Christian-Muslim Relations in Syria: Historic and Contemporary Religious Dynamics in a Changing Context

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Author: Andrew Ashdown

Publisher/Publication: Routledge

DOI/ISBN: 9780367559137

Combining fieldwork with critical historical and Christian theological reflection, this study explores Christian-Muslim relations in Syria between 2000 and 2018. Focusing on research undertaken within government-held areas during the Syrian conflict, it offers an original contribution to scholarship on the context in modern Syria. Providing the historical and contemporary context for the interreligious dynamic, the writer introduces and describes the plural Christian and Muslim landscapes that have cohabited and interacted in Syria prior to and during the Ottoman period and in the century since, and how this relationship has been impacted by the conflict. The dissertation examines the complex issues that underlie the relationship, particularly the roles of culture and religious leadership, and challenge the view that the analytical concept of sectarianism is adequate to describe the complex communal frameworks in the Middle Eastern context.