.

One of the things that was happening throughout those missing years was the expansion of the church eastward. Yes eastward. This mission to the East found a way into Mesopotamia, Mongolia, Afghanistan and eventually into China. The home base for this mission was originally Antioch (Yeah the same place that sent off Paul and Silas) in what would now be modern day Turkey. See there was a theological controversy between Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria in 431 which ended up in a church split. Nestorius and his followers became labeled with the brand of Nestorian and sought refuge in the Sassanid (Persian) empire and Mesopotamia. The Nestorian church were a persecuted and politically weak minority and so they could not depend on state support like Christians in the Roman empire. The lack of state support turned out to be a good thing and fueled their missionary zeal and devotion to Christ.

Soon the Mesopatamian cities of Edessa, Nisibis, and Ctesiphon became important Syriac cultural centers. These became the site of major Christian scholarship and spirituality as monks were sent out to evangelize towards the East. Yes I said it: The East. Christianity before the 1300′s was a major movement in the East as opposed to the West. A very different picture than what we are usually shown. These monks wrote tons and tons of literature and spread the gospel throughout what are now majority Buddhist and Muslim peoples.
This church grew and thrived over a huge expanse of land and a large population. Descendants of these Christians were located in Iraq when we decided to invade and bomb the country over weapons of mass destruction.  (Did I just say that? Yes I did) and a small percentage are now living in war torn Syria.

So when you hear someone talk about Christianity being the white man’s religion remember that for more than a millenia it flourished in lands that we now consider to be hostile to Christ. It grew in Middle Eastern soil because it was culturally Semitic. It had to be adapted to a European context but it was already native to the lands east of Jerusalem. That being said if it was native to the Middle East there is no reason to believe that Christianity is foreign to north Africa, Arabia, or Central Asia. It is just at home there as it is in Colorado Springs, Colorado or Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe even more so. Jesus is for Everybody!

Recommended Reading:Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins

Readings in World Christian History by John W. Coakley and Andrea Sterk (Letters of Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius of Constantinople

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