Sociopolitical Developments in West Asia and their impact on Christian Minorities in the region in Felix Wilfred (Ed) The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia

Print Email

Author: Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid

Publisher/Publication: Oxford University Press

DOI/ISBN: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199329069.013.0015

This chapter explores the position of Christian communities in the Middle East, presenting them as actors in response to sociopolitical developments in their nation-states. After providing a historical background, focusing mainly on the Ottoman Christian’s relations with the West, it explores the developments in their respective nation states. These developments include their identity crisis and whether they believed they belonged to the Arab nation or if they constituted a distinct nation of their own, their position vis-à-vis the Muslim majority and they considered them as allies or adversaries, the Christian religious revival, which included the gradual Arabization of Western Churches in the Middle East, as well as the initiatives of Ecumenical dialogue and cooperation between denominations, and lastly the accelerated emigration of Christian communities to the West.